Minn.Stat. § 256.87, subd. 1 (1986); Maskrey v. Maskrey, 380 N.W.2d 598, 601 (Minn.Ct.App. 1986). This proceeding is independent of actions for recovery of unpaid child support awarded in a prior dissolution proceeding.
Indemnity is the remedy securing "the right of a person to recover reimbursement from another for the discharge of a liability which, as between himself and the other, should have been discharged by the other." Maskrey v. Maskrey , 380 N.W.2d 598, 601 (Minn.App. 1986) (quotation omitted). Generally, an indemnitor's obligation to indemnify is triggered only after the indemnitee has suffered "actual loss or damage."
Section 256.87 has been identified as a cause of action totally separate from child support orders, available to the county for the purpose of recovering a portion of past assistance granted. County of Anoka v. Richards, 345 N.W.2d 263, 266-67 (Minn.Ct.App. 1984); see Maskrey v. Maskrey, 380 N.W.2d 598, 601 (Minn.Ct.App. 1986). An order for reimbursement under § 256.87 is an additional remedy available to the county if it has advanced public assistance for a child, and it is not a modification of a child support award under § 518. Isanti County v. Formhals, 358 N.W.2d 703, 705 (Minn. Ct. App. 1984).
Case law interpretations of this section establish the discretionary nature of the cause of action and the granting of relief. In In Re the Marriage of Maskrey v. Maskrey, 380 N.W.2d 598 (Minn. Ct. App. 1986), this court stated that § 256.87 "allows the county * * to bring an action to require a parent to pay at least a portion of AFDC expended over a two-year period, depending on the parent's ability to pay." Id. at 601.