Where the formula assessment is claimed to result in an amount of child support which is unjustly high because of 'special circumstances', either of the parents can seek a departure from the rate administratively assessed.

For example, in H v H (1999) FLC 98-010 a father applied for a departure order, namely that his child support liability be reduced from $40 per week per child for the two children of the marriage who were aged 9 and 6 years.

The father had limited earning capacity because his lower left leg had been amputated after a work injury, and he was currently unemployed.

In October 1998 he had received $215,000 by way of a WorkCare payment which he used to purchase a farm property.

In dismissing the husband's application for a reduction in child support liability, the Family Court said that had the husband set aside 20% of his WorkCare payment as a fund on which he could draw child support, he would have been able to meet his child support obligations and still have left a sum to place a deposit on a property.

Therefore the circumstances of the case did not fit within one of the grounds for a departure order.

In assessing whether there are special circumstances to depart from a formula assessment of child support based on the payer's decreased income, a court will look at the reasons for the drop in income, the payer's earning capacity and the payer's assets and financial resources.