Warring parents, child support and the fight over DNA

Adjusting to new parenthood is a time of major upheaval and stress.

For single mother Veronica, that stress was compounded when she needed to pursue her former partner Scott over child support – including asking him to take a DNA parentage test.

Legal Aid NSW is reporting growing demand from parents seeking help to resolve child support problems, and proving paternity is a key battleground.

In some cases, men were spending time with their children but refusing to acknowledge paternity for child support purposes.

Veronica separated from Scott during her pregnancy. They had never lived together and he would not formally acknowledge paternity.

The difficulties Veronica faced in proving Scott was the father of her daughter, Niamh, were costing her hundreds of dollars a month in lost government support.

When Niamh was 13 weeks old, Centrelink cut Veronica’s family tax benefit (FTB) payments for her baby by about $150 a fortnight. FTB is a major source of financial support for low to middle income families to raise children.

Centrelink cut the payments because it was not satisfied Veronica had taken reasonable steps to get child support from Scott. If this requirement is not met, it will pay only the base rate of FTB.

The policy rationale is to ensure parents, where possible, take financial responsibility for their children. However, some exemptions are available.

Veronica applied to Services Australia for a child support assessment, but the application was rejected because she did not have acceptable proof of Scott’s paternity.

Standard forms of proof include being married when the child is born or being named on the birth certificate.

Veronica spoke to a Legal Aid solicitor who advised her to apply to court for a child support declaration. She received a grant of aid to cover the costs of a lawyer to do that work.

After court documents were served on Scott, he contacted Veronica’s lawyer and agreed to a DNA test. It confirmed he was Niamh’s father.

“The day that we got the DNA results back was the day that I felt this huge weight off my shoulders, even though I already knew what the outcome was going to be,” Veronica said.

‘There are issues of inheritance in the future.’

Prem Aleema, solicitor in charge of Legal Aid NSW’s child support service

She said it was a difficult time “mentally and emotionally”.

Following the test, the court made orders declaring Scott should be assessed to pay child support. Services Australia notified him how much he is required to pay per month.

Veronica’s family tax benefit payments for Niamh were restored to the higher rate.

Legal Aid NSW provides free one-off advice over the phone to anyone with a child support problem.

In 2024-25, it provided more than 2500 advice services about child support, and 73 per cent of those clients were women.

Prem Aleema, the solicitor in charge of Legal Aid NSW’s child support service, said many mothers would also be eligible for a grant of legal aid for court proceedings if required, “which may include court orders for DNA testing”.

But a DNA test was not always required to prove paternity, she said.

“It’s a really good thing for kids to have their dad’s name on their birth certificate. There are issues of inheritance in the future; it’s a matter of their identity.”

While Veronica got legal help early, Aleema said parents in some cases were seeking child support help when their child was in their early teens.

“In many cases, the people who aren’t getting child support think, ‘Oh, it’s not worthwhile, I wouldn’t get that much.’

“But they don’t realise there’s another sting in the tail: if you’re not satisfying the government that you’re taking reasonable maintenance action, you get paid less FTB.”

Aleema said there was a “huge difference” between the base and higher rate of FTB.

“For a child under 12, the maximum rate of FTB is $227 a fortnight, and the minimum rate is $72 a fortnight,” she said. The difference is even starker for older children.

Aleema had seen cases where fathers were involved in their children’s lives but were not named on the birth certificate, “and they might not want to be because there are financial implications for them”.

But she said that “we don’t just help mums; we do help anyone who has a problem with a child support scheme”. Most people did not need to go to court, she said.

“We can give advice to dad or people who think they are not the dad of the child. Our solicitors can also give advice to people who are experiencing non-payment or underpayment of child support, including where ... the other parent [is] not lodging tax returns, or under-declaring their income.”

Legal Aid NSW provided 82,852 family law services in 2024-5, an 8.6 per cent increase on the previous year. It said this was driven by significant demand in areas such as domestic violence, separation, child custody, care and protection, and child support.

The names of Veronica, Scott and Niamh have been changed to protect their identities.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.