Aussie mum forced to pay abusive millionaire ex child support

An Aussie mum who escaped her abusive wealthy ex is now battling to overturn a court ruling that is causing her financial distress.

To the world they appeared to be the wealthy power couple enjoying a comfortable lifestyle with a property portfolio worth millions, luxury cars and a boat.

But behind closed doors life was hell.

Now she is being chased by the Child Support Agency to pay him — a multi millionaire — maintenance which she believes is to cause her financial distress.

“He’s doing this for shits and giggles,” the mother said.

The former husband was issued a Police Domestic Violence Order after he allegedly hired a private investigator to follow her for months. He accepted the order without admission to the underlying allegations. He has not been charged with any offence relating to domestic violence.

After she first fled to a women’s shelter she ended up staying there for 100 days because he refused to allow her access to a property in her own name.

On another occasion he managed to access her account and cancel a flight she had booked without her knowledge.

The mother said her ex was originally ordered to pay her child support. He appealed twice and lost.

However, since then he told the support agency he earns less than three per cent of what he had previously been earning, and now she is being asked by them to pay him $1000 a month, which is not always possible with her income, and even though she has the children 60 / 40.

The mum is appealing the decision, but said it was “a fulltime job fighting the system” and said there should be safeguards for partners who had suffered domestic violence in their relationship.

She said she had told her story to at least 30 staffers at the Child Support Agency, but no-one has been able to help her.

An Australian mother, who escaped from domestic violence, says she’s still being financially manipulated by her ex. Picture: John Gass

A Swinburne University report last year found eight in 10 women “reported that their ex-partner had replaced physical abuse with financial abuse via child support as a way to control them since they separated”.

“I don’t know how I am managing to do it while looking after children and working,” the mum said.

Her story coincides with Women’s Legal Services Australia’s exclusive research paper into the extent of economic abuse of women through the Child Support Agency which was released on Friday.

WLSA Executive Officer Lara Freidin said child support payees — 85 per cent of which were women in Australia — are currently owed almost $2 billion in unpaid child support.

“The current system reinforces traditional power dynamics, upholds men’s financial interests, and facilitates economic abuse against women and children,” Ms Freidin said.

“The system is being weaponised against women.”

Ms Friedin said she would be forwarding the research paper called Non-Payment of Child Support as Economic Abuse of Women and Children: A Literature Review to Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth, as well as pushing for more funding for legal services in the Budget to support female victims of the Child Support Agency.

Karen Bevan, CEO of Full Stop Australia, which campaigns for victims of domestic violence, said post-separation financial abuse was “devastatingly common”.

“It is also not uncommon to see the family law system wielded as a space to abuse within, which speaks to the cunning and cruel tactics many perpetrators use to continue controlling their ex-partner, and their children, even after a separation.

“It is critical that governments act fast to close these abuse loopholes.”

“Systems abuse” was recognised in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032.

The Albanese Government implemented legislation last year to improve the timely collection of child support owed to parents and invested $5.1 million to build the evidence base for longer term improvements to the child support system, examining issues like non-compliance as a means of financial abuse.

Originally published as Aussie mum forced to pay abusive millionaire ex child support