Court ordered split care arrangements

You can only pay Sole Parent Support to one parent, unless, there is a court order awarding split care. A split care order is however, not the only acceptable court order you can consider.

When split care arrangements have the sanction, authority or approval of the Family Court the payment of Sole Parent Support to both sole parents is allowed. This means that we could also accept:

• an order that provides that each parent will have sole care of at least one child
• separate sole orders in respect of each child
• a joint order where the court granted joint care but recognised that each parent would act as the day to day caregiver of at least one child
• a sole order for one child and a joint parenting order for another child where the purpose of making the joint parenting order is to recognise when the other parent is the principal day to day caregiver of the other child

If you are dealing with a joint order, you need to be satisfied that the order recognises that one parent is the principal day to day caregiver of that child. This may be confirmed by either:

• a reference in the order to the role of one parent as day to day caregiver (eg a 70/30 split) or
• the evidence before the court at the time that the order was made, indicates that one parent is the day to day caregiver and the joint parenting order made does not provide otherwise

Note in some cases, parents have made their own arrangements without court involvement. However, to recognise a split care arrangement for benefit purposes, we must see a court parenting order recognising the arrangements. An agreement between the parents is not sufficient, even if this has been formally drafted by a solicitor.

For more information see:

• No court ordered split care arrangement
• Split care
• Determining whether a care arrangement is sanctioned by the Family Court
• Privacy Act implications
• Assistance for the parent not qualified for Sole Parent Support
• When to consider Emergency Maintenance Allowance for split care