In re Marriage of Banister
Heather Ann Banister, Petitioner-Appellant
Shaun Ivan Banister, Respondent-Appellee
Attorney for Petitioner-Appellant
Missy J. Clabaugh
Attorney for Respondent-Appellee
Matthew T. E. Early
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lyon County, Shane Mayer, Judge. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED AND REMANDED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Badding, JJ. Opinion by Badding, J. (21 pages)
Heather Banister appeals the decree dissolving her marriage to Shaun Banister. She argues the court erred in awarding the parties joint physical care of their three children, inequitably divided the marital estate, and abused its discretion in denying her request for an award of attorney fees. Heather also requests an award of appellate attorney fees. OPINION HOLDS: We modify the dissolution decree to place the parties’ children in Heather’s physical care and remand to establish Shaun’s parenting schedule and child-support obligation. We also modify the property distribution, which results in an increase of Shaun’s total equalization payment to $12,745.49. With equitable treatment of the parties’ attorney-fee liabilities, we affirm the denial of trial attorney fees to Heather. We also deny Heather’s request for appellate attorney fees, but we assess the costs of the appeal against Shaun.
