Nebraska Supreme Court Accepts Challenge to No-Fault Divorce

Nebraska Supreme Court Accepts Challenge to No-Fault Divorce

  • Posted by Mary's Advocates
  • On June 6, 2020

by Bai Macfarlane
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Nebraska scheduled for oral arguments a challenge against the constitutionality of unilateral no-fault divorce. On September 3, 2020, attorney Bob Sullivan will appear before the state Supreme Court at 9:00 a.m. to discuss the appeal he made against an Adams county judge’s no-fault divorce order. Besides being an attorney, Sullivan is a regular contributor to the Southern Nebraska Register, a Catholic Newspaper in Lincoln.

Mary’s Advocates has been covering the story since the petition for no-fault divorce was submitted in November of 2018.

(excerpts from Jan. 11, 2020 story) The appeal brief says the Nebraska statute is unconstitutional and the court made multiple errors: denying the husband’s motion to dismiss the case, finding that the marriage was irretrievably broken, dividing property, granting the wife the sole ownership of the marital home, and ordering the defendant to pay wife’s attorney fees. Find the Brief of Appellant filed December 23, 2019 in list of Court Events below. Mary’s Advocates publicized the video the husband made on December 6th when he was evicted from his home by the divorce judge and the sheriff.

No-fault divorce violates the defendant’s constitutional right to due process and equal protection under the law, says Sullivan.  Because the appeal deals with a constitutional question, Sullivan asked the case to be decided by the Nebraska Supreme Court, not the intermediate Court of Appeals

Publicity of Nebraska Supreme Court Arguments

The Nebraska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals upload digital audio files of appellate court proceedings held before the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals to the Judicial Branch web-site https://supremecourt.nebraska.gov within 24-hours of the close of arguments for the day, unless otherwise directed by the Court. All oral arguments of the Nebraska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are televised live from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals courtrooms from Nebraska Educational Television’s Live 8: On Demand: State Government website, http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/television/live-demand-state-government. Video and Audio is uploaded for the full argument session and found on the Judicial Branch website, archives HERE.

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COURT EVENTS

Nov. 12, 2018  – Wife’s Complaint for Divorce
Dec. 20, 2018 – Husband’s Motion to Dismiss
Feb. 1, 1019 – District Judge Harder Court Overrules Motion to Dismiss
April 3, 2019 – Husband’s Answer to Divorce Complaint
June 20, 2019 – Trial, Mary’s Advocate obtained Defendant’s Closing Arguments.
June 20, 2019 – Husband notify Nebraska Attorney General and US A.G.
Aug. 28, 2019 –  District Judge Illingworth Court Divorce Decree of Dissolution
Sept. 6, 2019 – Husband Notice of Appeals
Sept. 6, 2019 – Court of Appeals Received and Assign Case Number
Sept. 12, 2019 – Wife’s Motion to Exclude husband from home
Sept. 17, 2019 – Hearing Schedule for Sept. 23 to decide whether to Exclude (evict).
Nov. 12, 2019 – Judge orders husband leave home on Dec. 6 w/ Sheriff enforcement
Dec. 23, 2019 – Husband asks Nebraska Supreme Court to decide case
Dec. 23, 2019 – Husband submits his argument, Brief of Appellant
Updated Sept. 3, 2020. Video of Oral Argument
Updated Oct. 9, 2020. Nebraska Supreme Court Opinion

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2 Comments

Patsy Koenig
This case, being brought to the Nebraska Supreme Court, against no-fault divorce is good news! Marriage is the only contract where one party can legally break the contract without any penalty. Every other contract involves penalties for breach of contract. No-fault car insurance was rejected because insurance companies wanted to assign fault/blame, to keep drivers responsible. Families are far more important than cars, so fault should be determined if one spouse damages or wrecks a marriage, or breaches the marriage contract. Plus, the angle of the lawsuit is excellent, that no-fault divorce violates Constitutional rights of due process and equal protection under the law.
Sheryl Temaat
A great victory, Bai!

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