Opinion ID: 1996561
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Meaning of Iowa Code Section 598.22

Text: Valeta argues Iowa Code section 598.22 contains a provision dealing exclusively with which types of benefits may be applied as a credit toward a child support order. Iowa Code section 598.22 provides, in part, Support paymentsclerk of courtcollection services centerdefaultssecurity. All orders or judgments entered ... shall direct the payment of those sums to the clerk of the district court.... [A]ll income withholding payments shall be directed to the collection services center.... Payments to persons other than the clerk of the district court ... do not satisfy the support obligations created by the orders or judgments, except... for dependent benefits paid to the child support obligee as the result of disability benefits awarded to the child support obligor under the federal Social Security Act.... An order or judgment entered ... [for] support or for income withholding shall be filed with the clerk.... [T]he clerk ... shall disburse the payments received ... within two working days of the receipt of the payments.... The clerk ... shall not enter any moneys paid in the record book if not paid directly to the clerk.... If the sums ordered to be paid ... are not paid to the clerk ..., the clerk ... shall certify a default to the court.... Upon ... the failure of a person to make payments ..., the court may require the person to provide security, a bond, or other guarantee which the court determines is satisfactory to secure the payment of the support.... The clerk of the district court in the county in which the order for support is filed and to whom support payments are made ... may require the person obligated to pay support to submit payments by bank draft or money order if the obligor submits an insufficient funds support payment to the clerk of the district court. Iowa Code § 598.22. Valeta isolates one sentence of this lengthy statute to determine the entire statute's meaning. The sentence Valeta bases her argument upon reads, Payments to persons other than the clerk of the district court ... do not satisfy the support obligations created... except ... for dependent benefits paid to the child support obligee as the result of disability benefits awarded to the child support obligor under the federal Social Security Act. Id. This sentence standing alone could be read to mean section 598.22 is a directive for the computation of child support payments. However, when the statute is read in its entirety, the intent of the legislature is clear. When construing this statute, we consider the whole statute, including the title. State ex rel. Bd. of Pharmacy Exam'rs v. McEwen, 250 Iowa 721, 725, 96 N.W.2d 189, 191 (1959). The title, Support paymentsclerk of courtcollection services centerdefaultssecurity indicates this statute is intended to address the proper procedures for payment and collection of support payments. See In re Marriage of Yanda, 528 N.W.2d 642, 644 (Iowa Ct.App.1994) (section 598.22 is clear regarding the record-keeping for support payments). This section of the code deals not with the appropriate method of computation of support payments but with the procedures for the collection of support. In re Marriage of Eklofe, 586 N.W.2d 357, 362 (Iowa 1998). Valeta's interpretation of this statute ignores the numerous other provisions explaining how child support is to be paid and collected. It is true this statute addresses credits for support obligations, but not as Valeta suggests it does. As applied, section 598.22 means payments made to individuals or entities other than the clerk of court or the collection services center will not be deemed a credit on the official support record. Id. Contrary to Valeta's assertion, the section does not deal with the nature of credits to be made or denied in the calculation of support payments. It does not provide an exhaustive list of the types of payments that may be credited against the non-custodial parent's support obligation. Though the legislature saw fit to refer to disability benefits in its terms concerning the method of payment of child support, it surely did not intend to exclude retirement benefits as a basis for credit. To use this statute as a means to disallow a credit for all other social security dependency benefits and relieve only those obligor parents receiving disability would be an injustice we assume the legislature did not contemplate. For reasons discussed below, we see no legitimate reason for differentiating between disability and retirement dependency benefits.