Yeutter v. Barber (Nebraska 2021)

Incarceration doesn’t completely relieve a parent from paying child support. The parents had one child and under their paternity decree, the father didn’t pay support. The father filed to modify custody, and the mother crossclaimed for a modification of custody and child support. By the time of the trial, the father was incarcerated. The trial court granted the mother’s request for current and retroactive support. The father appealed the final order. Specific to child support, he argued his incarceration should relieve him of the obligation to pay support. The appellate court upheld the support provision of the final order. The appellate court noted caselaw clearly supports a parent’s obligation to pay some support even when incarcerated. The father failed to include the underlying order in the record on appeal so the appellate court declined to address any argument as to a material change from the initial order.