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Child Support Act 1991

Collection of financial support - Discretionary relief in respect of penalties and pre-2021 penalties

135B: Discretionary relief if reasonable cause

You could also call this:

“You might get help if you have a good reason for late child support payments”

You might get some help if you have a good reason for being late with your child support payment. The person in charge, called the Commissioner, can decide to give you a break if two things are true:

  1. You had a good reason for not paying on time.
  2. You fixed the problem as soon as you could.

A good reason means something happened that you couldn’t control. It might be something like getting very sick, having an accident, or being in a disaster. The Commissioner will decide if your reason caused a fair delay in your payment.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM256038.

Topics:
Family and relationships > Children and parenting
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135AB: Discretionary relief for pre-2021 penalties, or

"The government can forgive some old penalties for late child support payments"

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135C: Discretionary relief if failure of another person to make deduction, or

"You might get help with penalties if someone else forgot to take out your child support money"

Part 8 Collection of financial support
Discretionary relief in respect of penalties and pre-2021 penalties

135BDiscretionary relief if reasonable cause

  1. The Commissioner may grant relief to a liable person in the manner prescribed by section 135A if the Commissioner is satisfied that—

  2. there was a reasonable cause for the delay in payment of the debt to which a penalty relates; and
    1. the liable person remedied the default as soon as practicable.

      1. For the purposes of this section, reasonable cause means an event or circumstance in relation to a liable person that—

      2. is beyond the control of the liable person, including a serious illness, an accident, or a disaster; and
        1. caused, in the opinion of the Commissioner, a reasonable delay in the payment of a financial support debt by the liable person.

          Notes
          • Section 135B: substituted, on , by section 32(1) of the Child Support Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 42).