Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

In guardianship termination proceedings involving a biological or adoptive parent,
the parental preference principle serves to establish a rebuttable presumption that
the best interests of a child are served by reuniting the child with his or her parent.
An individual who opposes the termination of a guardianship bears the burden of
proving by clear and convincing evidence that the biological or adoptive parent either
is unfit or has forfeited his or her right to custody. Absent such proof, the
constitutional dimensions of the relationship between parent and child require
termination of the guardianship and reunification with the parent.
Parental unfitness means a personal deficiency or incapacity which has prevented,
or will probably prevent, performance of a reasonable parental obligation in child
rearing or which has caused, or probably will result in, detriment to a child’s wellbeing.
… evidence of unfitness should be focused upon a parent’s ability to care for
a child, and not any other moral failings a parent may have.
“[i]f the evidence of unfitness is insufficient to justify termination of parental rights in
an action maintained under the Nebraska Juvenile Code,” then “similarly deficient
evidence of parental unfitness” would prevent a court from granting child custody “to
one who is a stranger to the parent-child relationship.”
Muzzey v. Ragone, 20 Neb. App. 669, ___ N.W.2d ____ (April 2013)
The issue of grandparent visitation is still a hot topic in Nebraska. Here is the latest.
Held: A party may have standing to sue at the inception of a case, but intervening
circumstances may serve to render the case moot. Here, the fact that the parents of the minor
child married subsequent to the filing of the petition for grandparent visitation served not so
much to deprive the grandparents of standing, as to render the case moot.
Section 43-1802(1) provides that a grandparent may seek visitation with a
grandchild if:
‣ The child’s parent or parents are deceased;
‣ The marriage of the child’s parents has been dissolved or petition for the
dissolution of such marriage has been filed, is still pending, but no decree has
been entered; or
‣ The parents of the minor child have never been married but paternity has
been legally established.
Both standing and mootness are key functions in determining whether a justiciable
controversy exists, or whether a litigant has a sufficient interest in a case to warrant
declaratory relief. Wetovick v. County of Nance, 279 Neb. 773, 782 N.W.2d 298
(2010); Schneider v. Lambert, 19 Neb. App. 271, 809 N.W.2d 515 (2011). A case
becomes moot when the issues initially presented in the litigation cease to exist,
when the litigants lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome of litigation, or
when the litigants seek to determine a question which does not rest upon existing
facts or rights, in which the issues presented are no longer alive.
Nielsen v. Nielsen, 207 Neb. 141, 296 N.W.2d 483 (1980)
The right of a parent to the custody of his minor child is not lightly to be set aside in
favor of more distant relatives or unrelated parties, and the courts may not deprive a
parent of such custody unless he is shown to be unfit or to have forfeited his
superior right to such custody.
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