In re the Marriage of Shannon
Kara Jo Shannon, Petitioner-Appellant
Christopher Patrick Shannon, Respondent-Appellee
Attorney for Appellant
Kevin D. Engels
Attorney for Appellee
Rebecca A. Feiereisen
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, Judge. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Schumacher and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Langholz, J. (15 pages)
Kara Shannon appeals from the decree dissolving her marriage with Chris Shannon. She challenges the joint-physical-care placement of their children, the child-support award based on that placement, and the valuation and division of the marital property and debts. OPINION HOLDS: Giving the district court’s thoughtful decision due deference, we agree that awarding joint physical care serves the best interests of the children. And the joint-physical-care label is appropriate for the roughly equal parenting schedule here. So Kara’s challenge to the child support calculation on that basis fails. We also agree with the district court’s fact findings on the existence of a personal loan and the amount of the Discover-credit-card debt. But Kara is correct that the property and debt division is inequitable given the parties’ circumstances because it is unequal. We thus increase Chris’s equalization payment to Kara. We decline to award Chris appellate attorney fees.