252B.3 Duty of department to enforce child support — cooperation — rules.
1. Upon receipt by the department of an application for public assistance on behalf of a child and determination by the department that the child is eligible for public assistance and that provision of child support services is appropriate, the department shall take appropriate action under the provisions of this chapter or under other appropriate statutes of this state including but not limited to chapters 239B, 252A, 252C, 252D, 252E, 252F, 252G, 252H, 252I, 252J, 598, and 600B, to ensure that the parent or other person responsible for the support of the child fulfills the support obligation. The department shall also take appropriate action as required by federal law upon receiving a request from a child support agency for a child receiving public assistance in another state.
2. The department of human services may negotiate a partial payment of a support obligation with a parent or other person responsible for the support of the child, provided that the negotiation and partial payment are consistent with applicable federal law and regulation.
3. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A regarding cases in which, under federal law, it is a condition of eligibility for an individual who is an applicant for or recipient of public assistance to cooperate in good faith with the department in establishing the paternity of, or in establishing, modifying, or enforcing a support order by identifying and locating the parent of the child or enforcing rights to support payments. The rules shall include all of the following provisions:
a. As required by the unit, the individual shall provide the name of the noncustodial parent and additional necessary information, and shall appear at interviews, hearings, and legal proceedings.
b. If paternity is an issue, the individual and child shall submit to blood or genetic tests pursuant to a judicial or administrative order.
c. The individual may be requested to sign a voluntary affidavit of paternity, after notice of the rights and consequences of such an acknowledgment, but shall not be required to sign an affidavit or otherwise relinquish the right to blood or genetic tests.
d. The unit shall promptly notify the individual and the appropriate division of the department administering the public assistance program of each determination by the unit of noncooperation of the individual and the reason for such determination.
e. A procedure under which the individual may claim that, and the department shall determine whether, the individual has sufficient good cause or other exception for not cooperating, taking into consideration the best interest of the child.
4. Without need for a court order and notwithstanding the requirements of section 598.22A, the support payment ordered pursuant to any chapter shall be satisfied as to the department, the child, and either parent for the period during which the parents are reconciled and are cohabiting, the child for whom support is ordered is living in the same residence as the parents, and the obligor receives public assistance on the obligor’s own behalf for the benefit of the child. The department shall implement this subsection as follows:
a. The unit shall file a notice of satisfaction with the clerk of court.
b. This subsection shall not apply unless all the children for whom support is ordered reside with both parents, except that a child may be absent from the home due to a foster care placement pursuant to chapter 234 or a comparable law of another state or foreign country.
c. The unit shall send notice by regular mail to the obligor when the provisions of this subsection no longer apply. A copy of the notice shall be filed with the clerk of court.
d. This section shall not limit the rights of the parents or the department to proceed by other means to suspend, terminate, modify, reinstate, or establish support.
5. On or after July 1, 1999, the department shall implement a program for the satisfaction of accrued support debts, based upon timely payment by the obligor of both current support due and any payments due for accrued support debt under a periodic payment plan. The unit shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to establish the criteria and procedures for obtaining satisfaction under the program. The rules adopted under this subsection shall specify the cases and amounts to which the program is applicable, and may provide for the establishment of the program as a pilot program.
[C77, 79, 81, §252B.3; 82 Acts, ch 1237, §3]
83 Acts, ch 96, §157, 159; 93 Acts, ch 79, §36; 97 Acts, ch 41, §32; 97 Acts, ch 175, §26; 98 Acts, ch 1170, §41; 2015 Acts, ch 110, §83
Referred to in §252B.2, 252B.6A, 252B.9, 598.22A