Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Among the factors to be considered in determining whether a material change of
circumstances has occurred are changes in the financial position of the parent
obligated to pay support, the needs of the children for whom support is paid, good or
bad faith motive of the obligated parent in sustaining a reduction in income, and
whether the change is temporary or permanent. In the absence of proof of new facts
and circumstances arising since the time of the original decree, an allowance of child
support therein will be deemed res judicata.
The filing of a motion for summary judgment in opposition to a complaint to modify
child support may or may not be a proper pleading, however it cannot be sustained
when the evidence, taken in a light most favorable to the other party, is inconclusive
in showing a lack of a material change in financial circumstances.
child‟s diagnosis with disease which required outlay of additional expense not
contemplated at time of original decree or first modification was material change in
circumstances
The support of one‘s children is a fundamental obligation that takes precedence over
almost everything else.
The court did not abuse its discretion when it deviated from the guidelines by not
considering farming losses when calculating the noncustodial parent‘s monthly
income.
Reinsch v. Reinsch, 259 Neb. 564, 611 N.W.2d 86 (2000)
once a material change of circumstances was demonstrated with respect to amount
of child support, trial court was justified in also modifying duration of child support
order. (There is no need to find a separate material change in circumstances for
each and every modification of a term of the support order, so long as at least one
material change in circumstances is found by the trial court. The one change in
circumstances opens the door to a modification of any of the terms of the order.)
Rhoades v. Rhoades, 258 Neb. 721, 605 N.W.2d 454 (2000)
A party seeking to modify a child support order must show a material change in
circumstances which has occurred subsequent to the entry of the original decree or
a previous modification and was not contemplated when the decree was entered.
Among the factors to be considered in determining whether a material change of
circumstances has occurred are changes in the financial position of the parent
obligated to pay support, the needs of the children for whom support is paid, good or
bad faith motive of the obligated parent in sustaining a reduction in income, and
whether the change is temporary or permanent.
As a general rule, the income of a self-employed person can be determined from
his or her income tax return. However, income for the purpose of child support is not
necessarily synonymous with taxable income.
We conclude that the district court abused its discretion in allowing a deviation from
the current child support guidelines by permitting the obligor to deduct the cost of his
tractor in computing his income for child support purposes in the modification
proceeding in the absence of a showing that this deduction was utilized at the time
of the original child support determination and that application of the deduction was
necessary in order to avoid an unjust or inappropriate result.
Good discussion of how to figure income on the self employed
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