Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

State on behalf of Pathammavong v. Pathammavong, 268 Neb. 1, 679 N.W.2d 749
(2004)
Generally, issues of child support and custody are treated as separate and distinct
issues.
We have also held that when a party.owes past-due child support, the failure to pay
must be found to be a willful failure to pay, in spite of an ability to pay, before an
application to modify child support may be dismissed on the basis of unclean
hands.
State v. Yelli, 247 Neb. 785, 530 N.W.2d 250 (1995)
But don’t expect to get the judgment into evidence in a criminal nonsupport case that easily!
A judgment in a civil.paternity adjudication is res judicata as between the same
parties in a subsequent civil action such as a support modification proceeding.
Theisen v. Theisen, 14 Neb. App. 441 (2006)
Child support orders are always subject to review and modification. See
Reinsch v. Reinsch, 259 Neb. 564, 611 N.W.2d 86 (2000).
Voichoskie v. Voichoskie, 215 Neb. 775, 340 N.W.2d 442 (1983)
‗―Whenever a party, who, as actor, seeks to set the judicial machinery in motion and
obtain some remedy, has violated conscience, or good faith, or other equitable
principle, in his prior conduct, then the doors of the court will be shut against him in
limine; the court will refuse to interfere on his behalf, to acknowledge his right, or to
award him any remedy.‖ Citing Brown v. Alron, Inc., 223 Neb. 1, 7, 388 N.W.2d 67,
72 (1986).
A court should not be automatically precluded from entertaining an application to
modify a decree where the applicant is in arrears. A parent who is in arrears but is
otherwise entitled to a modification of monthly support payments should not be
denied relief under the ‗clean hands‘ doctrine if the court is satisfied that he has a
valid excuse for not meeting his required payments in full, e.g., financial inability to
pay.‖
However: where the evidence discloses that a party is in fact able to pay past due
support, such that he could be or has been found in contempt for the failure to pay,
he will be barred by the clean hands doctrine from requesting a modification of the
decree
Wagner v. Wagner, 262 Neb. 924, 636 N.W.2d 879 (2001)
A divorce decree does not require a parent to remain in the same employment, and
child support may be calculated based on actual income when a career change is
made in good faith.
whether the decision to leave employment was made in good faith is only one factor
to be considered, and an award of child support could be based on a parent‘s
earning capacity even when the parent acted in good faith.
However, while child support may be based on a parent‘s earning capacity when a
parent voluntarily leaves a higher paying job for lower paying employment, and a
reduction in the amount of that parent‘s support obligation would seriously impair the
needs of the children, support may be based on a lower rate of income for the
obligated parent when he changes jobs in good faith, and there is no evidence
that the needs of the minor children will be adversely affected by the reduction
in earnings.
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