Opinion ID: 1166304
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Marital Property Under Iowa Law

Text: Turning to the Iowa law, we find that state's supreme court frequently asserting that each case must be considered on its own fact situation. Although recognizing the legal principle that property accumulated from the husband's earnings is his separate property, the courts in divorce cases almost always award the wife a large part of the property acquired during coverture. In looking at a variety of these property division cases, we find that the amount of the husband's separate property that is given to the wife under circumstances fairly analogous to those in the instant case ranges from one-third to two-thirds of the property involved. In Schantz v. Schantz, 163 N.W.2d 398 (1968) the Iowa Supreme Court set forth guidelines to be used in awarding alimony and making a distribution of property on divorce. These included: the duration of the marriage; number of children, their ages and needs; net worth of property acquired with contributions of each party by labor or otherwise and net worth and present income of each party; conduct of the spouse; physical and mental health of each party; earning capacity of each party; training, education and life expectancy of each party; any sacrifice by either spouse in furthering or preserving the marriage; standards of living and the ability of one party balanced against the relative needs of the other; any other relevant factors which aid in reaching a fair and equitable determination as to respective rights. In Schantz the court awarded the wife approximately one-half of the property accumulated during coverture. In Locke v. Locke, Iowa, 246 N.W.2d 246 (1976) the wife was awarded approximately forty percent of the marital property. It appears that the court awarded the wife property valued at approximately one-half of the husband's salary for a ten-year period, where the parties had been married for sixteen and one-half years in the case of In re Beeh, Iowa, 214 N.W.2d 170 (1974). The court in the case of In re Marriage of Romig, Iowa, 207 N.W.2d 780 (1973) awarded the wife approximately one-half of the marital property. In re Marriage of Cook, Iowa, 205 N.W.2d 682 (1973) the wife was awarded approximately one-third; in Madsen v. Madsen, 261 Iowa 476, 154 N.W.2d 727 (1967) the wife received close to one-half of the value of the property valued at the time the wife left the husband ten years prior to the divorce; in Cooper v. Cooper, 259 Iowa 277, 144 N.W.2d 146 (1966) the wife got two-thirds of the property even though her contribution was only $17,000.00 out of a total of $45,000.00 in value and in Gerk v. Gerk, 259 Iowa 293, 144 N.W.2d 104 (1966) and Pfab v. Pfab, 257 Iowa 303, 132 N.W.2d 483 (1965) the wife received approximately one-half of the marital property. The trial court in our case found that the money in question that was paid as down payments on the ranch and the 115 apartments was borrowed or accumulated while the parties were domiciled in a common-law state. Based solely on these findings, the court concluded as a matter of law that Mrs. Hughes was not entitled to any share in these properties, except to receive the value of her share of the community funds used to pay for the same. We hold that the court entertained an erroneous belief as to the applicable law, having no guidance from New Mexico case law. The court obviously felt that the wife had absolutely no legal or equitable claim to a portion of this property. We reverse the trial court on this issue and remand for that court to consider Mrs. Hughes' right to a share of these properties in light of this decision and the applicable Iowa case law. This court has held that a trial court's findings of fact, where based on an erroneous legal theory, are not binding on the appellate court. Odell et al. v. Colmor Irr. & Land Co., 34 N.M. 277, 289, 280 P. 398 (1924).