Child Support Lawyers
Manby and Scott Child Support Lawyers was a law firm which operated from 2004 until 2025. The firm practised solely in child support law and was involved in a number of significant, precedent making court cases during that time.
In 2025 the projected legal costs for one of the firm’s average cases in the Family Court reached $100,000 for the first time. The average time taken to reach trial was nearly 3 years.
A new way had to be found to solve clients’ child support issues outside of the expensive litigation or traditional lawyer path.
In 2025 Manby and Scott Child Support Lawyers shut down. In its place Simon Bacon, formally special counsel at Manby and Scott Child Support Lawyers commenced Manby and Scott Child Support Advisory Services (Manby and Scott).
Manby and Scott is not a law firm. It is a child support consultancy firm which guides its clients through the web of administrative avenues which exist to solve child support problems outside of the court system.
Such avenues include the binding child support agreement process, the Child Support Agency’s own internal review process, the CDDA scheme, the ART, even VCAT (and its interstate equivalents) can be used to solve child support issues in some cases. Often, just the preparation of a financial investigator’s report on the other parent’s true business and financial circumstances will be enough to persuade that parent to settle a case.
If there is a solution to be found for a client’s child support difficulties (and there almost always is), Manby and Scott will find it. Manby and Scott will generally do this without needing to litigate in the (ruinously expensive) court system or otherwise engaging a lawyer. If a lawyer is required in the case though (and, sometimes it is), Manby and Scott will assist the client to appoint one with some proper level of knowledge in the jurisdiction and then manage that lawyer’s engagement so as to ensure the client’s interests are protected.
Manby and Scott’s managing partner is Simon Bacon. Simon remains on the High Court’s Register of Practitioners but is no longer a practising barrister and solicitor. He ceased that in 2025. Before ceasing legal practise Simon had 35 years’ experience as a child support lawyer. He was special counsel at Manby and Scott Child Support Lawyers. He is a published text book writer on child support law and has had no fewer than 8 peer reviewed articles on child support published in the Family Law Review. He appeared as counsel regularly in the Family Court, including in the Full Court of the Family Court. Simon’s knowledge of the child support system is second to none.
To contact Simon, call him directly on 0423 778 728 or email him by clicking HERE.
Contact Us
Normanby Chambers
430 Little Collins St
Melbourne, Victoria
3000 Australia
PH: 0423 778 728
Manby and Scott offers a free, no obligation initial interview of up to 1 hour for its potential clients. The firm practises throughout Australia.
Areas of Practice
Enforcement of child support debts
Once the Child Support Agency registers a maintenance liability for collection, the amounts payable are debts due to the Commonwealth by the payer. The debt is enforceable by the Agency and may be recovered through administrative processes or court proceedings (brought by either the Child Support Agency or the payee).
Change of child support assessments
The Child Support Agency uses an administrative formula to make a child support assessment. However, if parents or children have special circumstances, the administrative formula may not provide a fair level of child support. Part 6A Child Support Assessment provides a means for the Child Support Agency to administratively change a child support assessment in the special circumstances of a case.
Child support agreements/Variation of agreements
The Child Support legislation allows (and even encourages) parents to reach agreement on the amount of child support to be paid. A child support agreement has to meet the requirements of the legislation and has to include matters that can be dealt with in a child support agreement. Once parents have made a child support agreement, either parent can apply to the Child Support Agency to have it accepted.
Paternity
When a carer parent applies for a child support assessment from the Child Support Agency, the Agency can be satisfied that the person they seek child support from is a parent of a child only in 8 fact situations (section 29(2) Child Support Assessment Act):
Departure Orders
In certain circumstances the Child Support Assessment Act allows parents who are dissatisfied with decisions made by the Child Support Agency’s change of assessment process to apply directly to a court to have that decision reviewed
Overseas child support matters
Due to various treaties Australia has entered into, the Child Support Agency has considerable responsibilities in the fields of collecting child support from Australians on behalf of payees who are overseas and also collecting on behalf of Australian payees from payers who are overseas.