I’m about to go to my first Admin Review. Apparently I earn a small fortune, have a small fortune tucked away, and am extremely anti my daughter. I have no idea what I’ve done with my fortune and my partner is going to be very angry when she finds out I’ve lost this small fortune, plus I quite like my daughter, altho I do tell her off when she is rude. Anyway, I’m being sarcastic. I would really appreciate any advice (including horror stories) of what to expect in an Admin Review and how to approach one.

I’ve read a few horror stories about what goes on with Family Court decisions… are the Admin Reviews anything like this? My main concern is that they can assess you on your “earning capacity”, meaning that they have the right to assess me on what I might earn if I worked 20 hours a day, leaving my partner to do all the childcare (we have a baby of our own). I find it quite amazing that someone can make totally unsubstantiated and damaging claims (that will probably result in an audit) in order to get more money out of me. I know too damn well that no evidence will be required to back up her claims and even if I spent some of my small fortune proving that her allegations are nothing more than lies, there will be no consequences to pay for her.

I admit I have no faith in the justice system, Child Support or Family Court… 12 years ago, our daughter was 2 and I had spent those 2 years raising her pretty much full time. Upon our separation I asked for joint custody… but no… in one day I discovered the mother had abducted the child, went to the USA for 2 months while serving me with a sole custody application, AND I had the police arrive on my doorstep to serve me with a restraining order because I had assaulted both the mother and the daughter. Being utterly naive, I thought justice would prevail and that surely you can’t just say these lies and get away with it, surely you’d need evidence… No! So that’s when I lost my daughter. Since then I’ve been lying low, paying far more than I should in a voluntary agreement, but also seeing quite a bit of my daughter as a result. But nothing ever resembling co-parenting. Now my partner and I have had a baby, and man the sh&* has hit the fan. Psycho ex just can’t contain herself. So now I find myself going off to an Admin Review to explain how I don’t remember where I’ve lost my small fortune.

Joking aside, any advice appreciated.