Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

[W]hen the court has entered a default judgment and the defendant has made a
prompt application at the same term to set it aside, with the tender of an answer or
other proof disclosing a meritorious defense, the court should on reasonable
terms sustain the motion and permit the cause to be heard on the merits. A
meritorious or substantial defense or cause means one which is worthy of judicial
inquiry because it raises a question of law deserving some investigation and
discussion or a real controversy as to the essential facts.12 To vacate the default
judgment, Buckhalter is not required to show that he will ultimately prevail, but only
that he has a recognized defense that is not frivolous.
By failing to take the genetic testing ordered by the court, Buckhalter passed up
the opportunity to present a meritorious defense.
Buckhalter argues that the employment verification forms the State introduced to
show Buckhalter’s income were inadequate. Buckhalter contends that the State
should have requested his tax returns through discovery instead of relying on the
employment verification forms as evidence of his income. … We believe the State
used a reasonable method to obtain information about Buckhalter’s income when
he refused to participate in the proceedings or submit evidence in his own behalf.
The court did not err in calculating its child support award on employment
verification forms instead of tax returns or wage stubs.
Steinberg v. Stahlnecker, 200 Neb. 466, 468, 263 N.W.2d 861, 863 (1978)
Where a judgment has been entered by default and a prompt application has been
made at the same term to set it aside, with the tender of an answer or other proof
disclosing a meritorious defense, the court should on reasonable terms sustain the
motion and permit the cause to be heard on the merits.
A party seeking to vacate a default judgment must tender an answer or other proof
disclosing a meritorious defense (as a condition of having the default judgment
vacated).
Talkington v. Womens Servs., 256 Neb. 2, 588 N.W.2d 790 (1999)
A district court has the inherent authority to vacate or modify
its decision within the same term in which the initial decision
was rendered.
Discovery
See Nebraska Rules for Discovery, in PDF or HTML
formats.
Disestablishment and related
(See also Paternity)
The Unicameral upended the legal apple cart on this issue in 2008, by passage of LB 1014
(Section 47). The bill is codified at § 43-1412.01:
§ 43-1412.01. Legal determination of paternity set aside; when; guardian ad litem;
court orders.
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