Opinion ID: 2027046
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Calculation of Penalty

Text: Knobias further contends that the penalty for violating the income withholding notice should be calculated based on Mississippi law. We agree with Knobias. Illinois provides for income withholding for child support pursuant to our Withholding Act (750 ILCS 28/1 et seq. (West 2006)), as does Mississippi pursuant to title 93, chapter 11, of the Mississippi Code (Miss.Code Ann. § 93-11-101 et seq. (West 2006)). The circuit court calculated Knobias' penalty for violating its income withholding notice based on section 35(a) of the Withholding Act (750 ILCS 28/35(a) (West 2006)). That section provides in relevant part: (a) It shall be the duty of any payor who has been served with an income withholding notice to deduct and pay over income as provided in this Section. The payor shall deduct the amount designated in the income withholding notice    beginning no later than the next payment of income which is payable or creditable to the obligor that occurs 14 days following the date the income withholding notice was mailed   .    The payor shall pay the amount withheld to the State Disbursement Unit within 7 business days after the date the amount would (but for the duty to withhold income) have been paid or credited to the obligor. If the payor knowingly fails to withhold the amount designated in the income withholding notice or to pay any amount withheld to the State Disbursement Unit within 7 business days after the date the amount would have been paid or credited to the obligor, then the payor shall pay a penalty of $100 for each day that the amount designated in the income withholding notice (whether or not withheld by the payor) is not paid to the State Disbursement Unit after the period of 7 business days has expired. The failure of a payor, on more than one occasion, to pay amounts withheld to the State Disbursement Unit within 7 business days after the date the amount would have been paid or credited to the obligor creates a presumption that the payor knowingly failed to pay over the amounts. This penalty may be collected in a civil action which may be brought against the payor in favor of the obligee or public office.    For purposes of this Act, a withheld amount shall be considered paid by a payor on the date it is mailed by the payor, or on the date an electronic funds transfer of the amount has been initiated by the payor, or on the date delivery of the amount has been initiated by the payor. (Emphasis added.) 750 ILCS 28/35(a) (West 2006). The $100-per-day penalty is assessed for each violation of the Withholding Act. In re Marriage of Miller, 227 Ill.2d 185, 194, 316 Ill.Dec. 225, 879 N.E.2d 292 (2007). In the present case, Suzanne calculated 3,690 alleged penalties, reflected in the circuit court's March 26, 2007, order, resulting in a judgment of $369,000. In contrast, the Mississippi income withholding statute provides that where a payor willfully fails to withhold and remit income pursuant to a valid income withholding order, the payor shall be liable for a civil penalty of not more than $500, or $1,000 where the failure to comply is the result of collusion between the employer and employee. Miss.Code Ann. § 93-11-117(1) (West 2006). At issue here is under which state's laws should Knobias' penalty be calculated. In 1992 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (Uniform Law Commissioners) promulgated the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (Model UIFSA) to replace then-existing uniform interstate support statutes. In 1996, shortly after the Uniform Law Commissioners revised the Model UIFSA, Congress mandated that states adopt UIFSA to remain eligible for federal funding of child support enforcement. 42 U.S.C. § 666(f) (2000). Model UIFSA was most recently revised in 2001. See Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (amended 2001), Prefatory Note, 9 (Part IB) U.L.A. 161-62 (2005). Model UIFSA defines income withholding order by referring to each state's income withholding law. Model UIFSA § 102(6), 9 (Part IB) U.L.A. 175-76; 750 ILCS 22/102 (West 2006); Miss.Code Ann. § 93-25-3(f) (West 2006). Model UIFSA contemplates interstate cooperation to effect an expeditious collection of child support across state borders. It provides `unity and structure in each state's approach to the modification and enforcement of child support orders.' [Citation.] Campbell v. Campbell, 391 N.J.Super. 