Nebraska Supreme Court Online Library www.nebraska.gov/apps-courts-epub/ 06/07/2019 09:07 AM CDT - 318 - Nebraska Supreme Court A dvance Sheets 303 Nebraska R eports SABINO v. OZUNA Cite as 303 Neb. 318 A riana Bernal Sabino, appellant, v. Juan Carlos Genchi Ozuna, appellee. ___ N.W.2d ___ Filed June 7, 2019. No. S-18-234. 1. Affidavits: Appeal and Error. A district court’s denial of in forma pauperis status is reviewed de novo on the record based on the tran- script of the hearing or written statement of the court. 2. Affidavits: Evidence. An analysis of an applicant’s eligibility for in forma pauperis status will necessarily be dependent on the facts and circumstances presented by that applicant’s financial and personal situation. Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County: Peter C. Bataillon, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions. Roxana Cortés Reyes, of Immigrant Legal Center, an affili- ate of the Justice for Our Neighbors Network, and David V. Chipman, of Monzón, Guerra & Associates, for appellant. No appearance for appellee. Heavican, C.J., Miller-Lerman, Cassel, Stacy, Funke, Papik, and Freudenberg, JJ. Heavican, C.J. INTRODUCTION The district court entered a decree dissolving the marriage of Ariana Bernal Sabino and Juan Carlos Genchi Ozuna, but denied Sabino’s petition for findings of fact regarding the - 319 - Nebraska Supreme Court A dvance Sheets 303 Nebraska R eports SABINO v. OZUNA Cite as 303 Neb. 318 abuse, abandonment, and neglect of her children by Ozuna. Sabino filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. After a hearing, that motion was denied. Sabino has appealed that denial. We reverse the district court’s denial of Sabino’s request for in forma pauperis status and remand the cause with directions to grant Sabino’s motion. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A decree dissolving the marriage of Sabino and Ozuna was entered on January 11, 2018. At that time, the district court denied Sabino’s motion seeking findings of fact regard- ing abuse, abandonment, and neglect of her children by their father, Ozuna. Sabino filed a notice of appeal on February 6, 2018. Accompanying that notice of appeal was a motion to proceed in forma pauperis. The supporting poverty affidavit stated that Sabino had $200 on hand, no checking or savings account funds, had been unemployed until recently, and listed expenses of $2,842. The affidavit also indicated that she lived with her partner and her four minor children. Sabino further noted that until she had recently obtained employment, her partner had been her “sole provider,” and that she was unable to pay the fee or provide security for her appeal. The district court set a hearing on its own motion, in which it sought information regarding the income of Sabino’s partner. The district court noted that it “assume[d] the partner is assist- ing in these bills, or assisting in some other way. If they’re partners, then, I take it, all of his money is her money or all her money is her money or whatever. So that’s what I’m ask- ing here.” Information provided at the ...
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