There are different reasons for child support ending. In some cases, it will stop automatically. In others, you’ll need to tell us or fill out a cancellation form.
If your child support has ended, we'll send you a notice to let you know.
Child support stops when the liable parent and receiving carer get back together. It also stops when the child:
- goes to live with someone else who is not a parent and has not applied for child support
- turns 18 or when the school year in which they turned 18 ends (31 December) if they were enrolled at and attending school for the full year - we'll send you a letter to confirm this before stopping your payments
- starts an ongoing full-time job (not a holiday job)
- is financially independent, receiving a benefit or a student allowance
- gets married or is in a de facto relationship or civil union (this only applies to children over 16 - if the child is 16 or 17, they'll need consent from a Family Court judge)
- passes away.
You need to tell us about any of these situations as soon as you can. If you do not, you might be paying or receiving the wrong amount of child support.
You can tell us by:
- calling us
- sending us a message in myIR
- updating your child support details, completing the Change of circumstances - IR116 form in myIR.
Update my child support details
Cancelling child support
You cannot cancel child support if the receiving carer gets a sole parent rate of benefit or the Unsupported Child’s Benefit for the child.
You’ll need to fill out a cancellation form if you want to change from a formula assessment or voluntary agreement to a private agreement.
The receiving carer can cancel a formula assessment over the phone. Only the receiving carer can cancel a voluntary agreement or court order.
If recognised care is in place, then both carers will need to sign the cancellation form.
If you're owed money and do not want it collected, you can let us know. This is only an option if you were not receiving a sole parent rate of benefit at the time the child support was assessed. You can talk to us if you're unsure.
If you change your mind
Once you've cancelled child support payments, you cannot later ask us to collect them. If you were owed payments before cancelling, you can collect those by applying through the Family Court.
If you change your mind after you’ve sent us the form, you’ll need to reapply for child support. We'll restart your child support from the date we get the new application.