157, 160, 917 A.2d 302, 304 (2007); accord Walton v. State ex rel. Wood, 50 P.3d 693, 695 (Wyo.2002) (UIFSA was designed to streamline and expedite interstate enforcement of child support decrees); Thrift v. Thrift, 760 So.2d 732, 736 (Miss.2000) (collecting cases) (observing that Model UIFSA provides a procedure whereby child support orders may be enforced in foreign states (emphasis omitted)); In re Marriage of Hartman, 305 Ill.App.3d 338, 342, 238 Ill.Dec. 645, 712 N.E.2d 367 (1999) (observing that UIFSA creates a mechanism which facilitates the reciprocal enforcement or modification of child support awards entered in Illinois and other states which have also adopted [UIFSA]). This court has long recognized that in construing uniform legislation, a court must interpret the statutory language so as to give effect to the beneficent legislative purpose of promoting harmony in the law. The court must take the statute as it is written, giving the words their natural and common meaning. The uniform legislation was enacted to furnish in itself a guide to determine all questions covered thereby and, so far as it unambiguously speaks to any such question, reference to prior case law is more likely to be misleading than beneficial. If the provisions of the uniform act harmonize with general principles in force prior to the enactment, those principles should be followed. However, if the language of the uniform act conflicts with prior statutes or decisions, a court should not give the act a strained construction to harmonize it with earlier statutes or decisions. Such a construction would defeat the very purpose of the act. In order to keep the law as nearly as may be uniform, the courts of all the States should keep in mind the spirit and object of the law and should give to the language of the act a natural and common construction, so that all might be more likely to come to the same conclusion. National City Bank of Chicago v. National Bank of the Republic of Chicago, 300 Ill. 103, 107, 132 N.E. 832 (1921); accord Sherer-Gillett Co. v. Long, 318 Ill. 432, 435-36, 149 N.E. 225 (1925). In construing and applying the Illinois UIFSA, we must consider the need to promote uniformity among the states that have enacted it. 750 ILCS 22/901 (West 2006); accord Model UIFSA § 501, 9 (Part IB) U.L.A. 269; Miss.Code Ann. § 93-25-115 (West 2006). UIFSA provides that an income withholding notice may be sent directly to the out-of-state employer of an obligor. Upon receipt of the order, the employer must begin to withhold and remit the employee's income without the necessity of a hearing unless the employee objects. Model UIFSA §§ 501 through 507, 9 (Part IB) U.L.A. 232-40; 750 ILCS 22/501 through 507 (West 2006); Miss.Code Ann. §§ 93-25-67 through 93-25-79 (West 2006). Specifically, section 502 of Model UIFSA provides: The employer shall treat an income-withholding order issued in another State which appears regular on its face as if it had been issued by a tribunal of this State. Model UIFSA § 502(b), 9 (Part IB) U.L.A. 233; 750 ILCS 22/502(b) (West 2006); Miss.Code Ann. § 93-25-69(2) (West 2006). Further: An employer who willfully fails to comply with an income-withholding order issued by another State and received for enforcement is subject to the same penalties that may be imposed for noncompliance with an order issued by a tribunal of this State. Model UIFSA § 505, 9 (Part IB) U.L.A. 237; 750 ILCS 22/505 (West 2006); Miss.Code Ann. § 93-25-75 (West 2006). In the present case, the appellate court recognized that Mississippi law directed Knobias to regard the income withholding notice as though it issued from a Mississippi court. 382 Ill.App.3d at 504, 321 Ill.Dec. 66, 888 N.E.2d 585, quoting Miss.Code Ann. § 93-25-69 (West 2006). [2] However, the appellate court failed to recognize that, based on this reciprocal statutory scheme, Knobias must be penalized according to the law of its stateMississippi (Miss. Code Ann. § 93-11-117(1) (West 2004)). If the situation were reversed, where Knobias were located in Illinois and disregarded an income withholding notice issued from a Mississippi court, section 505 of Illinois UIFSA would subject Knobias to the same penalties that would be imposed for noncompliance with an income withholding order issued by the circuit court, namely, the $100 per day penalty of section 35(a) of the Withholding Act (750 ILCS 28/35(a) (West 2006)). UIFSA establishes a uniform procedure for enforcing an out-of-state child support order. However, it uniformly directs the employer-violator to the law of its State for the appropriate sanction. We remand the cause to the circuit court to recalculate Knobias' penalty based on section 93-11-117(1) of Mississippi's income withholding statute. Miss.Code Ann. § 93-11-117(1) (West 2006).