Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

We hold that in a civil contempt proceeding, a district court has inherent power to
order compensatory relief when a contemnor has violated its order or judgment. We
further hold that whether a contempt sanction is civil or criminal is relevant only
when a party appeals from an interlocutory order of contempt. An interlocutory
contempt order is an order that a court issues during an ongoing proceeding before
the final judgment in the main action.
Finally, we conclude that for future cases, the standard of proof in civil contempt
proceedings is clear and convincing evidence, unless the Legislature has
mandated another standard.
Civil contempt proceedings are ‘”instituted to preserve and enforce the rights of
private parties to the suit and to compel obedience to orders and decrees made to
enforce the rights and to administer the remedies to which the court has found them
to be entitled . . . , ‘” Civil contempt proceedings are remedial and coercive in their
nature.
“[T]he power to punish for contempt of court is a power inherent in all courts of
general jurisdiction, . . . independent of any special or express grant of statute.”
Nebraska courts, through their inherent judicial power, have the authority to do all
things reasonably necessary for the proper administration of justice. And this
authority exists apart from any statutory grant of authority.
Because of the court’s continuing equity jurisdiction over the [divorce] decree, the
power to provide equitable relief in a contempt proceeding is particularly
appropriate.
a court cannot modify a dissolution decree in a contempt proceeding absent an
application for a modification and notice that a party seeks modification.
if a complainant seeks, or a court is considering, a modification of the underlying
decree as an equitable sanction for contempt of the court’s decree, the alleged
contemnor must first have notice that a modification and a finding of contempt will be
at issue. But when the alleged contemnor has notice and an opportunity to be
heard, a court can modify the underlying decree as a remedy for contempt if the
violation cannot be adequately remedied otherwise.
a coercive contempt sanction is conditioned upon the contemnor’s continued
noncompliance with a court order; i.e., the defendant is in a position to mitigate the
sentence by complying with the court’s order. In contrast, criminal contempt
sanctions are punitive. They vindicate the court’s authority and cannot be ended by
any act of the contemnor.
only civil contempt orders issued before a final judgment in the main action are
interlocutory [and thus not appealable].
For appeal purposes, we hold that the distinction between criminal and civil
contempt sanctions has no relevance to whether a party may appeal from a final
order in a supplemental postjudgment contempt proceeding.
We now overrule any cases that could be interpreted as holding that a final civil
contempt order from a postjudgment pro eding is nonappealable and may only be
attacked through a habeas corpus proceeding.
a party to a final marital dissolution decree cannot ask a court to interpret the
decree other than through a modification or a contempt proceding
in some circumstances, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-358(3) (Reissue 2008) permits a
rebuttable presumption of contempt if a prima facie showing is made that an obligor
is delinquent in his or her child or spousal support obligations.
- 40 -