Names used in all published decisions are pseudonyms. Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been omitted from this decision and replaced with generic information pursuant to subsection 16(2AB) of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988. Statement of Reasons

1. Mr German and Ms Schwartzer are the parents of [Child 1] (born 2009) and [Child 2] (born 2011) (the children).
2. Services Australia - Child Support (Child Support) registered a child support assessment for the children from 28 July 2017. Since the start of the assessment, care for both children has been recorded as 100% to Ms Schwartzer and 0% to Mr German.
3. On 16 December 2024 Mr German contacted Child Support and advised that there had been a change in care and that from 8 December 2024 the children had been in Ms Schwartzer's care 100% of the time and in his care 0% of the time. Child Support noted that this was consistent with the existing care determination, and on 24 December 2024, determined to make no change.
4. On 6 January 2025 Mr German contacted Child Support and said he had made a mistake in his initial report, and that he had meant to notify that the children had been in his care for 100% of the time from 8 December 2024. This was accepted as an objection to the original decision.
5. When contacted, Ms Schwartzer said that she was overseas for four weeks from 8 December 2024 and had advised Mr German before she went that he would need to look after the children whilst she was away. Both children were with him from 8 December 2024. [Child 2] returned to live with her once she was back from overseas, but [Child 1] had chosen to remain with Mr German.
6. On 5 April 2025, the objections officer decided to partially allow the objection, and determined that from 8 December 2024 [Child 1] was in Mr German's care for 100% of the time and Ms Schwartzer's care for 0% of the time. However, the objections officer did not accept that there had been a change in care for [Child 2].
7. On 19 May 2025 Mr German asked this Tribunal to review this decision.
8. The application was heard on 12 September 2025. Mr German participated in person and gave evidence under oath. The Tribunal had assistance from [a Language] speaking interpreter. Ms Schwartzer had advised the Tribunal that she did not wish to participate in the hearing and that she relied on the information she had already provided to Child Support. The Child Support Registrar did not attend the hearing. In addition to the parents' evidence, the Tribunal had regard to the documents provided by Child Support (numbered 1-117) and additional documents (numbered 1-9).
9. The Tribunal noted from these documents, that Child Support made a subsequent care decision on 12 May 2025, recording that [Child 1] was in Ms Schwartzer's care 100% of the time from 11 April 2025. This decision is not the subject of this application for review.

1. The statutory provisions most relevant to this review are contained in the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (the Assessment Act). The Tribunal also had regard to the Child Support Guide, Child Support's online technical and policy guide to the administration of the child support scheme.
2. Child Support, acting for the Child Support Registrar, generally makes child support assessments using a statutory formula in Part 5 of the Assessment Act. This formula contains a number of elements called the particulars of the assessment. They include a care percentage for each parent or non-parent carer in relation to each child which is converted to a cost percentage used in the formula to assess the relative costs of the children.
3. Child Support determines care percentages with regard to sections 49 to 54L of the Assessment Act. These provisions require Child Support to determine a care percentage for each parent or non-parent carer when first making a child support assessment and to revoke and remake those decisions in specific circumstances.
4. Sections 49 and 50 of the Assessment Act require the decision maker to determine the likely pattern of care for a child during a care period. The "care period" is the period the Child Support Registrar (or the Tribunal) considers to be appropriate, having regard to all the circumstances (section 50 of the Act). Governmental policy in this regard, which may be followed by Child Support, as set out in section 2.2.1 of the Child Support Guide, is that a care period is generally a 12-month period from the day on which the actual care for a child changed, but can be less, or more, depending on the circumstances. Whilst this policy is not binding on the Tribunal, the Tribunal will generally adopt the policy, provided it is not in conflict with the legislation or case law. In this case, the objections officer appeared to use a period from 8 December 2024 to 30 June 2025, and the Tribunal accepted this approach.
5. Subsection 54A(1) of the Act sets out how to work out the actual care, and extent of care, a person has of a child. It states:

(1) The actual care of a child that a person has had, or is likely to have, during a care period may be worked out based on the number of nights that the Registrar is satisfied that the child was, or is likely to be, in the care of the person during the care period.

1. The issues which arise in this case are:
   • Was there a change in the care for [Child 1] and [Child 2] from 8 December 2024? If so,
   • Should the original care percentages be revoked and if so, from what date?
   • Should new care percentage determinations be made? And, if so, from what date?

1. At the hearing Mr German said that he made his application because he believed that Child Support had continued to require him to pay child support even when the children were in his care. He confirmed that [Child 1] had been in his care between 8 December 2024 and 11 April 2025, when she returned to live with Ms Schwartzer. He confirmed that [Child 2] had been in his care between 8 December 2024 and 6 January 2025 when she returned to live with Ms Schwartzer. He understood that the objections officer had accepted that [Child 1] was in his care from 8 December 2024 and had changed the care determination. However, he was not sure that this had resulted in a reduction in his child support assessment and wanted this to be confirmed.
2. Mr German understood that the objections officer had decided not to change the care determination for [Child 2] because she had only been with him for a temporary period whilst Ms Schwartzer was away. He expressed that Ms Schwartzer could have let him know about this with more notice as he had to rearrange his work to care for the children. However he did not have a problem with paying child support for [Child 2] for a month, even though she was living with him. The Tribunal therefore understood that he accepted the decision of the objections officer.

