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Legal Information: Nebraska

Custody

Updated: 
December 18, 2023

Can a parent who has committed violence or is a registered sex offender get custody?

If the evidence leads the judge to think that any of the below acts may have happened, the judge must decide whether a parent who is entitled to custody, parenting time, or visitation under the parenting plan has:

  1. abused or neglected your child;
  2. abandoned your child;
  3. committed domestic intimate partner abuse; or
  4. consistently interfered with your access to your child, other than to protect the child.1

If the judge finds that the abuser has committed one of those acts, the judge can add limitations to the parenting plan to protect you and your child, such as:

  1. changing the custody plan, including by giving sole legal or physical custody to you;
  2. supervising the abusive parent’s time with your child;
  3. requiring that a third party manage the exchange of the child between you and the other parent;
  4. limiting how you and the other parent can communicate;
  5. requiring the other parent not to use drugs or alcohol while with your child;
  6. denying the other parent overnight parenting time;
  7. ordering that third parties not be present during parenting time; and
  8. requiring the other parent to post a bond to ensure your child is returned to you as scheduled.2  “Posting a bond” means that the parent leaves money or the title to property with the court that can be used for the purpose of locating the child if needed.  

A judge can only give the abusive parent custody if the judge makes a special determination that you and the child can be adequately protected by these extra limitations.3

The judge also cannot give parenting time or custody to a parent who is required to register as a sex offender unless the judge states in writing that there is no significant risk to the child.4

1 NE R.S. §§ 43-2932(1); 28-705
2 NE R.S. § 43-2932(2)
3 NE R.S. § 43-2932(3)
4 NE R.S. § 43-2933