04.04.2014 Views

Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

parent-child relationship has the. effect of saying “I wish you had never been<br />

born” to a child who, before the revelation of biological fatherhood, was under the<br />

impression that he or she had a father who loved him or her.” “We decline to<br />

allow a party to use a tort or assumpsit claim as a means for sending or<br />

reinforcing this message.“<br />

Ex-husband’s tort and assumpsit causes of action are contrary to public policy.<br />

“We do not believe that having a close and loving relationship “imposed” on one<br />

because of a misrepresentation of biological fatherhood is the type of “harm” that<br />

the law should attempt to remedy.<br />

It does not lie within the power of any judicial system to remedy all human<br />

wrongs, and to attempt to correct such wrongs or give relief from their effects<br />

may do more social damage than if the law leaves them alone. (citation omitted)<br />

The court does not address ex-husbands res judicata and collateral estoppel<br />

arguments.<br />

State v. Cummings, 2 Neb. App. 820, 515 N.W.2d 680 (1994)<br />

Plaintiffs are entitled to a default judgment without offering evidence in support of<br />

the allegations of their petition, except allegations of value and amount of<br />

damage. Weir v. Woodruff, 107 Neb. 585, 186 N.W. 988 (1922)<br />

State on behalf of L.L.B. v. Hill, 268 Neb. 355, 682 NW2d 709 (2004)<br />

This case involves the disestablishment of paternity some 5 years after the default order<br />

was entered. No “replacement father” was involved. The state did not object to the<br />

disestablishment after DNA tests came back showing the legal father to not be the<br />

biological dad. The state appealed the sole issue of the district court’s vacation of child<br />

support arrears. The supreme court reversed the vacation on equitable grounds. Query:<br />

does this case open the door to legal fathers challenging existing paternity orders years<br />

later?<br />

Judgments: Equity: Time. A litigant seeking the vacation or modification of a<br />

prior judgment after term may take one of two routes. The litigant may proceed<br />

either under Neb. Rev. Stat. §25-2001 (Cum. Supp. 2002) or under the district<br />

court’s independent equity jurisdiction.<br />

To be entitled to equitable relief from a judgment, a party must show that the<br />

situation is not due to his or her fault, neglect, or carelessness.<br />

Dissolution and Related<br />

Alicia C. v. Jeremy C., 283 Neb. 340, ___ N.W.2d ___ (February 2012)<br />

Under <strong>Nebraska</strong> common law, later embodied in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-377 (Reissue<br />

2008), legitimacy of children born during wedlock is presumed, and this presumption<br />

may be rebutted only by clear, satisfactory, and convincing evidence.<br />

When the parties fail to submit evidence at the dissolution proceeding rebutting the<br />

presumption of paternity, the dissolution court can find paternity based on the<br />

presumption alone.<br />

[A]ny dissolution decree which orders child support implicitly makes a final<br />

determination of paternity.<br />

A dissolution decree that orders child support is res judicata on the issue of<br />

paternity.<br />

[S]tatutes (allowing for the disestablishment of paternity) have largely been in<br />

response to a “disestablishment movement” which began after high profile cases in<br />

- 54 -

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!