In June, I was appointed to serve on the Nebraska Child Support Commission. The commission has been tasked with conducting the quadrennial review of the Nebraska Supreme Court Child Support Guidelines. Our job is to make recommendations to the Nebraska Supreme Court regarding any changes to the child support guidelines. For clarity, we do not have the authority to make any changes to the existing Nebraska Parenting Act. Our scope is limited to assessing whether the existing guidelines provide for appropriate levels of child support. Thus far, the Commission hired an economist to evaluate the Nebraska Child Support Guidelines in the present form. Nebraska follows the national trend of having an “income shares” model that takes into account both parents respective incomes when calculating the appropriate child support. Nebraska also follows national trends in terms of the guideline amounts. Nebraska is not the highest, nor the lowest nationally in child support orders. The economist noted that major changes to the guidelines are not indicated. Any change made to the existing Nebraska Child Support Guidelines will not be applied retroactively. Further, changes to the existing guidelines is not sufficient to warrant a material change of circumstances to modify a decree. Existing child support orders will remain as is. If you have any comments or questions about the existing Nebraska child support guidelines, please email Angela@nebraskadivorce. Angela Dunne
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 16:28:18 +0000