Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

Freis v. Harvey, 5 Neb. App. 679, 563 N.W.2d 363 (1997)
Child support judgments are not rendered dormant by the passage of time.
Kiplinger v. Nebraska Dept. of Nat. Resources, 282 Neb. 237, ____ N.W.2d ____
(Sept. 2011)
A statute is presumed to be constitutional, and all reasonable doubts are resolved in
favor of its constitutionality. The burden of establishing the unconstitutionality of a
statute is on the one attacking its validity.
The unconstitutionality of a statute must be clearly established before it will be
declared void.
Kropf v. Kropf, 248 Neb. 614, 538 N.W.2d 496 (1995)
§§ 42-358 and 43-512.03I do not grant the district court the authority to appoint the
county attorney to pursue support obligation arrearage where the decree, order, or
judgment does not provide for child support.
Little v. Streater, 452 U.S. 1, 101 S.Ct. 2202, 68 L.Ed.2d 627 (1981)
‣ The denial of the aid of a genetic test to indigent defendants in state-initiated
paternity suits violates due process.
Mathews v. Mathews, 267 Neb. 604, 676 N.W.2d 42 (2004)
A finding of indigency is a matter within the initial discretion of the trial court, and
such a finding will not be set aside on appeal in the absence of an abuse of
discretion by the trial court.
Seymour v. Froelich, 236 Neb. 808, 464 N.W.2d 310 (1991)
Citing: Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 108 at 321 (1971)
a "judgment for the payment of money will not be enforced in other states unless
the amount to be paid has been finally determined under the local law of the
state of rendition."
State v. Yelli, 247 Neb. 785, 530 N.W.2d 250 (1995)
Because the burdens of proof would be the same, 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.
Evidence of prior civil adjudications has been admitted in a subsequent criminal
nonsupport proceeding to establish the defendant‘s obligation to support his
child. The prior civil adjudications are admitted as nonconclusive evidence of the
defendant‘s support obligation.
But: The judgment in a civil paternity action is not binding under the doctrines of
res judicata or collateral estoppel in a subsequent criminal case.
Prior paternity adjudications lack reliability if they do not affirmatively show that
the alleged father was represented by or waived his right to counsel.
Both federal and state due process dictate that an indigent defendant in a stateassisted
civil paternity action has the right to the services of appointed counsel.
* Query…what do you do when the alleged father defaults in his paternity case? Did he
waive his right to counsel?
- 34 -