Private collect arrangements and child support
Maria Vnuk
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Contact Email:   annemarie.nicolfahcsia.gov.au

This paper will add to the limited information about parents who transfer child support payments privately between themselves and not through the Child Support Agency (CSA). Using data from the General Population of Parents 2006, the paper compares parents who pay (or are meant to pay) child support and parents who receive (or are meant to receive child support) by demographic characteristics and family composition, separation experience, current relationship, proximity and frequency of communication about the children, and payment/receipt of child support. Some differences between paying and receiving parents will also be discussed (the groups of parents are not ex-couples). The paper highlights the significance of the separation itself and the post-separation parental relationship for a successful private collect arrangement. As is common with this type of research, receiving parents reported a lot lower rate of receipt of child support than parents reported as required to pay. 55.9 per cent of CSA collect and 79.5 per cent of private collect parents reported that their child support is always received full and on time. 82.1 per cent of CSA collect parents and 93.5 per cent of private collect parents reported that they always paid their child support in full and on time.

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