Child support agreements

A child support agreement is a flexible way of transferring child support from one parent to the other. This helps with the financial costs of raising children when the parents are no longer in a relationship together.

If you can agree with the other parent on how your children should be supported financially, you can make a child support agreement and ask the Child Support Agency to accept it. There are two types of agreements:

Limited agreements are formal agreements that must be in writing and signed by both parents. Legal advice is not needed before entering into a limited agreement, however there are two conditions:

• there must be a child support formula assessment already in place
• the amounts payable under the agreement must be the same or more than the child support assessed by the formula.

Binding agreements must also be in writing and signed by both parents. They are different from limited agreements in that the parents must get independent legal advice to enter into or end the agreement.

Binding agreements can include lump sum payments (including transfer of property) to be credited as child support instead of monthly cash or electronic payments.