Lindsay Moses
v.
Zachary Ray Rosol
Appellant
Lindsay Moses
Appellee
Zachary Ray Rosol
Attorney for the Appellant
Lana L. Luhring and Shanna Chevalier
Attorney for the Appellee
Heather A. Prendergast
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Grundy County, George L. Stigler, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Doyle, P.J., Tabor, J., and Blane, S.J. Opinion by Blane, S.J. (14 pages)
The mother appeals the district court award of shared physical care with the father of their one-and-a-half year old son, who, because of a significant hearing deficiency has bilateral cochlear implants. She contends that (1) the trial court failed to comply with Iowa Rule of Civil Procedure 1.904(1) in not filing written findings; (2) the court should adopt a “special needs best interests” standard for determining physical care of a special-needs child, and (3) shared care with the father is not in the son’s best interest. Father requests appellate attorney fees. OPINION HOLDS: Upon de novo review, we find (1) mother failed to preserve error on the written findings issue, but we still conduct a de novo review; (2) we must decline mother’s invitation to adopt a new legal standard as it applies to special-needs children and find the standards in current law provide adequate consideration of special needs of the child; (3) shared physical care of the child is in his best interest; and (4) we decline to award appellate attorney fees.
