Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Millatmal v. Millatmal, 272 Neb. 452, 723 N.W.2d 79 (2006)
In divorce action between two natives of Pakistan, husband was ordered to pay child support for
child who lived with mother, but who was legally married under Pakistani law, in an arranged
marriage. Child’s husband continued to live in Pakistan. No steps had been taken to end that
marriage.
§42-117 (Reissue 2004) – All marriages contracted without this state, which would
be valid by the laws of the country in which the same were contracted, shall be valid
in all courts and places in this state.
Query: Where does this leave us should a same sex couple legally married in Canada, Europe,
D.C and various other United States, seek a separation agreement or divorce here, and child
support is an issue? How about a CP who is divorced from a same sex marriage who has a
child support order stemming from that divorce? Stay tuned…
Given that Naheed’s Pakistani marriage is considered valid in Nebraska, we
conclude that Naheed is emancipated. As a result of her emancipation, the district
court abused its discretion in ordering Taj to pay child support to Parveen.
See, also, Randall v. Randall, 216 Neb. 541, 545, 345 N.W.2d 319, 321 (1984)
(“validity of a marriage is generally determined by the law of the place where it was
contracted”).
Moore v. Bauer, 11 Neb. App. 572, 657 N.W.2d 25 (2003)
In Nebraska, an obligor’s duty to pay child support for a child terminates when the
child reaches 19 years of age, the child marries, the child dies, or the child is
emancipated by a court of competent jurisdiction, unless the court order for child
support specifically extends child support after such circumstances. Neb. Rev. Stat.
§42-371.01 (Cum. Supp. 2002).
Palagi v. Palagi, 10 Neb. App. 231, 627 N.W.2d 765 (2001)
Facts : Nebraska divorce involving a noted Omaha attorney. Parties continued to reside in
Nebraska, but 18 yr old child went away to college in Kansas, which has an 18 year age of
emancipation. Obligor parent wanted to stop paying child support.
Held: Support continues.
Emancipation means the freeing of the child for a portion of its minority from the
care, custody, control, and service of its parents.
Emancipation occurs where the parent renounces all the legal duties and voluntarily
surrenders all the legal rights of his or her position to the child or to others.
A child who moves out of a custodial parent’s home for a short time is not
emancipated if that child continues to be supported by a parent.
In order to acquire a domicile by choice, there must be a concurrence of (1)
residence (physical presence) in the new locality and (2) an intention to remain there
This state also has a significant interest in having its law applied to its divorce
decree, which still governs the matter of child support obligations between two of this
state’s citizens.
a number of courts have declined to apply either a newly enacted age of majority or
another state’s age of majority to a preexisting support decree. These cases reason
that at the time the support agreement was issued, the parties intended the age of
majority in support orders to mean the age of majority existing when the support
order originated.
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