By law, both parents are required to support their child financially. In some cases this may involve one parent paying a child support payment to the other, to help with the costs of raising a child.
Child support laws in Australia allow for children with separated parents to be covered by the Child Support scheme, administered by the Child Support Agency. The scheme uses a formula, based on the income of both parents, the costs of raising children, the number of dependent children that each parent has, the number of children covered by the assessment, and the proportion of care that each parent provides for the children.