Nebraska Child Support Laws

Child support is a monthly payment that parents make to help cover the costs of raising a child. In Nebraska, both parents have an equal duty to support their children financially and otherwise.

The requirements for child support and the amount of child support is calculated based on several factors:

• The net income of the custodial parent
• The net income of the non-custodial parent
• What are the child’s economic needs (school tuition, insurance, child care, transportation, housing, etc.)
• How much time does each parent spend with the child
• How many children are there
• Whether any of the children have special needs, or require special expenses to be paid
• The court may consider the standard of living and lifestyle the child would have enjoyed if the parents had stayed together

Overall, the goal of child support is to ensure that children receive the financial support required to meet their basic needs.

Who Needs to Pay Child Support?

Generally, the parent with whom the child lives most of the time (called the “custodial parent”) tends to be the receiver of the child support payments, and the other parent (the “non-custodial parent”) is the one who pays it. This is because the law assumes that the custodial parent already spends money directly on the child, and that it is the non-custodial parent’s obligation to pay for the child’s needs as well.

Nebraska has special rules if the parents split custody (meaning one child lives with one parent and a second child lives with the other) or if the parents have joint physical custody (where the child or children live an equal amount of time with each parent). In most cases one parent will still pay child support to the other, unless both parents have the same income and spend the same amount of time with the child.

Typically, parents must pay child support until the child turns 19.

The amount of these payments depends on Nebraska’s child support guidelines. These guidelines are the rules for calculating child support.

How Do You Petition for Child Support?

You may apply for child support through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Within the Department is a separate unit called Child Support Enforcement (“CSE”). CSE services can help enforce an order for child support and also modify child support orders upon request.

The application for child support is all done online through the Official Nebraska Government Website. It includes the social security numbers and dates of births for you and your child or children, a copy of your court order for child support (if you are enforcing a prior one), information about you and your child or children, and information about your child or children’s health insurance policy information. You must also supply both parents’ addresses and employment information.

What If You Don’t Pay Child Support?

CSE has a number of ways to enforce overdue child support, which include, but are not limited, to:

• Taking money directly from the paying parent’s paycheck to cover past due child support
• CSE can refer the case to the U.S. State Department if the parent owes more than $2,500. The U.S. State Department will suspend, deny or revoke passports to travel out of the U.S.
• CSE can intercept the paying parent’s state and federal tax returns if that parent falls three or more months behind on child support payments
• If the paying parent falls three or more months behind on child support, CSE has authority to suspend the parent’s professional or occupational, hunting and fishing, and driver’s licenses
• CSE can garnish the parent’s bank accounts and file a lien against any real estate owned by the parent, which isn’t released until the parent catches up on past-due child support payments. Because of the lien, the paying parent cannot sell or transfer the real estate until child support is brought current
• CSE can request the court take the paying parent’s personal property and sell it
• CSE can file a legal action called “contempt,” which requires the paying parent to “show cause.” In other words, the paying parent must explain to a judge why child support payments have been missed. If found in contempt, the parent can serve jail time and receive a judgment that damages his or her credit
• Report the paying parent to the consumer credit bureaus, thereby further damaging the parent’s credit rating
• CSE can charge interest on support payments that are 30 days or more past due

What Recourse Can the Other Parent Have If You Don’t Pay for Support?

If child support payments are overdue, you can contact CSE to help you enforce child support.

However, CSE is a non-judicial process and may take a long time. If you don’t want to wait for CSE to act to resolve past due child support, you can always directly sue for child support in family court. Family court judges can issue orders to help enforce and collect child support that is due.

How Can You Stop Paying Child Support?

The paying parent must pay child support until the age of emancipation. In Nebraska, that age is 19 years old.

If the child marries or dies, there is no longer any obligation to pay child support. This is also true if the child becomes a legally emancipated minor, meaning that by court order the minor is freed from control by their parents or guardians, and the parents or guardians are freed from responsibility for their child. Child support stops for an emancipated child, even if the child is under age 19.

Once the child reaches the natural age of emancipation (i.e. 19 years old), the paying parent need not do anything to stop paying child support being required to pay child support.

Where Can You Find the Right Lawyer?

Child support requirements and regulations can vary from state to state. If the child moves from one state to another, the requirements for child support may change. While the states may have similar child support laws, it is important to know their variations to make sure that child support is properly ordered and collected in the state where the child lives.

Child support disputes can be very emotional, and tempers can flare. Having a lawyer on your side is a good way to ensure that negotiations are handled in a businesslike, straightforward manner, so that you and your ex-spouse or partner arrive at an answer that is fair to both the parents and to the child. The outcome of child support decisions can last for many years, and to avoid future problems it is important to get them right the first time around.

If you need help with child support, whether to petition the order, adjust the order, or to stop the order, then contact a Nebraska child support lawyer today to get the help you need.