Child custody and support cases can be tough on both the children and the parents involved, and they can be especially difficult when you do not understand Nebraska child support enforcement laws. “The best interest of the child” regarding child custody often leans substantially on subjective opinion while child support laws are often based on fact, such as income and expenses. Each child support case will be evaluated individually, taking into consideration the financial position of both parents.
If you are unfamiliar with the laws, here are four things you should know about child support:
- Law Determines Child Support. The intent of the law is to ensure your child has his or her basic needs financially provided for. Nebraska child support guidelines outline how child support should be calculated. However, the court has the right to deviate from conventional calculations in situations that deem it necessary. One example of this would be if one of the parents has temporarily lost their income source.
- Your Child Deserves Your Financial Support. Nebraska child support law recognizes that children have a legal right to be supported financially by both parents. Non-custodial parents often feel the child support is being paid to the custodial parent while custodial parents often feel the child support is owed to them. In reality, and according to the law, the child support is the legal right of the child and not the right of either of the parents. When it all boils down, children require financing to remain safe and secure and to grow.
- Joint Custody Does Not Mean No Child Support. In most joint custody cases, one parent or the other still has custody of the child more often than the other parent. The child will need to remain stable within their community, school, church, and activities, and that means that the child will remain with one of the parents most of the time. Therefore, the court will determine which parent the child spends the most time with and will order the other parent to pay child support. In joint custody situations, the child support ordered will be determined using the Nebraska joint custody calculation worksheet.
- Custodial Parents are Not Required to Explain How Child Support is Spent. This is a touchy subject for many separated or divorced parents, however, most states do not require custodial parents to account for child support funds. This is also true for Nebraska, but if the non-custodial parent can provide evidence showing the custodial parent is not demonstrating financial responsibility, the court can order to custodial parent to provide an accounting of how child support funds are spent.
Contact Our Firm Today
You can change the amount of child support you are paying if your financial situation has changed. If you are paying child support and you and the custodial parent cannot see eye-to-eye about the child support, you may want to contact a Nebraska child support lawyer to help you evaluate what you should be paying and plead your case to the court. To schedule a consultation, contact our office at (402) 298-8288.