Nevada family-law case summaries

Nechole Garcia and Evgeny Shapiro were once a couple and had one child together, A.G.-S., who was later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. When their relationship ended, they could not agree on how to share custody or how much child support should be paid, so the case went to court. After a two-day trial, the district court decided the parenting schedule, set Garcia's child support obligation, and dealt with requests about past-owed support. Garcia appealed, raising several complaints about how the trial judge handled the case. The Court of Appeals rejected most of Garcia's arguments but agreed with one. First, Garcia argued the judge improperly let in evidence about settlement talks between the parties. The court disagreed. It explained that the materials she pointed to were never actually admitted as evidence. Arguments in motions are not evidence, and each time Shapiro tried to ask her about negotiation-related matters at trial, her objections were sustained (upheld) or the information was struck (removed) from the record. Because nothing was admitted, there was no error - and even if there had been, she never showed it harmed her case. Second, Garcia argued the judge failed to properly weigh the high level of conflict between the parents when choosing a parenting schedule. The court found that the judge had, in fact, considered the conflict, expressly noting it was high, and had weighed Garcia's point (that her schedule would mean fewer exchanges and possibly less conflict) against other factors. The judge picked Shapiro's proposed schedule as being in the child's best interest, and the court found enough evidence to support that decision - including that the parents had identical work schedules and that Shapiro's schedule would let A.G.-S. spend more time with her half-siblings, with whom she had a close bond. Third, Garcia argued the judge miscalculated Shapiro's income for child support by relying on his most recent tax return instead of bank deposits she said totaled more than $90,000 in 2020. The court found the judge did consider those bank deposits but concluded that deposits do not automatically equal income, especially since Garcia asked Shapiro about only one deposit (which he said came from pandemic-related unemployment assistance). Faced with conflicting evidence, the judge was entitled to rely on the tax returns, disclosure forms, and testimony, and the appeals court would not second-guess that. Finally, Garcia argued the judge wrongly refused to decide her request for child support arrears (past-due support) by mistakenly stating she had not asked for any. Here the court agreed with Garcia. The record showed she repeatedly requested "constructive" arrears - in her countermotion, her pretrial memorandum, an admitted exhibit, and her closing brief - claiming Shapiro owed $16,638.72. Because the judge declined to rule based on a mistaken belief that she never asked, the court reversed that portion and sent the matter back for the district court to actually decide the arrears request. Everything else was affirmed.