Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Pearson v. Pearson, 285 Neb. 686, ___ N.W.2d ___ (April 2013)
Facts: Mom remarried and wanted to move to Alaska with the kids. The District Court allowed
her to, but in return canceled Dad’s child support obligation. No work sheet was attached.
Held: A worksheet must be attached, showing how the trial court reached the conclusion that
travel/visitation expenses equaled what the Dad would have paid in support.
Only reasonable transportation expenses may reduce or abate a child support
obligation. Allowing unlimited abatement of child support, to the point where the
custodial parent receives substantially reduced or no child support, is contrary to the
children’s best interests. . . . a custodial parent has some fixed and constant
expenses in raising children, and these expenses do not decrease during extended
periods of visitation with the noncustodial parent. These expenses certainly do not
decrease simply because transportation costs significantly increase.
Peter v. Peter, 262 Neb. 1017, 637 N.W.2d 865 (2002)
In using Nebraska Child Support Guidelines to set or modify support, it is inappropriate
and contrary to the best interests of the children to use income
averaging when the obligor’s income is consistently increasing.
As a general matter, the parties’ current earnings are to be used in setting support.
Riggs v. Riggs, 261 Neb. 344, 622 N.W.2d 861 (2001)
For purposes of [§ 4-204] of the Nebraska Child Support Guidelines, a “meanstested
public assistance benefit” is a benefit that includes a payment in money, or
by assistance in kind, to, or for the benefit of, a person where (1) the eligibility for the
benefit or (2) the amount of the benefit is determined on the basis of the income or
resources of the recipient, such that the benefit decreases as the recipient’s income
increases.
The earned income credit under the federal Internal Revenue Code is a meanstested
public assistance benefit under [§ 4-204] of the Nebraska Child Support
Guidelines.
Rutherford v. Rutherford, 277 Neb. 301, 761 N.W.2d 922 (2009)
If a trial court fails to prepare the applicable worksheets, the parties are required
to request that such worksheet be included in the trial court’s order. Orders for child
support or modification which do not contain such worksheets will on appeal be
summarily remanded to the trial court so that it can prepare the worksheets as
required by the guidelines. Such requirement is set forth in this court’s rules. [§4-
203}
Under the guidelines, a deviation in the amount of child support is allowed
“‘whenever the application of the guidelines in an individual case would be unjust or
inappropriate.’”
“Deviations from the guidelines must take into consideration the best interests of
the child.”
In the event of a deviation from the guidelines, the trial court should “state the
amount of support that would have been required under the guidelines absent the
deviation and include the reason for the deviation in the findings portion of the
decree or order, or complete and file worksheet 5 in the court file.”
The guidelines provided that a parent who requests an adjustment in child support
for health insurance premiums “must submit proof of the cost of the premium.”
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