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Katie Venechuk n/k/a Katie Vandewalker
v.
Gary A. Landherr
Appellant
Katie Venechuk n/k/a Katie Vandewalker
Appellee
Gary A. Landherr
Attorney for the Appellant
Andrew B. Howie
Attorney for the Appellee
Judith M. O'Donohoe
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Worth County, Blake H. Norman, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Ahlers, J. Dissent by Langholz, J. (17 pages)
A parent appeals the district court’s denial of her petition to modify her custody decree to allow her child to switch schools. OPINION HOLDS: Because the mother did not seek modification to receive sole legal custody, we affirm. DISSENT ASSERTS: I do not read In re Marriage of Frazier, 1 N.W.3d 775 (Iowa 2024), to remove a court’s authority to modify a school-district-setting provision in an order or decree when a party shows a material change in circumstances and the modification is in the child’s best interest. And applying that proper standard here, I would reverse the district court’s denial of the modification request because the move to Riceville and enrollment of a half-sister in the Riceville school district is a material change in circumstances and attending the local school, with her half-sisters, less than two minutes away—rather than a twenty-five-minute car ride or an hour-plus car-and-bus trip to St. Ansgar—is in the daughter’s best interest.
