Could do better

The process of recovering unpaid child support is here to stay, in one form or another. The two current systems introduced under the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) and the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (CSPSSA 2000) will continue until the new organisation, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC) replaces the Child Support Agency (CSA). The anticipated final transition of existing cases to C-MEC is not until 2013. As such, family lawyers ignore at their peril child support issues that arise in respect of their caseload.

The assessment stage

In child support cases, the financial disclosure requested from a non-resident parent (NRP) is wholly inadequate, compared with the full and frank disclosure provided in the court process. There is an additional problem as the disclosure provided by one party is not provided to the other, which means the parent with care (PWC) has little opportunity to ascertain if the information used by