In re the Marriage of Loriel R. Bashor and James M. Bashore

Council Bluff, Iowa divorce lawyers represented the Petitioner and the Respondent in a marriage dissolution action.

James Bashore appeals the decree dissolving his marriage to Loriel Bashore (now known as Loriel Nordmeyer). James challenges the district court's admission of exhibit 26, the spousal-support provision, the child-support provision, the division of marital property, and the award of $4000 in trial attorney fees to Loriel. Loriel asks that we affirm the district court and award her $2500 in appellate attorney fees. We address these challenges below.



I. Background Facts and Proceedings.



James and Loriel were married in 2002. They have one child, F.A.B., who was born in 2004. James began serving in the Army National Guard in 1983 and continued to serve at the time of the dissolution trial in 2023. He was stationed in Oklahoma, where he had been living for more than twelve months, while Loriel remained in Iowa in the family home with F.A.B.



James was fifty-six years old and in good health at the time of trial. He testified he faces mandatory retirement from the National Guard once he turns sixty unless he receives a waiver and is allowed to work until he reaches age sixty-two. James explained his pay included his salary, an allowance for housing, and basic subsistence; with all of those combined, his gross income was $164,000 annually at the time of trial. Because his future orders and age of retirement were not yet known, it was not clear what his military pension would be when he retired. But he anticipated he would receive at least $5182.68 per month; Loriel would also begin receiving payments within a few months of James' retirement, and her expected share was $1540 per month. In addition, Loriel would receive free health insurance after James retired.



Loriel turned sixty years old a couple weeks after the district court entered the dissolution decree in May 2023; she testified to a long list of medical ailments, including both physical and mental illnesses. While Loriel obtained a master's degree in accounting prior to the marriage and was licensed as a certified public accountant (CPA) when the parties wed, she had not held full-time employment outside the home since 2008 or 2009[1] and had allowed her CPA license to lapse in the early 2000s. Loriel testified she was not able to maintain full-time employment after then because F.A.B. had issues at school and needed a parent who could pick her up and be around during school-day hours; James was deployed overseas for six nine-month stints during the course of the marriage. According to her 2022 Social Security statement, in the twelve years from 2009 to 2020 (the last year with information included on the statement), Loriel earned some income in ten of those years. Her greatest earning year in that window was in 2012, with an income of $45,269, and her average annual income over the twelve years was $18,108.50. Loriel testified she last had paid employment in 2020, when she worked preparing tax returns for $35 per hour during tax season and earned $7178. Loriel maintained she did not intend to work outside the home again, stating she did "not feel [she] would be a good employee with all of [her] conditions and limitations with [her] family." She admitted that she previously applied for Social Security disability and was denied; when asked if she was ever going to reapply, she testified, "I've considered it, and I'm looking into it, but I don't know if I qualify anymore. I've had one Social Security person tell me that I'd no longer qualify.