Opinion ID: 1678707
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the District Associate Judge Had Jurisdiction to Consider the Conflicting Claims of the Parties to Property Awarded Under the Dissolution of Marriage Decree.

Text: Martin's first claim on appeal is that the district associate judge who heard this case lacked subject matter jurisdiction to resolve the conflicting claims of the parties with respect to the property which had been awarded to Susan under the dissolution decree. This claim is premised on the contention that the judge's findings modified the original property division. We find no merit in this contention. A decree dissolving a marriage finally settles all property rights and interests of the parties in the property of each other. Carr v. Carr, 185 Iowa 1205, 1211, 171 N.W. 785, 787 (1919). The effect of a judgment determining interests in property is described as follows in Restatement (Second) of Judgments section 43 (1982): A judgment in an action that determines interests in real or personal property: (1) With respect to the property involved in the action: (a) Conclusively determines the claims of the parties to the action regarding their interests. . . . Comment a to this Restatement section provides: When an action has been brought concerning rights to property, the judgment determines the extent of the property interests of each person whose claims are within the scope of the adjudication.. . . The effect of the determination is to delimit, as between such parties, what each has by way of an ownership interest in the object. It is therefore an involuntary realignment of their interests in the property and in effect a conveyance from the losing party to the winning party. We interpret the foregoing rule of law as providing that the property division in a marriage dissolution decree is self-executing with respect to the creation of new title or ownership interests. All of that property awarded Susan under the May 1985 dissolution decree was hers at the time she filed her counterclaim and she was entitled to all protection which the law affords owners of similar personal property. Actions between married persons for conversion of a spouse's separate property is permitted by Iowa Code sections 597.2 and .3 (1987). A fortiori, parties who are no longer married may pursue law actions for conversion of their individual property against former spouses. Martin's contention that the action of the district associate judge amounted to a modification of the dissolution decree is simply another way of saying that he believes the judge erred in the interpretation he placed on that decree. In resolving the conflicting claims to property, where one of the parties relied on a prior judgment as a muniment of title, the judge was required to interpret the scope of the prior judgment. We know of no rule of law, however, that requires these issues to be determined by the dissolution court. If the district associate judge, trying the conversion action, applied the prior judgment according to its terms, he was only giving effect to the property interests of the parties as established by the evidence. If he misapplied or misinterpreted the prior judgment, he was committing legal error. Such legal error is not jurisdictional, however, and may be reviewed on the basis of whether the interpretation was erroneous.