Iowa Family Law Resources

Read through our Iowa divorce and child custody articles to gain a better understanding of the road ahead. Educating yourself about the divorce process in Iowa will improve your ability to communicate with your divorce lawyer, which goes a long way toward helping you reach your goals in Iowa Family Court.

• Iowa Divorce Laws & FAQ
• Iowa Child Support and Custody
• How Child Support Is Calculated
• Declaration of Paternity
• Asset Division and Property Division
• Divorce Information for Every Step of Divorce

Iowa Divorce Process

The divorce process starts with filing a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and paying the filing fee. The person who files is called the Petitioner. The person being served with divorce papers is called the Respondent. The Respondent has a set number of days to respond with an Answer.

If the divorce is uncontested, you can have an uncontested hearing where the court proves the divorce. If it’s contested, you may go to mediation to try to resolve your claim amicably. If you cannot settle, your case goes to trial.

Related Article: Tips for Men Thinking About Divorce

Iowa Residency Requirements

To file for divorce in Iowa, you must meet the residency requirement of having lived in the state for one (1) year prior to filing. This residency requirement is not necessary if you are filing for divorce and the respondent resides in Iowa.

Iowa has a 90-day waiting period from the date the respondent is served with the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. In some cases, the court can waive the 90-day waiting period.

Related Article: What Is The Residency Requirement For Filing For Divorce?

Grounds for Divorce in Iowa

Iowa is a no-fault state, which simply means that a court will grant the parties a divorce if one party feels the marriage cannot be preserved.

Related Article: The No-Fault/Fault-Based Divorce Debate

Iowa Property Division Process

Iowa is an equitable distribution state, which means the court divides your assets and liabilities based on several factors, including how much each spouse contributed to acquiring the marital property, the value of the property, the length of the marriage, the earning power of each spouse, and the emotional and physical health of the parties, among other things. Grounds for divorce are not considered in determining equitable distribution.

Some assets acquired during the marriage, such as gifts and inheritances, can be considered separate/non-marital property.

Related Article: Divorce Tips For Men: What To Do With The House?

Iowa Child Custody Laws

In a case that involves minor children, two types of custody will be at issue. Legal custody includes the rights and responsibilities that each parent has toward the minor children. This includes making major life decisions for the children, such as medical care, safety, education, extracurricular activities and religion.

Physical custody is a determination of the place where the minor children will primarily live. The parent that lives with the minor children most of the time is the “primary” custodial parent, while the other parent is the non-custodial parent.

The court can also order joint physical custody whereby the minor children will spend equal time with each parent.

Related Article: Iowa Child Support and Custody

Iowa Child Support

Child support is based on child support guidelines outlined by state statutes.

If one parent is determined to be the primary custodial parent, then the non-custodial parent will be required to pay child support in accordance with the child support guidelines.

If the parties are joint physical custodians, then the parent that earns greater income will generally have an obligation to pay some amount of child support to the other parent. The child support guidelines will determine the exact amount of child support that would be obligated in every case.

The child support guidelines are based on statutory calculation. A few of the actors that go into this calculation include: each parent’s net income – the amount you get after you pay taxes and other legal deductions, such as union dues and required pension plans, whether a parent has additional qualified dependents, indicating which parent will claim the children for tax purposes (and whether the parents will rotate claiming the children for tax purposes), among other things.

Related Article: 5 Tips For Modifying Child Support

Iowa Spousal Support

In Iowa, alimony is referred to as spousal support. Either spouse can receive spousal support.

Iowa recognizes four types of spousal support: traditional, rehabilitative, reimbursement, and transitional.

Traditional spousal support may be warranted in marriages of long duration to allow the recipient spouse to maintain a lifestyle to which he or she became accustomed during the marriage.

Transitional spousal support may be warranted when the recipient spouse has the capacity for self-support at the time of divorce, but needs short-term assistance in transition to single life.

Rehabilitative spousal support may be warranted when the recipient spouse has the need for support for a period of time to go through a limited period of re-education or retraining following divorce, whereby their earning capacity can be increase during that period of time.

Reimbursement spousal support may be awarded to a recipient spouse, to provide the recipient spouse a share in the other spouse’s future earnings when the recipient spouse made economic sacrifices that contributed and/or directly enhanced the future earning capacity of the other spouse.

The court may order a limitation on the time or may order permanent spousal support. If the court orders a limitation, it could be based on a spouse becoming self-supporting or finishing his or her education in order to obtain a better-paying job.

In rare instances, a court may award two or more types of alimony on the specific circumstances of the case.

The amount of spousal support that may be appropriate, an the duration of the spousal support payments that may be appropriate, differs for each type of spousal support. The court has considerable discretion to order spousal support and set the amount. There are no guidelines or mathematical formulas that indicate how much spousal support would be appropriate in any given case. A court may rely on many factors such as current income and other financial resources of both parties, the duration of the marriages, age, emotional and physical health of the parties, and each spouse’s ability to meet his or her own needs, among other things.

Related Article: Spousal Support, Spousal Maintenance, and Alimony

Why Work With Cordell & Cordell

Working with an Iowa divorce attorney helps protect your right to receive a fair and equitable distribution of assets. It also means that you can fight against unfair child custody and spousal support requests made by your spouse.

Client Experience

“[My attorney] is the very definition of perfection! She helped me so much in so many different ways that I can’t count. She always made me feel like I was her only client. She responded with only information that I needed and responded in a timely manner. I don’t think I would have ever been treated this way if it was anyone else. I was referred by another client of the firm. He told me that your firm did his case and that he wouldn’t use anyone else. I second that! If I ever (and I hope I don’t) have to use your services again, it would be because of your people who have been working hard and professionally unmatched!!” — Jeffrey M.

Guarding Men’s Family Rights in Iowa

Cordell & Cordell has been a champion of men’s family rights since 1990. If you have been served or you are considering filing for divorce, contact our office for a consultation with our dedicated legal team.