Bastard—Requirements for Acknowledgment in Nebraska

A truck driver, in the presence of a competent witness, signed an application for employment in Nebraska in which he stated that he had two sons dependent upon him for support, and named the sons. The driver was later killed in an auto accident, and in a wrongful death action the question arose as to whether the application was a sufficient acknowledgment under the Nebraska statutes to legitimate the sons who were concededly born out of wedlock. Held: reversing on rehearing a prior opinion on the same facts, that the writing was sufficient to meet the tests of the statute. The result is at last a definitive statement of the Nebraska court’s attitude concerning the problem of legitimation, and is in accord with the prevailing liberal view of treatment of children born out of wedlock.

Section 30-109 has been construed to require proof of three facts: (1) that the child was born out of wedlock; (2) that the alleged father was in fact the real father; and (3) that the father has acknowledged the child in the terms of the statute. In the instant case, it was conceded that facts (1) and (2) had been proved, but it was asserted that the application did not constitute sufficient acknowledgment.