Case Name: Dennis R. DeKLOTZ, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Robert FORD, Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Iowa, Defendant-Respondent
Court: Iowa Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Iowa
Decision Date: 1982-11-29
Citations: 332 N.W.2d 110
Docket Number: No. 2-67955
Parties: Dennis R. DeKLOTZ, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Robert FORD, Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Iowa, Defendant-Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: North Western Reporter 2d
Volume: 332
Pages: 110–115

Head Matter:
Dennis R. DeKLOTZ, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Robert FORD, Judge of the Sixth Judicial District of Iowa, Defendant-Respondent.
No. 2-67955.
Court of Appeals of Iowa.
Nov. 29, 1982.
R.M. Fassler, Cedar Rapids, for plaintiff-petitioner.
John K. Fischer, Vinton, for defendant-respondent.

Opinion:
JOHNSON, Judge.
Petitioner, Dennis DeKlotz, challenges trial court's order finding him in contempt of court for failure to pay a debt owed to a third person pursuant to the decree dissolving his marriage. Petitioner asserts that the order constitutes an unconstitutional imprisonment for a civil debt and that the order was vague. We sustain the writ. We find it unnecessary to address petitioner's constitutional argument since we dispose of the issue on other grounds.
The petitioner's marriage was dissolved by decree on November 23, 1971. In determining the parties' respective obligations for jointly incurred debts, the decretal court ordered petitioner to pay a debt of $4,000 to his former wife's mother. No formal judgment against petitioner was recorded for the $4,000, nor did petitioner ever satisfy the debt. On December 23, 1981, a show cause order was issued by the district court requesting petitioner to demonstrate cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for failing to pay his former mother-in-law the $4,000. On January 15, 1982, respondent, Judge Ford, adjudged petitioner to be in contempt of court. Mittimus' was withheld for thirty days during which time petitioner could purge himself by paying the $4,000 debt. Petitioner's failure to purge himself would result in his confinement in the county jail for thirty days.
From this order petitioner sought and was granted a writ of certiorari. All matters were stayed during the pendency of the certiorari action.
I. Scope of Review. In the present action defendant has petitioned the court for a writ of certiorari. "Certiorari lies when an inferior court is alleged to have exceeded its jurisdiction or to have acted illegally." State v. West, 320 N.W.2d 570, 573 (Iowa 1982). When reviewing a challenge to a contempt judgment, we do not examine the evidence de novo, but only to "assure the appellate court that proof of contempt is clear and satisfactory, for if there is not substantial support for the findings of the inferior court, then it acted illegally." Rausch v. Rausch, 314 N.W.2d 172, 174 (Iowa App.1981).
II. Imprisonment for Debt. Petitioner argues that a property settlement provision of a dissolution decree which provides that petitioner pay a marital debt owed to a third party is not enforceable by a contempt proceeding. He claims that granting the remedy of contempt for a provision unrelated to support of the former spouse or child permits imprisonment for a civil debt in contravention of Iowa Constitution, art. I, § 19.
Article I, § 19 provides: "No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil action, on mesne or final process, unless in case of fraud; and no person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time of peace." In construing this section, the court has examined the use of contempt in the domestic relations context. The court found that statutory provisions authorizing contempt for willful refusal to pay an alimony award, is not violative of Iowa Const., art. I, § 19, since alimony is not a "debt" within the meaning of the constitutional provision. See Mason v. District Court of Black Hawk County, 209 Iowa 774, 775, 229 N.W. 168, 169 (1930). This holding was consistent with the prevailing construction of the analogous constitutional provisions in other states. Id. See also Note, Execution Against the Body of the Judgment Debtor, 42 Iowa L.Rev. 306, 309, n. 26 (1957).
Parallel to the holding in Mason, the court has held that the construction of Article I, § 19 and its underlying policy justifications for exempting alimony from "debt" applies as well to child support. See Roach v. Oliver, 215 Iowa 800, 244 N.W. 899 (1932). See also, Note, Enforcement of Award of Alimony or Child Support by Contempt Proceeding, 18 Iowa L.Rev. 64, 66 (1932).
