Divorce, Parenting & Support

Divorce, Parenting & Support

Do it yourself...

For Individuals who have no children and own little property

Self-Help Divorce--No Children and No Disputed Property

For Individuals who are in agreement regarding children and own little property

Self-Help Divorce--With Children But No Custody Disputes, Visitation Disputes, or Property Disputes

 For Individuals with child support, visitation needs

Self-Help Child Support
Self-Help Child Support Termination
Enforcement of Child Support Orders
Enforcement of Visitation Order(s)

For Parents who wish to temporarily appoint another adult to make decisions for their child

Temporary Delegation of Parental Powers

Nebraska Parenting Act

Nebraska Parenting Act
Nebraska Parenting Act

If you are involved in Divorce or Custody proceedings in the state of Nebraska there is a high probability that your case falls within the Parenting Act. The Parenting Act brochure can help you determine what the court will require of you during these proceedings.

The Parenting Act:

  • emphasizes the "best-interests of the child" standard as the basis by which child custody and parenting time issues are resolved;
  • recognizes the importance of maintaining parent-child relationships while at the same time protecting victims of abuse and neglect;
  • defines the court-recognized distinction between joint legal and joint physical custody arrangements;
  • requires parents involved in custody and parenting time cases to attend a parenting education course;
  • requires parenting plans for all parenting, custody, visitation, and access to children matters;
  • encourages the voluntary use of mediation to create parenting plans;
  • may require mediation in some contested cases.

 The Nebraska Parenting Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §43-2920, et seq. (2008)

Nebraska Parenting Act Information Brochure (English)

Nebraska Parenting Act Information Brochure (Spanish)

Approved parenting education providers (approved by NE State Court Administrator) can be found under the mediation tab on the left.  

What is a Parenting Plan?

What is a Parenting Plan?
What is a Parenting Plan?

Simply put, a Parenting Plan is a "blueprint" for how children are going to be co-parented after their parents have separated or divorced.

In addition to indicating how the day-to-day time with the children will be shared, and how holidays and vacation time will be shared, a good parenting plan can include decisions on issues such as:

  • Who takes them on unexpected snow days, teacher-workshop days?
  • How will it be decided which school the children attend?
  • How will it be decided what daycare is used?
  • How will it be decided what religion the child is raised in?

A plan can even be as detailed as describing of telephone contact with the child when at the other parent's home or who gets to choose the Halloween costumes and take the little ones Trick-or-Treating.

Parenting Plans can be developed by parents, attorneys or through mediation. If no plan is developed, the court will order its own parenting plan.

Benefits of mediating a parenting plan

Benefits of mediating a parenting plan
Benefits of mediating a parenting plan

1. Overriding benefit: establishes a plan in the best interest of the child

The overriding benefit of a mediated parenting plan is simple: mediating a plan allows both parents to come together in a neutral setting, generate options, and focus on the best interests of the child. The parents, rather than the judges, are involved in creating a solution. Most importantly, the process is designed to benefit the child.

Mediation takes co-parenting out of the adversarial arena and into a cooperative, "what's best for the kids'' discussion.

2. Details for on-going parent-to-parent communication 

Mediation helps to lay out the details for on-going parent-to-parent communication. At the end of the process, which can take from two to four mediation sessions, the parents have not only created their own plan for co-parenting their children, and they've also experienced a process that models how to handle future disagreements.

3. Reality testing

Assisting the parents to do 'reality testing' is one role of the mediator when creating a workable parenting plan. Reality testing involves planning for the "what ifs" that life throws your way. Because they've "seen it all" experienced mediators bring an extensive list of "what ifs" to the table for discussion and planning.

 4. Results in greater satisfaction with the plan

Studies prove that parenting plans that have been developed with mediation are much more likely to be adhered to on a long-term basis as both parents crafted the agreement together.

Visit the mediation page to learn more about the Parenting Act, mediation, and the ODR approved mediators.