## Facts

- Mark Christopher Weinand and Debra Sue Weinand married in 1990; Debra gave birth to Nicole in 1995.
- Nicole lived with Mark and Debra until their separation in 1997; during that time, Mark treated Nicole as his child and assumed a father role.
- During the pending dissolution, a separate paternity action established (by genetic testing and adjudication) that Bradley Alan Sinsel was Nicole’s biological father and Mark was not.
- The district court dissolved the marriage, approved a property settlement, found it in Nicole’s best interests to continue a relationship with Mark, awarded Mark “rights of reasonable visitation,” and ordered Mark to pay child support for Nicole.
- Mark appealed the child support obligation; Debra cross-appealed the support calculation.

## Issues

1. Whether a former stepparent, adjudicated not to be the child’s biological parent and not an adoptive parent, may be ordered to pay child support based solely on an award of visitation rights in a dissolution decree.
2. Whether the district court correctly calculated the amount of child support (if a support obligation could be imposed).

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court vacated the portion of the decree ordering Mark to pay child support for Nicole.
- The court held the district court erred by imposing support on a nonparent as a consequence of awarding visitation.
- Because the support order against Mark was vacated, the cross-appeal challenging the calculation method was effectively moot as to Mark’s obligation.

## Legal Principles

- Child support obligations are imposed based on legal parent status recognized by statute and parentage doctrines (e.g., biological parentage or adoption), not on the existence of a beneficial relationship.
- A judicial determination that a person is not the child’s biological parent precludes treating that person as a parent for support purposes absent another recognized basis for parentage.
- Granting visitation to a nonparent based on the child’s best interests does not, by itself, create a duty to pay child support.
- Courts may not impose child support on an ex-stepparent solely because the ex-stepparent previously acted in a parental role and is awarded visitation.

## Conclusion

The Nebraska Supreme Court held that an ex-stepparent who is neither a biological nor adoptive parent cannot be ordered to pay child support merely because a dissolution decree grants visitation to preserve a beneficial relationship with the child.


Weinand v. Weinand, 616 N.W.2d 1 (Neb. 2000)