1. This subchapter is intended to provide a procedure to accommodate a request of both parents to expeditiously change a support order due to changes in the cost of living.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 252H.21

  • Child: means a child as defined in section 252B. See Iowa Code 252H.2
  • Consumer: means any one of the following:
     a. See Iowa Code 216E.1
  • Cost-of-living alteration: means a change in an existing child support order which equals an amount which is the amount of the support obligation following application of the percentage change of the consumer price index for all urban consumers, United States city average, as published in the federal register by the federal department of labor, bureau of labor statistics. See Iowa Code 252H.2
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Modification: means either of the following:
     (1) A change, correction, or termination of an existing support order. See Iowa Code 252H.2
  • month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" and the abbreviation "A. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Support order: means an order for support issued pursuant to this chapter, chapter 232, 234, 252A, 252C, 252E, 252F, 598, 600B, or any other applicable chapter, or under a comparable statute of another state or foreign country as registered with the clerk of court or certified to the child support recovery unit. See Iowa Code 252H.2
  • unit: means the child support recovery unit created pursuant to section 252B. See Iowa Code 252H.2
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. All of the following shall apply to a cost-of-living alteration under this subchapter:

 a. To the extent permitted under 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(10)(A)(i)(II), the cost-of-living alteration shall be an exception to any requirement under law for the application of the child support guidelines established pursuant to section 598.21B, including but not limited to any requirement in this chapter or chapter 234, 252A, 252B, 252C, 252F, 598, or 600B.
 b. The cost-of-living alteration shall not prevent any subsequent modification or adjustment to the support order as otherwise provided in law based on application of the child support guidelines.
 c. The calculation of a cost-of-living alteration to a child support order shall be compounded as follows:

 (1) Increase or decrease the child support order by the percentage change of the appropriate consumer price index for the month and year after the month and year the child support order was last issued, modified, adjusted, or altered.
 (2) Increase or decrease the amount of the child support order calculated in subparagraph (1) for each subsequent year by applying the appropriate consumer price index for each subsequent year to the result of the calculation for the previous year. The final year in the calculation shall be the year immediately preceding the year the unit received the completed request for the cost-of-living alteration.
 d. The amount of the cost-of-living alteration in the notice in section 252H.24, subsection 1, shall be the result of the calculation in paragraph “c”.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Chapter 252H Contents