Swapping out
So I’ve been on single parenting payment for the past year. My ex (my children’s father) has always worked and paid child support without any hassles.
We still get along really well for the sake of the kids, and regularly share them whenever we both want.
He recently lost his job and has not been able to find work for the past 3 months. He is not on any Centrelink benefits and has been living off his savings.
This means I’ve received no child support and relied solely on centrelink.
I’ve decided to go back to work full time.
I’ve been offered a fantastic job earning a very modest wage that will see financial security for myself and the kids future.
I’ve spoken to him about swapping out.
Him stay home and have the children each day (saving me child care fees and them getting quality time together) and him apply for single parenting payment. He can get casual work, if and when he likes, but our main priority will be the kids as they are under 3yrs of age.
We have spoken about it and both agreed it’s something we should consider as his work prospects are currently very limited where we live.
Do you think it would take forever to get this swapped and sorted out with Centrelink? Has anyone ever taken the lead and swapped with their ex partner and how did it go?
Do I just call them and explain and they begin the process?
Any tips or advice appreciated.
Thank you
17 Replies
It should be fairly straight forward. You need to work out definite weeks and days etc so theres no confusion between you both and the kids. You will need to pay him child support. So dont change anything until it actually happens. Just ring Centrelink and CSA and change percentage of care and the rest will sort itself out for your side of things. He will obviously have it a bit harder applying for SPP if he's never received centrelink before but once his forms are done hopefully the process is quick. He can actually apply now just to get that process moving and then change percentages when you start working and the new care arrangements take place.
I think you're playing with fire giving up official custody of your kids just to play the govt for money. You could well regret it whether he gets a job or never gets a job, who knows what will happen but you will have given up your right to 50% or more with your kids and after that becomes a history for them it will be a fight on your end to change that.
Say what? She has said nothing about official custody changes. It looks like they can work well enough together to not involve courts. It won't be more money from the government, how does that work?
I have something to add to this, to be in receipt of parenting payment single you need to be the primary career of the children, they need to be living majority in your care and this is calculated by nights spent so essentially you will be relinquishing custody.
I know of a couple who did this, the father claimed pps and the mum worked. Things did not remain civil between them and the father to keep the children and not return them. She fought in court for months only for the judge to decide as per centrelink he was the primary career of the children, he said the children therefor were established in his care and he recieved the custody. Be careful.
Copy and paste from google, this post has nothing to do with relinquishing custody its about the father becoming the primary carer.
"Relinquishment means you cannot make decisions about your children and you cannot see or talk with them again until they are at least 18 years old. Your state may allow you to retain visitation rights with your children if you specifically request this in writing."
Fact is, whatever word you use, if he’s going to be primary carer, in order to get SPP, then she is giving up custody.
Why ask if you don't care about feedback. It's a terrible idea if you're truly single. A single parent will bust their ass to parent their child and maintain a stable home.
Dropping out and working and paying child support is a really hard place to try to parent from, you'll be lacking time and financial means to even provide a suitable place for them to visit. And as already mentioned, good luck when you realise what you've done and he won't give it back to you as only one parent gets to claim the support.
It only works if you and him are parenting together and benefiting financially together, and have no plans for anything in the relationship to change in the future.
To the poster above this one. ^^^
What a croc of shit! 🙄🤣
Im a single mum, I do both, work full time and primary caregiver. That is always an option. The reality is, for you both to thrive or even survive, you both needs jobs.
You are all a bit annoying with your attitudes actually, none of this would be a problem if genders were reversed or if they weren't both single parents. Single parents can stay at home with their kids! Dad's can be the primary carer. Mums can work full time and decide that maybe their children are better off with a parent that's home all day anyway rather than put their young kids in daycare all day and having to pay extra costs and deal with extra sick days. Nobody needs to give up custody.
I think when you’re divorced, unfortunately stay at home mum/dad isn’t viable. There’s two households to run, I don’t know how people live off Centrelink, I couldn’t, as a single mum. Maybe they have lots of kids and it’s enough?
Some people can easily live on a low budget. I have always lived below my means. SPP is enough to survive on if you don't have heaps of debt and expect to live an extravagant lifestyle. It's nobody else's business what they choose to do.
Back in the day, I think it was like 400 a week for one child, plus was getting 50 child support. Rent is at least 250, so I don’t know anyone who could live off of 200 bucks per week. But anyway.....
You can afford to live and get by on centrelink, what you can't afford to do is parent while working (a house big enough, food, activities, clothes, child care/ after school care, child support, travel etc etc) without the govt assistance that parents with custody get, which she is giving up.
I’m a single mum who works full time and gets 80 bucks a week from Centrelink.
I definitely live off my wage and definitely could live without Centrelink, definitely couldn’t live off Newstart.
I have one child over 8 years old.
Maybe you can live off Centrelink because you have four kids or something....
I find it so offensive when people imply all single mums can’t live without Centrelink. Have you ever heard of the word employment, there are plenty of us out there doing that with little support from friggen Centrelink.
He or you will need to update child support with your care arrangements. From there he can apply for PPS, FTB rent assistance etc. You will need to then pay him Child Support.