Rosberg v. Rosberg (Nebraska 2019)

Under certain circumstances, a court may analyze a parent’s historical earnings and ability to support a family to set income for child supoprt. The parents in this case filed for divorce. The parents had six children together, in addition to children from other relationships. The father owned Rosberg Farms, but had also been incarcerated in federal prison. The district court found income for the father hard to determine. The district court used tax returns provided by the mother and testimony about the father’s business dealings and expenditures to set his income at $10,000 per month. The child support award was $2,453 for five children. The father appealed the order on various grounds, including the determination of his income. The court of appeals affirmed the child support award. The evidence showed the father had made millions of dollars in deposits in a bank account from 2011 – 2016 while showing little income. He also had been paying out large sums of money regularly to support his family.