In re the marriage of Joshua Eugene Dow and Ashley Laine Dow

Clarinda, Iowa divorce lawyers represented husband and wife.

When Joshua Dow and Ashley Herzberg divorced in October 2019, the district court-following their stipulated agreement-granted them joint physical care of their two daughters, born in 2008 and 2012. Three years later, Herzberg filed a modification petition, requesting primary physical care of the children. She alleged that there has been a significant deterioration in the parties' communications and that their ability to co-parent has suffered.



The district court considered the pattern of communication between the parties since the decree and the toll that the parties' poor relationship had taken on the children. It found that Dow had blocked Herzberg's phone number, placed the burden of communication on the children, and punished the children for refusal to take a side in his conflicts with Herzberg. And so, the court found that Dow's failure to communicate with Herzberg was a substantial change in circumstances not contemplated at the time of the decree that warrants modification. It also held that placing the children in Herzberg's physical care was in the children's best interests given Herzberg's support of the children's relationship with Dow, his lack of support for the children's relationship with their mother, and his tendency to insert the children into parental conflict.



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In re Marriage of Dow, 23-1775 (Iowa App. Sep 04, 2024)

Affirmed