Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Henke v. Guerrero, 13 Neb. App. 337, 692 N.W.2d 762 (2005)
While a paternity action is one at law, the award of child support in such an action
is equitable in nature. “Child support is equitable relief.”
A trial court’s award of child support in a paternity case will not be disturbed on
appeal in the absence of an abuse of discretion by the trial court.
Jameson v. Jameson, 13 Neb. App. 703, 700 N.W.2d 638 (2005)
Facts: For several years, Father voluntarily increased the amount of child support he paid
through the child support payment office, resulting in a $19,000 overpayment according to the
records of the clerk of district court. Mother sought erasure of credit, claiming that
overpayments were not an accident but represented voluntary payments by father. (Parents
had agreed informally that support should be increased, but did not seek judicial ratification of
their informal agreement)
Held: Credit is erased, and Father cannot apply overpayments to offset his later
underpayments of support.
Whether overpayments of child support should be credited retroactively against child
support payments in arrears is a question of law. See Palagi v. Palagi, 10 Neb.
App. 231, 627 N.W.2d 765 (2001).
The general rule for support overpayment claims is that no credit is given for
voluntary overpayments of child support, even if they are made under a
mistaken belief that they are legally required. Exceptions are made to the “no credit
for voluntary overpayment of child support rule” when the equities of the
circumstances demand it and when allowing a credit will not work a hardship on the
minor children.
Jensen v. Jensen, 275 Neb. 921, 750 N.W.2d 335 (2008)
[T]he void conditional judgment rule does not extend to actions in
equity. Conditional judgments are a fundamental tool with which courts
sitting in equity have traditionally been privileged to properly devise a
remedy to meet the situation. Therefore, where it is necessary and
equitable to do so, a court of equitable jurisdiction may enter a
conditional judgment and such judgment will not be deemed void
simply by virtue of its conditional nature.
Inequity may result if the court adopts a policy of less than full
enforcement of mutually agreed-upon property and support
agreements.
[P]ublic policy forbids enforcement of a private agreement that purports to discharge
a parent’s liability for child support, if the agreement does not adequately provide for
the child. But the agreement at issue here did not discharge (the father’s) liability for
child support. Instead, it expressly provided (the father) with credit for a payment
that the parties agreed would constitute prepayment of any subsequent child support
award. We conclude that on the facts of this case, the agreement is enforceable.
When overpayments of child support are voluntarily made outside the terms of
a court order, the general rule is that no credit is given for those payments. The
principle behind this rule is that such a credit would be tantamount to allowing one
party to unilaterally modify the court’s order, which could result in the deprivation of
future support benefits. Nonetheless, even then, a credit against child support
can be granted where equity requires it. This case is not a case involving a
voluntary overpayment because it was the payment specified in the court’s order.
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