Reese R. Petersen v. Stacia M. Nielsen, 17-0135

Reese Petersen and Stacia Nielsen, never married, are parents of two children (born 2014 and 2016); Reese filed a paternity action in May 2016.
The parties initially shared care of the older child but that arrangement caused behavioral problems; a stipulated temporary order (Aug. 2016) placed the children with Stacia and limited parental contact to child exchanges.
Trial occurred Oct. 2016; district court found Stacia more credible and credited evidence of Reese’s mental-health diagnoses and incidents of aggressive/domestic behavior toward Stacia (including while she held the infant).
The district court awarded joint legal custody, physical care to Stacia (citing inability to communicate, history of domestic abuse, and Stacia as primary caregiver), visitation to Reese (alternating weekends, weekly midweek overnight, alternating holidays, two weeks summer), and extended a no-contact order.
On appeal Reese challenged physical-care allocation, sought expanded visitation (essentially half-time custody), and contested the no-contact order; the Court of Appeals affirmed and awarded Stacia $4,800 in appellate attorney fees.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Petersen)	Defendant's Argument (Nielsen)	Held
Whether joint physical care should be awarded	Joint physical care is in children’s best interests despite poor communication; he was involved in care	Parties cannot cooperate; history of domestic abuse and Stacia as primary caregiver make joint care inappropriate	Court affirmed denial of joint physical care (domestic abuse, poor communication, primary caregiving favored mother)
Whether physical care should be placed with father	Reese says he would better promote children’s development and family connections	Stacia was primary caregiver, Reese denigrated her, and domestic abuse counsels against his custody	Court affirmed placement with Stacia
Whether visitation schedule should be expanded	Requests essentially half-time custody: extended weekends and additional midweek overnights, half of summer	Existing schedule provides reasonable contact; expanded schedule would effectuate joint physical care	Court declined to modify visitation; affirmed district court schedule
Whether no-contact order should have been extended	Argues extension unnecessary and not requested by Stacia	District court relied on domestic-abuse incidents to extend order	Issue not considered on appeal due to appellant's failure to cite authority; no relief granted

In re Marriage of Hanson, 733 N.W.2d 683 (Iowa 2007) (factors for awarding joint physical care)
In re Marriage of Berning, 745 N.W.2d 90 (Iowa Ct. App. 2007) (application of Hanson factors)
In re Marriage of Kleist, 538 N.W.2d 273 (Iowa Ct. App. 1995) (de novo review in equity with weight to district court credibility findings)
In re Marriage of Daniels, 568 N.W.2d 51 (Iowa Ct. App. 1997) (domestic abuse contrary to child’s best interests)
Markey v. Carney, 705 N.W.2d 13 (Iowa 2005) (factors for awarding appellate attorney fees)
Figley v. W.S. Indus., 801 N.W.2d 602 (Iowa Ct. App. 2011) (appellate court limited in overturning supreme court precedent)