Amsden v. Amsden (Nebraska 2021)

A settlement agreement is subject to the principles of contact law. If the parties haven’t agreed to essential terms, then there is no agreement. Following the father’s filing of a petition to modify custody, the parents in this case reached a settlement agreement. The parties read the agreement into the record during court, acknowledging the child support worksheet still needed to be completed. The trial court gave the parties time to do so. Eventually, the father filed a motion to enforce the agreement. The trial court granted the motion and ordered the mother to pay support. The mother appealed. The appellate court found the order enforcing the settlement agreement appropriate as to custody. The appellate court reversed and remanded as to child support. The appellate court found no evidence of an agreement with respect to the child support amount. The parties acknowledged as much during the reading of the agreement into the record. Only the father signed the filed parenting plan. Nothing in the record established income at the time of the modification.