1. As noted above, Ms Schwartzer does not dispute that [Child 2] stayed with her father from 8 December 2024 to 6 January 2025, whilst she was overseas. She provided Child Support with screenshots of two text messages she sent to Mr German on 28 November 2024 and shortly before 8 December 2024, advising him that she would be away and that he would need to look after the children.
2. She also provided Child Support with a handwritten letter on 15 March 2025, in which she confirmed that [Child 2] returned to live with her when she was back from overseas. She also expressed concerns about [Child 1]'s circumstances living with Mr German.

1. The evidence regarding the whereabouts of the children from 8 December 2024 is undisputed by the parents. Both children went to stay with their father when their mother went overseas for a month, and whilst [Child 2] returned to her mother as planned, [Child 1] stayed with her father for a few months.
2. The Tribunal noted the subsequent care determination of 12 May 2025, that [Child 1] had returned to live with Ms Schwartzer 100% of the time from 11 April 2025.
3. In relation to Mr German's concern that Child Support continued to assess him to pay child support for [Child 1] in the period from 8 December 2024 to 11 April 2025, the Tribunal noted the following:
   • Reference in the objections officer decision at page 16 to the reduction in his child support liability as a consequence of their decision there would be a "decrease in the children (sic) support payable by Mr German for [Child 1] in the amount of $3,662.24 for the period 8 December 2024 to 26 March 2025."
   • Document on page 82, headed "Your Child Support Assessment" for the period 8 December 2024 to 30 June 2025, issued 7 April 2025 (after the objections officer decision), which states on page 83 that, based on [Child 1] being 100% in his care, Mr German is assessed to pay $0 child support, and Ms Schwartzer is assessed to pay him an annual amount of $1,720. The same notice states that Mr German has been assessed to pay Ms Schwartzer $10,552 child support a year for [Child 2], on the basis that she is in her mother's care 100% of the time. This calculation was based on Ms Schwartzer having an estimated income of $0 for the period.
4. Based on the available evidence, the Tribunal was satisfied that from 8 December 2024, [Child 1] lived with Mr German exclusively, until 11 April 2025. Whilst this was initially intended as a temporary arrangement, from 6 January 2025 onwards, it became an ongoing arrangement. The Tribunal was also satisfied that [Child 2] lived with Mr German between 8 December 2024 and 6 January 2025 and that this was always intended to be a temporary arrangement.

Was there a change in the care for the children from 8 December 2024?

1. Given the Tribunal's findings above, the care arrangement for [Child 1] changed from 8 December 2024 to 100% to Mr German and 0% to Ms Schwartzer. The Tribunal is satisfied that the changed care arrangement for [Child 2] was temporary and did not reflect a change in the pattern of care that was likely to continue.
2. This is consistent with the decisions made by the objections officer on 5 April 2025.

Should the original care determination for [Child 1] be revoked and from what date?

1. If there has been a change in the care percentage, the previous determination is revoked, and a new determination is made. Various sections of the Act provide the mechanism for this, depending on the circumstances. Section 54F can only apply if sections 54G and section 51 of the Act don't apply.
2. Section 51 does not apply because there is no formal care agreement in place between the parents. Section 54G of the Act did not apply in this case because Mr German did not previously have a "pattern of care" for [Child 1].
3. Section 54F of the Act provides that if sections 51 and 54G do not apply, the Registrar must revoke a percentage of care determination made under sections 49 or 50 of the Act, if:
   • they become aware that the percentage of care recorded does not correspond with the actual care taking place; and
   • that the "cost percentage" would change if a new percentage of care was determined.
4. Section 55C of the Act provides that a "cost percentage" is calculated based on the percentage of care for the child.
5. Based on the table at section 55C of the Act, the change in the parents' care percentages equates to a change in the cost percentages for both.
6. Given that the original care and cost percentages do not reflect the actual care that was taking place for [Child 1] during the care period from December 2024, subsection 54F(1) provides that the original care determination for [Child 1] must be revoked.
7. The date from which the revocation takes effect is determined according to subsection 54F(3).
8. If Child Support was notified or became aware of the change within 28 days of the change in care, the revocation day is the day before the care changed. If Child Support was notified or became aware more than 28 days after the change of care day, the revocation days are as follows:
   • - For the person with the reduced care, the day before the change of care day; and
   • - For the person with the increased care, the day before the notification day.

1. Mr German successfully notified Child Support of the changed care arrangements on 6 January 2025, when he lodged his objection, having made an error in his initial attempt to notify the change. This was still within 28 days of the date of the care change. On this basis, the care determination for [Child 1] for both parents is revoked from 7 December 2024.

Should a new care percentage determination be made for [Child 1] and, if so, from when?

1. Section 50 of the Act provides that a new determination of a percentage of care for a child must be made where an existing determination has been revoked and the Registrar, or the Tribunal standing in the shoes of the Registrar, is satisfied that each person has had, or is likely to have, a pattern of care. The new assessment is applied from the day after the revocation of the previous assessment.
2. As noted above, the Tribunal is satisfied that the correct pattern of care for [Child 1] is 100% to Mr German and 0% to Ms Schwartzer. Given the date on which the previous care determination was revoked, the Tribunal is satisfied that the new care determination should be applied from 8 December 2024 for both parents.
3. This is consistent with the original decision and the decision of the objections officer and the decision under review is therefore affirmed.