Celebrity couple, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, recently filed for divorce after four years of marriage. Although their marriage was short in duration, their split has become acrimonious as they’ve publicly dueled over custody of their two young children. Evidently, while not traveling for tours or acting gigs, the Jonas’ home base had been in Miami until April of 2023. In April, the parties moved to a temporary residence in England where their “forever home” was being completed and Turner was filming. When the marriage fell apart, Jonas returned to Florida and filed for custody of the children ..read more

If you missed it, Kevin Costner, the patriarch of Yellowstone, is going through a messy divorce. According to celebrity blogs, Kevin Costner’s net worth exceeds $400 million and his wife of eighteen years wants part of it. Unfortunately for her, Kevin Costner learned a hard lesson through his prior divorce where he was ordered to pay his first wife $80,000,000. In order to avoid a repeat of history, Kevin Costner required a prenup before he married his second wife. Although I have not reviewed his prenup, news sources state the prenup requires his wife to immediately vacate the $145,000,0 ..read more

In April of 2022, the Iowa Supreme Court recognized a fourth type of spousal support in Iowa called transitional spousal support. See my blog about it here.  Although the Iowa Supreme Court recognized transitional spousal support in In Re Marriage of Pazhoor, it did not provide the lower courts much guidance in how to apply it.  The issue recently reemerged in In Re Marriage of Sokol[1]. In Sokol, the Iowa district court dissolved a nineteen-year marriage between a 45 year-old physician and a 43 year-old entrepreneur. At the time of their dissolution, the wife earned $440,000 per yea ..read more

The thought of pursuing a divorce is a difficult decision for a number of reasons including whether you can financially make it on your own.   Typically, the more vulnerable spouse in the divorce equation is the one who makes less income. For this spouse, they will likely be concerned with how they can afford the lifestyle they have become accustomed to without their spouse’s financial assistance.  If you are contemplating divorce and are not the family bread winner, you may be a candidate to receive spousal support. This is especially given the Iowa Supreme Court’s recent recognitio ..read more

For individuals who are considering a divorce or need to modify an existing court order, require help with a child custody or support matter, there is a lot to learn about Iowa law. A new resource created by the attorneys of the Dickinson Law Family Practice is now available to help answer frequently asked questions about family law. The new FAQ page includes answers to the most pressing questions, including: How to start the process of divorce and how much it costs Your legal options and what you need to know about divorce in Iowa What happens whe ..read more

If you use child care, you are likely familiar with how costly it is. According to the Iowa Governor’s Child Care Task Force, the average monthly cost of child care is $1,031, which is more expensive than housing costs for the average Iowa family. Because of how expensive child care is, you may be considering whether you can truly afford to pursue a divorce or move on from an unhealthy relationship. Although raising a child in a split household will undoubtedly result in changes to your financial position, the Iowa Supreme Court has recently revised the Iowa Child Support Guidelines to increas ..read more

Dickinson Law has just released an exciting new commercial demonstrating the capabilities of our dedicated Family Law Practice. From adoption, to divorce, to child custody and child support issues, the new commercial features our team of experienced and compassionate attorneys who are available to assist clients with a multitude of family law issues.  To view the new commercial, click below.   For More Information Visit our main Divorce and Family Law page featuring Attorneys Mary Zambreno, Regan Wilson, and Rachel Soderstrum.   ..read more

If you’re filing for divorce, you likely do not have much trust in your partner. It follows that your spouse likely does not want to share any of “his” or “her” assets with you. With these factors, it may be difficult to determine whether your spouse has disclosed all the assets of the marriage. In a typical scenario, if you later find out that your spouse has hidden an asset, you’d have one year after entry of the divorce decree to request the court to vacate the order based upon the fraudulent concealment. If you miss this deadline, you can attempt the difficult route of vacating the order s ..read more

When your relationship is ending due to your spouse having an affair, you may wonder what effect that has on your divorce. For starters, Iowa is a no-fault divorce state, which means you do not have to prove that your spouse was unfaithful or abusive in order to obtain a divorce. Infidelity may be relevant, however, in terms of property division and child custody. Typically, infidelity would not dictate how a court divides assets or debts of your marriage unless you can prove that assets were depleted to benefit the new relationship. For example, say you notice that your spouse has withdrawn s ..read more

As a seasoned family law attorney, Mary Zambreno understands that going through the divorce process or dealing with a modification to a divorce decree can be an emotional roller-coaster for many of her clients, especially if there are children involved. After all, according to the American Psychological Association, about 40 to 50 percent of marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. “Thinking about taking the first few steps in the process can be daunting,” Mary said. “However, once you’ve made the decision to separate and divorce, finding the right legal advocate is the best thing you can do to p ..read more