Opinion ID: 1723194
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Heading: Penalties Under Section 598.23.

Text: When a contempt order is sought in a domestic relations action, Iowa Code chapter 665 provides the procedural framework for the contempt action while section 598.23 defines the potential sanctions. Skinner v. Ruigh, 351 N.W.2d 182, 184 (Iowa 1984); see, e.g., Opperman v. Sullivan, 330 N.W.2d 796, 797 (Iowa 1983); Bevers v. Kilburg, 326 N.W.2d 902, 902-04 (Iowa 1982). Section 598.23 provides in pertinent part: 1. If a person against whom a temporary order or final decree has been entered willfully disobeys the order or decree, the person may be cited and punished by the court for contempt and be committed to the county jail for a period of time not to exceed thirty days for each offense. 2. The court may, as an alternative to punishment for contempt, make an order which, according to the subject matter of the order or decree involved, does the following: a. [concerns non-payment of child support, not here pertinent]. b. Modifying visitation to compensate for lost visitation time or establishing joint custody for the child or transferring custody. Plaintiff argues that the district court lacked authority under section 598.23 to sentence her to jail and also modify visitation in the same contempt order. She points out that the provision itself is entitled [c]ontempt proceedings alternatives to jail sentence. (Emphasis added.) The plain language of section 598.23 provides that the court can modify visitation to compensate for lost visitation time, or impose a jail sentence, but not both. When a statute is plain and its meaning is clear, we need not search for its meaning beyond its express language. State v. Rich, 305 N.W.2d 739, 745 (Iowa 1981); State v. Sunclades, 305 N.W.2d 491, 494 (Iowa 1981). The district court did not have statutory authority to provide in its contempt order both that Marsha be sentenced to a jail term and that she further be punished by having the terms of the dissolution decree modified. Because we have reversed and remanded for a new hearing on the issue of burden of proof, we need not decide whether this second error constituted reversible error or was harmless to Marsha. The double-barrelled nature of the contempt order may not have been prejudicial to Marsha under the circumstances of this case, because the court had the authority to provide for the jail sentence in the contempt order and then had authority to modify the dissolution decree with respect to visitation in the separate modification proceeding. The district court had heard the application to modify simultaneously with the application for contempt, but modification was provided in the contempt proceeding rather than in the modification proceeding which was taken under advisement. Of course the court was required to consider the long range best interests of the children before entering any order modifying the dissolution decree, whether that modification occurred in the contempt or modification proceeding itself. If the district court on remand finds Marsha in contempt beyond a reasonable doubt, the contempt order may contain one or the other but not both of the sanctions which the district court here imposed. We do not by this holding suggest what should be the final disposition of the contempt and modification proceedings following remand. Marsha also argues that she was denied due process because the motion citing her for contempt did not inform her of the potential for a criminal penalty. We need not address that issue. By now Marsha is clearly on notice that on remand and reconsideration of the motion a district judge may impose a jail sentence if her contempt is established beyond a reasonable doubt (and assuming no other alternative punishment provided for in section 598.23 is deemed more appropriate). WRIT SUSTAINED.