Strategic bargaining over child support and parenting time: A critical review of the literature

Sweeping changes to the Australian Child Support Scheme were introduced between 2006 and 2008, featuring a dramatically different system for the calculation of child support. Key reforms to the Australian Scheme include changes to the number of nights at which (a) child support liability is reduced, and (b) Family Tax Benefit (FTB) can be split between parents. An important policy question is the extent to which thresholds in the level of care at which liability is reduced result in strategic bargaining over child support and parenting time, such that non-resident parents push for more overnight stays with children to minimise their child support payments while resident parents might deny additional overnight parent-child contact to maximise the amount of child support and FTB they receive. In this article we review key international and Australian studies of bargaining over child support and parenting time to explore the extent to which bargaining occurs. Despite the common perception that separated parents frequently attempt to structure their parenting arrangements for financial gain, our review suggests this type of strategic bargaining is not widespread.