2023 Iowa Code › Title VI - HUMAN SERVICES › Chapter 252A - SUPPORT OF DEPENDENTS › Section 252A.3 - Liability for support.

252A.3 Liability for support.
For the purpose of this chapter:
1. A spouse is liable for the support of the other spouse and any child or children under eighteen years of age and any other dependent. The court shall establish the respondent’s monthly support payment and the amount of the support debt accrued and accruing pursuant to section 598.21A or 598.21B, as applicable.
2. A parent is liable for the support of the parent’s child or children under eighteen years of age, whenever the other parent of such child or children is dead, or cannot be found, or is incapable of supporting the child or children, and, if the liable parent is possessed of sufficient means or able to earn the means. The court having jurisdiction of the respondent in a proceeding instituted under this chapter shall establish the respondent’s monthly support payment and the amount of the support debt accrued and accruing pursuant to section 598.21B. The support obligation shall include support of a parent’s child between the ages of eighteen and nineteen years if the child is engaged full-time in completing high school graduation or equivalency requirements in a manner which is reasonably expected to result in completion of the requirements prior to the person reaching nineteen years of age.
3. The parents are severally liable for the support of a dependent child eighteen years of age or older, whenever such child is unable to maintain the child’s self and is likely to become a public charge.
4. A child or children born of parents who, at any time prior or subsequent to the birth of such child, have entered into a civil or religious marriage ceremony, shall be deemed the legitimate child or children of both parents, regardless of the validity of such marriage.
5. a. A child born of parents who at any time prior to the birth of the child entered into a civil or religious marriage ceremony is deemed the legitimate child of both parents, regardless of the validity of such marriage, if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The marriage was not thereafter dissolved prior to the death of either parent.
(2) The child was conceived and born after the death of a parent or was born as the result of the implantation of an embryo after the death of a parent.
(3) A genetic parent-child relationship between the child and the deceased parent is established.
(4) The deceased parent, in a signed writing, authorized the other parent to use the deceased parent’s genetic material to initiate the posthumous procedure that resulted in the child’s birth, or the deceased parent, by a specific reference to the genetic material, bequeathed the genetic material to the other parent in a valid will.
(5) The child is born within two years of the death of the deceased parent.
b. For the purposes of this subsection, “genetic material” means sperm, eggs, or embryos.
6. A child or children born of parents who held or hold themselves out as husband and wife by virtue of a common law marriage are deemed the legitimate child or children of both parents.
7. a. A child born of parents who at any time prior to the birth of the child held themselves out as spouses by virtue of a common law marriage is deemed the legitimate child of both parents, if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The marriage was not thereafter dissolved prior to the death of either parent.
(2) The child was conceived and born after the death of a parent or was born as the result of the implantation of an embryo after the death of a parent.
(3) A genetic parent-child relationship between the child and the deceased parent is established.
(4) The deceased parent, in a signed writing, authorized the other parent to use the deceased parent’s genetic material to initiate the posthumous procedure that resulted in the child’s birth, or the deceased parent, by a specific reference to the genetic material, bequeathed the genetic material to the other parent in a valid will.
(5) The child is born within two years of the death of the deceased parent.
b. For purposes of this subsection, “genetic material” means sperm, eggs, or embryos.
8. A man or woman who was or is held out as the person’s spouse by a person by virtue of a common law marriage is deemed the legitimate spouse of such person.
9. Notwithstanding the fact that the respondent has obtained in any state or foreign country a final decree of divorce or separation from the respondent’s spouse or a decree dissolving the marriage, the respondent shall be deemed legally liable for the support of any dependent child of such marriage.
10. The parents of a child born out of wedlock shall be severally liable for the support of the child, but the liability of the father shall not be enforceable unless paternity has been legally established. Paternity may be established as follows:
a. By order of a court of competent jurisdiction or by administrative order when authorized by state law.
b. By the statement of the person admitting paternity in court and upon concurrence of the mother. If the mother was married, at the time of conception, birth, or at any time during the period between conception and birth of the child, to an individual other than the person admitting paternity, the individual to whom the mother was married at the time of conception, birth, or at any time during the period between conception and birth must deny paternity in order to establish the paternity of the person admitting paternity upon the sole basis of the admission.
c. Subject to the right of any signatory to rescind as provided in section 252A.3A, subsection 12, by the filing and registration by the state registrar of an affidavit of paternity executed on or after July 1, 1993, as provided in section 252A.3A, provided that the mother of the child was unmarried at the time of conception, birth, and at any time during the period between conception and birth of the child or if the mother was married at the time of conception, birth, or at any time during the period between conception and birth of the child, a court of competent jurisdiction has determined that the individual to whom the mother was married at that time is not the father of the child.
d. By establishment of paternity in another state or foreign country in any manner provided for by the laws of that jurisdiction.
11. If paternity of a child born out of wedlock is established as provided in subsection 10, the court shall establish the respondent’s monthly support payment and the amount of the support debt accrued and accruing pursuant to section 598.21B. The support obligation shall include support of the child between the ages of eighteen and nineteen years if the child is engaged full-time in completing high school graduation or equivalency requirements in a manner which is reasonably expected to result in completion of the requirements prior to the person reaching nineteen years of age.
12. The court may order a party to pay sums sufficient to provide necessary food, shelter, clothing, care, medical or hospital expenses, including medical support as defined in chapter 252E, expenses of confinement, expenses of education of a child, funeral expenses, and such other reasonable and proper expenses of the dependent as justice requires, giving due regard to the circumstances of the respective parties.
[C50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §252A.3]
89 Acts, ch 166, §2; 93 Acts, ch 79, §12; 94 Acts, ch 1171, §12; 96 Acts, ch 1141, §16; 97 Acts, ch 175, §1, 10, 11; 2005 Acts, ch 69, §2, 3; 2011 Acts, ch 18, §1; 2015 Acts, ch 110, §78, 79
Referred to in §144.12A, 144.13, 252A.3A, 600B.41A, 714I.4
Spousal support debt for medical assistance to institutionalized spouse; chapter 249B