House File 2046

                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  STRUYK


    Passed House,  Date               Passed Senate, Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the recovery of service of process fees from
  2    an obligor in nonassistance child support cases.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 5049HH 80
  5 pf/cl/14

PAG LIN

  1  1    Section 1.  Section 252B.4, subsection 4, Code 2003, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    4.  An Any application fee or service of process fees paid
  1  4 by a recipient of services pursuant to subsection 1 may be
  1  5 recovered by the unit from the person responsible for payment
  1  6 of support and, if recovered, shall be used to reimburse the
  1  7 recipient of services.
  1  8    a.  The fee fees shall be an automatic judgment against the
  1  9 person responsible to pay support.
  1 10    b.  This subsection shall serve as constructive notice that
  1 11 the fee is fees are a debt due and owing, is an are automatic
  1 12 judgment judgments against the person responsible for support,
  1 13 and is are assessed as the fee is fees are paid by a recipient
  1 14 of services.  The fee fees may be collected in addition to any
  1 15 support payments or support judgment ordered, and no further
  1 16 notice or hearing is required prior to collecting the fee
  1 17 fees.
  1 18    c.  Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the unit
  1 19 may collect the fee fees through any legal means by which
  1 20 support payments may be collected, including but not limited
  1 21 to income withholding under chapter 252D or income tax refund
  1 22 offsets, unless prohibited under federal law.
  1 23    d.  The unit is not required to file these judgments with
  1 24 the clerk of the district court, but shall maintain an
  1 25 accurate accounting of the fee fees assessed, the amount of
  1 26 the fee fees, and the recovery of the fee fees.
  1 27    e.  Support payments collected shall not be applied to the
  1 28 recovery of the fee fees until all other support obligations
  1 29 under the support order being enforced, which have accrued
  1 30 through the end of the current calendar month, have been paid
  1 31 or satisfied in full.
  1 32    f.  This subsection applies to application fees that become
  1 33 due on or after July 1, 1992, and to service of process fees
  1 34 that become due on or after July 1, 2004.
  1 35                           EXPLANATION
  2  1    This bill provides that in addition to recovery of the
  2  2 application fee paid by a recipient of child support services
  2  3 in nonassistance cases from the person responsible for the
  2  4 payment of child support, the fee paid by the recipient for
  2  5 service of process may also be recovered from the person
  2  6 responsible for payment of child support.  Nonassistance cases
  2  7 are those cases involving individuals not otherwise eligible
  2  8 for child support recovery unit services as public assistance
  2  9 recipients.
  2 10 LSB 5049HH 80
  2 11 pf/cl/14