State on behalf of Lockwood v. Laue, 24 Neb. Ct. App. 909

Dawn Lockwood was ordered in July 2014 to pay $50/month child support; she became delinquent and the State filed an order to show cause in Dec. 2015.
A child support referee heard evidence in Feb. 2016: payment history showing arrears and Lockwood’s testimony about incarceration, mental-health disabilities, limited work history, and job-search efforts.
The referee found the State had a prima facie case but that Lockwood rebutted the presumption of willful nonpayment and recommended dismissal of the show-cause order.
The State filed exceptions and sought to introduce additional wage/pay history at the district-court exception hearing; the court received those exhibits conditionally but ultimately declined to consider them as irrelevant.
The district court reviewed the referee’s report de novo on the record, upheld the referee’s factual findings that Lockwood lacked ability to pay, and dismissed the contempt proceeding.
The State appealed, arguing the court abused its discretion by excluding additional evidence and by finding Lockwood not in contempt despite evidence of barter and overstated incarceration.

Issue	State's Argument	Lockwood's Argument	Held
Whether the district court abused its discretion by refusing to admit additional wage/pay evidence at the exception hearing	The court should have allowed the State to present additional wage/pay history and further periods of nonpayment at the exception (trial de novo)	The exception hearing is limited to reviewing the referee’s report on the record; additional evidence was irrelevant	The court has equitable discretion to admit new evidence at an exception hearing, but here exclusion was not an abuse because the proffered evidence was cumulative and weaker than existing record evidence
Whether the court erred in finding Lockwood not in contempt (i.e., that nonpayment was not willful)	The State argued Lockwood overstated jail time, bartered labor for reduced rent, and had ability to pay, so she should be held in contempt	Lockwood presented evidence of incarceration, mental illness, limited earning capacity, ongoing job-search efforts, and inability to pay	Reviewing the record, the court’s factual findings were not clearly erroneous; Lockwood overcame the presumption of willful nonpayment and was not in contempt

Klein v. Oakland/Red Oak Holdings, 294 Neb. 535 (appellate de novo review of equity findings)
Martin v. Martin, 294 Neb. 106 (three-part standard of review in civil contempt proceedings)
City of Beatrice v. Goodenkauf, 219 Neb. 756 (broad equitable powers of trial courts)
State on behalf of Joseph F. v. Rial, 251 Neb. 1 (district court evidentiary hearings after referee report)
Dike v. Dike, 245 Neb. 231 (district court holding evidentiary hearing following referee recommendations)
State on behalf of Dady v. Snelling, 10 Neb. App. 740 (exception to referee’s report followed by trial before district court)