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Child Support Act 1991

Voluntary agreements - Qualifying voluntary agreements

48: Voluntary agreements that qualify for acceptance

You could also call this:

"Rules for making child or partner support agreements that the government will accept"

You can make a voluntary agreement for child support or spousal support that the Commissioner will accept. Here's what you need to know:

For child support, you can make an agreement with someone to pay money regularly to a person who looks after your child. For spousal support, you can make an agreement with your partner to pay them money regularly.

Your agreement needs to be in writing and signed by everyone involved. You must agree to pay weekly, every two weeks, or monthly, and it should be easy to work out how much you'll pay in a year.

There's a minimum amount you have to pay each week. This amount is set in another part of the law.

Your agreement can be made in New Zealand or in another country. If your agreement includes other things that aren't about support payments, those parts won't count for this law.

Even if you're young and not an adult yet, your agreement will still count as if you were an adult.

The Commissioner won't accept your agreement if it doesn't follow these rules or if other parts of the law say it can't be accepted.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM254078.

Topics:
Family and relationships > Children and parenting
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47: Application of this Part, or

"This part explains how voluntary agreements for child and partner support work"

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49: Minimum instalment required before agreement can be accepted, or

"Payments in child support agreements must be at least $10 per week"

Part 3Voluntary agreements
Qualifying voluntary agreements

48Voluntary agreements that qualify for acceptance

  1. A voluntary agreement qualifies for acceptance by the Commissioner under this Act only if—

  2. it is made either—
    1. by any of the parties referred to in section 47(2) and requires the payment by one party of a periodical sum of money to a carer towards the maintenance of the qualifying child; or
      1. by any of the parties referred to in section 47(3) and requires the payment by one party of a periodical sum of money to the other party towards the maintenance of the other party; and
      2. those periodic payments are in weekly, fortnightly, or monthly instalments and at a readily determined annual rate; and
        1. each weekly instalment is not less than the minimum amount required by section 49; and
          1. it is in writing and signed by the parties; and
            1. nothing in section 50 or section 51 or section 52 disqualifies the agreement from acceptance by the Commissioner.

              1. An agreement may qualify for acceptance whether it is entered into in or outside of New Zealand.

              2. If the agreement also includes provisions of a kind not falling within subsection (1), those provisions do not have effect for the purposes of the application of this Act to the voluntary agreement.

              3. An agreement entered into by a person who is a minor shall, for the purposes of this Act, have effect as if it were entered into by a person of full age.

              Notes
              • Section 48(1)(a)(i): amended, on , by section 34 of the Child Support Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 12).