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DAVIS v. CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT5/18/2000
Appellant Martha S. Davis petitions this court to review a court of appeals decision affirming a Randolf County child-support order. The chancellor ordered Davis to pay $70.00 per month in child support to her ex-husband for their two children. Davis's sole source of income is a monthly Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") check from the federal government in the amount of $494. Davis argues that federal law both expressly and impliedly preempts any Arkansas law that might impose a child-support obligation on her SSI benefits. We reverse.
Facts
Davis and her ex-husband Randy Davis ("Randy") were married on January 31, 1981. The Davises had two children during the course of their marriage. In March 1988, Randy sued for divorce in Randolph County Chancery Court. Davis answered and counter-claimed for divorce. The couple ultimately reached a property-settlement agreement in the matter. In the property settlement, the parties agreed that Randy would have custody of the two children. They also agreed that Davis would not pay child support because she was unemployed. The chancery court entered the divorce decree on April 10, 1989.
Nine years later, on April 17, 1998, the Office of Child Support Enforcement ("OCSE") intervened in the matter. In the interim Randy assigned his rights to OCSE to pursue child support from Davis. In its petition to set child support, OCSE requested that Davis pay current and past support, secure and maintain health insurance for the children, and be responsible for one-half of the medical costs not paid by insurance. Davis answered the petition on May 8, 1998, and alleged that she was disabled due to paranoid
schizophrenia and only identified her sole income source as $494 per month in SSI benefits.
Chancellor Tom Hilburn held a brief hearing on June 16, 1998. Counsel for the OCSE questioned Davis about the use of her monthly SSI check. Davis testified that $400 of her monthly check is paid to her sister, with whom she lives, for rent, groceries, and cigarettes, while the remaining $94 is used for medication for her mental illness. No other witnesses were called nor other evidence submitted.
At the hearing's conclusion, Davis's attorney sought and received permission to brief the issue of SSI 's availability for child-support awards. In her brief, Davis noted the federal government's purposes in creating the SSI program. She pointed out that Congress intended SSI to provide a minimum level of subsistence income to recipients. Davis also argued that federal law prohibits the garnishment, levy, execution on, or other legal process against benefits. Davis noted that Arkansas does not specifically require such a taking of SSI benefits, and that most other states prohibit the use of SSI benefits in child-support cases. OCSE responded by arguing that this Court, in a per curiam dated September 25, 1997, ordered that child-support payments could come out of "any form of payment" to an individual. OCSE argued that because SSI is "income" due Davis, it qualifies as a "form of payment" and should be subject to child-support withholding. OCSE argued that Davis uses her money for food, shelter, and luxuries such as cigarettes, but has failed to support her children. OCSE further argued that it is not trying to "execute, levy, attach, or garnish" Davis's SSI, noting that 42 U.S.C. ยง 407(a) and 1383(d)(1) do not allow income withholding on SSI benefits, but that it is merely trying to set support payments from the "income" Davis receives.
The chancellor filed his order on August 4, 1998, requiring Davis to pay $70 per month in support, specifically noting that Davis smokes perhaps one pack of cigarettes a day. The court
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