In McNabb v. Osmundson, 315 N.W.2d 9 (Iowa 1982), a case involving an application for contempt for a father's failure to pay child support, the court stated that an application for contempt of this nature is governed by section 598.23. Id. at 11. The court rejected the traditional civil/criminal distinction in contempt proceedings and concluded that "[t]he pertinent language of section 598.23 . is primarily punitive and only indirectly coercive, particularly viewed in light of . section 598.22." Id. at 15 (overruling any language to the contrary in Harkins v. Harkins, 256 Iowa 207, 127 N.W.2d 87 (1964)).
Section 598.22 (1981) sets forth the method of payment for support payments. It also provides, in part:
If the sums ordered to be paid in a support payment order are not paid to the clerk at the time provided in the order of judgment, the clerk shall certify a default to the court which may, on its own motion, proceed as provided in section 598.-23.
Prompt payment of sums required to be paid under sections 598.11 [temporary support orders] and 598.21 [permanent orders] shall be the essence of such orders or judgments and the court may act pursuant to section 598.23 regardless of whether the amounts in default are paid prior to the contempt hearing.
Section 598.23 states:
[i]f any party against whom any . . final decree has been entered shall willfully disobey the same, or secrete his property, he may be cited for contempt and be committed to the county jail for a period of time not to exceed thirty days for each offense.
At this point we must determine whether the general language of section 598.23 ("any temporary order" or "final decree") extends beyond support orders to all provisions of a dissolution decree. After examination of the statutory scheme of chapter 598, as reflected in sections 598.-22, .23, and .24, we conclude that these sections provide the remedy of contempt for enforcement of orders or judgments relating to temporary or permanent support payments.
Enforcement of other provisions of a decree is governed by Iowa Code § 626.1 (1981), which provides:
626.1 Enforcement of judgments and orders. Judgments or orders requiring the payment of money, or the delivery of the possession of property, are to be enforced by execution. Obedience to those requiring the performance of any other act is to be covered by attachment as for a contempt.
Since the ease before us clearly involves the payment of money, we believe the proper standard for determining the appropriateness of contempt as a remedy is whether the particular provision has a reasonable relationship to support of the spouse or child.
In characterizing an assignment of debt, the Iowa Supreme Court has stated the following:
[W]e reason that adjudicating property rights in a dissolution action inextricably involves a division between the parties of both their marital assets and liabilities. Expressed in broader terms, the dissolution decree must necessarily provide which party shall receive particular items of personal or real property and it must likewise assign responsibility for the satisfaction of enumerated debts to one or both of the parties. The allocation of marital debts between the parties is as integral a part of the property division as is the apportionment of marital assets. We therefore conclude that the allocation of marital debts inheres in the property division.
In re Marriage of Johnson, 299 N.W.2d 466, 467 (Iowa 1980).
The particular label, whether "alimony" or "property division," however, is not conclusive. "It is the substance not the form which is controlling, [citations omitted]." In re Marriage of Woodward, 229 N.W.2d 274, 278 (Iowa 1975). Nevertheless, each has a distinct meaning.
The term "alimony" usually and technically means an allowance for wife support and is distinguishable from property settlement and child support. But it has been said that "in a broader sense it covers an award made for the support of minor children" and "is used in some instances to designate the amount allowed the divorced wife in settlement of property rights." . [citing authority.] Brin v. Brin, 240 Iowa 659, 661, 37 N.W.2d 261, 262.
.
Division of property has for its basis the wife's right to a just and equitable share of that property which has been accumulated by the parties as the result of their joint efforts during the years of the marriage to serve their mutual needs... . [citing authority] [Knipfer v. Knipfer, 259 Iowa 347, 353, 144 N.W.2d 140, 143 (1966)].
Since we conclude that assignment of a debt owed to a third party as part of the property division has no reasonable relationship to support of the spouse or child, we must also conclude that the trial court had no authority to punish petitioner by contempt. Accordingly, we sustain the writ.
WRIT SUSTAINED.
All judges concur except DONIELSON, J., who dissents.
. Iowa Code § 598.24 (1981) provides:
598.24 Contempt proceedings initiated by interested party — costs taxable to party in default. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the party entitled to support payments, or an interested party from initiating contempt proceedings on his own motion. If the defaulting party is found to be in contempt, the costs of such proceedings, including attorney's fees for the party initiating the proceedings in an amount deemed reasonable by the court, shall be taxed against such party, (emphasis supplied).