History of child support in some mainly-English-speaking
countries
This page is being evolved as part of a long-term project. I ask
anyone with useful material to get in touch at: history@childsupportanalysis.co.uk
.
Australia, Canada, New Zealand
Australia
| When? |
What? |
Information |
| Pre-1975 |
Until the various changes
identified below, family matters such as child maintenance were handled
by States, typically via courts. |
| 1958 |
Maintenance Act 1958 |
|
| 1965 |
Maintenance
Act 1965 |
Repealed the 1958 Act. |
| 1975 |
Family
Law Act 1975 |
This greatly expanded the scope
of federal (as opposed to state) family law. Among other things, it
provided family judges and magistrates with the exclusive authority
to make support orders in court. |
| 1980 |
Recommendation by Parliamentary
Joint Select Committee on the Family Law Act. |
Recommended that an agency to collect
and enforce maintenance be set up along the lines of agencies already
operating in South Australia and Western Australia. |
| 1983-08-27 |
United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women |
Entry into force. |
| 1984 |
Report of the Attorney-General's
Department. |
Endorsed the 1980 recommendation.
This report also provided much evidence concerning the inadequacies
of the existing system. |
| 1985-02-12 |
United
Nations Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance |
Accession. |
| 1986 |
Discussion paper "Child Support". |
This canvassed the issues which
needed to be resolved. Widespread community consultation was undertaken
and submissions were received from groups active in the maintenance
area. |
| 1987 |
|
New South Wales, Victoria, South
Australia and Tasmania passed legislation referring power with respect
to guardianship, custody, maintenance and access in relation to ex-nuptial
children to the Commonwealth. |
| 1988 |
Child
Support Act 1988 renamed:
Child
Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988
|
The law to create the Child Support
Agency as part of the Australian Tax Office. Existing court cases
do not transfer to the CSA. |
| 1989 |
Child
Support (Assessment) Act 1989 |
Ditto. |
| 1989-10-01 |
New cases go to the CSA. |
Administrative assessment eligibility
applies to all children born after October 1 1989 or whose parents
have separated after that date. |
| 1990 |
|
Queensland passed legislation referring power with respect to guardianship,
custody, maintenance and access in relation to ex-nuptial children
to the Commonwealth.
Western Australia did not do so.
|
| 1991-01-16 |
United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child |
Ratified. |
| 1992 |
Amendments to the Child Support
(Assessment) Act 1989. |
Incorporated into the Australian
system the concept of "departure from administrative assessment
of child support." Pursuant to these legislative provisions,
either party can make written application to the registrar stating
that special circumstances exist that support departing from the regular
administrative assessment of child support |
| 2002-02-01 |
Hague
Convention #23 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Relating
to Maintenance Obligations |
Entry into force. |
| 2002-12-12 |
Australia
and the United States entered into a treaty for reciprocal recognition
and enforcement of child support maintenance arrangements. |
This new treaty allows administrative
assessments made under the Australian Child Support Scheme to be recognised
and enforced in the United States. Another feature of the treaty is
that each country will have a central authority which will take responsibility
for coordinating all agencies involved in a case. In Australia's case,
that central authority will be the Child Support Registrar. |
Canada
| When? |
What? |
Information |
| |
Child support is arranged
via courts, or privately. |
| 1867 |
Constitution Act 1867 |
Judges of the Superior, District
and County Courts in each Province must be appointed. The Supreme
Court of Canada has established that there are certain functions of
the judiciary that cannot be removed from that decision-making forum.
This appears to include aspects of family law. |
| 1982-01-09 |
United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women |
Entry into force. |
| 1991 |
"Child Support: Public Discussion
Paper" released |
The Family Law Committee released this report which provides a
basis for public consultation.
Further
chronology is available on-line.
|
| 1992-01-12 |
United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child |
Ratified. |
| 1997-05-01 |
Divorce Act (Bill C-41) commences |
Reforms to Canada's child support
system came into effect, modifying the way courts operated. However,
there appears to be considerable flexibility for Provinces to do their
own thing. The main features of the reforms are: the introduction
of child support guidelines; changes to the tax treatment of child
support; and additional enforcement measures. The regulations for
setting child support payments are called the Federal Child Support
Guidelines, but the amounts in the Federal Child Support Tables vary
from one province to another because of differences in provincial
income tax rates. Federal control is exercised by the Department
of Justice in its
child support unit.
The guidelines do not automatically change a child support order or
agreement that was made before May 1, 1997. |
| 2002-04-29 |
"Children
Come First: A Report to Parliament on the Provisions and Operation
of the Federal Child Support Guidelines" |
A report was required within 5 years
of the Divorce Act. This is it. |
New Zealand
| When? |
What? |
Information |
| Pre-1981 |
Court maintenance orders
and maintenance agreements were administered just through the courts.
Then where the custodial parent is not on social welfare, they continued
to be handled by the courts for a while. |
| 1981 |
Liable Contribution Scheme |
Administered by the Department of
Social Welfare. Designed to recover money for the children of custodians
on social assistance through recovering it from the non-custodial
parents. It was open to the non-custodial parents to object to the
Department of Social Welfare about the amount they had to pay and
to apply for a reduction on the grounds of hardship.
(This may be an amendment to the Social
Security Act 1964 Section 27N). |
| 1985-02-09 |
United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women |
Entry into force. |
| 1986-02-26 |
United
Nations Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance |
Accession. |
| 1991 |
Child
Support Act 1991 |
|
| 1992 (July) |
Child
Support scheme starts. |
The child support scheme is administered
by the Inland Revenue. The system
is mandatory for those persons on welfare.
Those people not receiving social assistance have the choice of whether
or not to request the assistance of the child support scheme. Alternatively,
these parents may either proceed through court or arrive at a voluntary
agreement with the other party. If the parties draw up a voluntary
agreement, they then have the option of having it dealt with by the
child support scheme, at which point it would be handled administratively.
Departures were initially handled via the courts. |
| 1993-05-06 |
United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child |
Ratified. |
| 1994-07-01 |
Child
Support Amendment Act 1994 commences |
Departure orders might be granted
by a review officer through the administrative review process or,
failing that avenue, by the family court. A review officer must consider
an application for a departure before it proceeds to family court. |
| 1994-11-08 |
Child Support Review 1994: Report
of the Working Party |
Trapski Report. |
| 1999 |
Child
Support Amendment Act 1999 |
There
are Child Support Acts pretty well every year, often with only minor
effect. Only the most significant ones are identified here. |
References
"An Overview of the Commonwealth Countries’ and United States’
Procedures for Establishing and Modifying Child Support"
March 1997 - funded by the Child Support Team, Department of Justice Canada
Presented by Mary MacDonald, B.A., LL.B.
Part
1: Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom
Part
2: United States of America
|