43-2923 Best interests of the child requirements.
43-2923. Best interestsof the child requirements.The best interests ofthe child require:(1) A parenting arrangement and parenting plan or other court-orderedarrangement which provides for a child's safety, emotional growth, health,stability, and physical care and regular and continuous school attendanceand progress for school-age children;(2) When a preponderance of the evidence indicates domesticintimate partner abuse, a parenting and visitation arrangement that providesfor the safety of a victim parent;(3) That the child's families and those serving in parentingroles remain appropriately active and involved in parenting with safe, appropriate,continuing quality contact between children and their families when they haveshown the ability to act in the best interests of the child and have sharedin the responsibilities of raising the child;(4) That even when parents have voluntarily negotiated ormutually mediated and agreed upon a parenting plan, the court shall determinewhether it is in the best interests of the child for parents to maintain continuedcommunications with each other and to make joint decisions in performing parentingfunctions as are necessary for the care and healthy development of the child.If the court rejects a parenting plan, the court shall provide written findingsas to why the parenting plan is not in the best interests of the child;(5) That certain principles provide a basis upon which educationof parents is delivered and upon which negotiation and mediation of parentingplans are conducted. Such principles shall include: To minimize the potentiallynegative impact of parental conflict on children; to provide parents the toolsthey need to reach parenting decisions that are in the best interests of achild; to provide alternative dispute resolution or specialized alternativedispute resolution options that are less adversarial for the child and thefamily; to ensure that the child's voice is heard and considered in parentingdecisions; to maximize the safety of family members through the justice process;and, in cases of domestic intimate partner abuse or child abuse or neglect,to incorporate the principles of victim safety and sensitivity, offender accountability,and community safety in parenting plan decisions; and(6) In determiningcustody and parenting arrangements, the court shall consider the best interestsof the minor child, which shall include, but not be limited to, considerationof the foregoing factors and:(a) The relationship of the minor childto each parent prior to the commencement of the action or any subsequent hearing;(b) The desiresand wishes of the minor child, if of an age of comprehension but regardlessof chronological age, when such desires and wishes are based on sound reasoning;(c) The generalhealth, welfare, and social behavior of the minor child;(d) Credibleevidence of abuse inflicted on any family or household member. For purposesof this subdivision, abuse and family or household member shall have the meaningsprescribed in section 42-903; and(e) Credible evidence of child abuse orneglect or domestic intimate partner abuse. For purposes of this subdivision,the definitions in section 43-2922 shall be used. SourceLaws 2007, LB554, § 4; Laws 2008, LB1014, § 56; Laws 2010, LB901, § 2.Operative Date: July 1, 2010AnnotationsA court is required to devise a parenting plan and to consider joint legal and physical custody, but the court is not required to grant equal parenting time to the parents if such is not in the child's best interests. Kamal v. Imroz, 277 Neb. 116, 759 N.W.2d 914 (2009).