Upon the Petition of Cory Wane Fees, and Concerning Amanda Leigh Cook, 15-2192

Unmarried parents Cory Fees and Amanda Cook have two minor children; Cory petitioned for custody; trial held Nov 2015.
Both parents worked and shared childcare duties pre-separation; conflict escalated with episodes where Amanda withheld children and threatened Cory.
Temporary orders initially granted joint legal and physical custody; parties had a consent protective/no-contact order briefly.
Daycare provider and Cory’s neighbor testified favorably about Cory’s parenting and described Amanda’s confrontational conduct during exchanges.
District court found both parents loved the children but Cory demonstrated greater stability and ability to support Amanda’s relationship with the children; awarded Cory physical care, liberal visitation to Amanda, and ordered splitting of extracurricular costs (later conceded erroneous).
Amanda appealed physical-care decision, admission of Cory’s journal, and the extracurricular-expenses allocation; Cory sought appellate attorney fees.

Issue	Amanda's Argument	Cory's Argument	Held
Physical care award	Amanda should have primary physical care	Cory better provides stability, supports Amanda’s relationship with children	Affirmed: de novo review favors Cory based on credibility, stability, and best-interests factors
Admission of Cory’s journal	Journal contained privileged mental-health info, was cumulative/hearsay, and prejudicial	Journal was Cory’s personal notes, not privileged medical records; admissible	Affirmed: no abuse of discretion; journal not privileged nor shown to have biased ruling
Extracurricular expense allocation	Court incorrectly ordered Amanda to share costs though Cory has physical care	Cory concedes error	Modified: court’s order on splitting extracurricular costs reversed as conceded by Cory
Appellate attorney fees	N/A (respondent)	Requests fees; court should consider need, ability to pay, and whether appeal defended trial ruling	Awarded: Amanda to pay $3,000 of Cory’s appellate fees; costs assessed 80% to Amanda, 20% to Cory

Lambert v. Everist, 418 N.W.2d 40 (Iowa 1988) (same custody analysis for children of unmarried parents as in divorce)
Markey v. Carney, 705 N.W.2d 13 (Iowa 2005) (issues ancillary to paternity reviewed de novo; appellate fee considerations)
In re Marriage of Winter, 223 N.W.2d 165 (Iowa 1974) (factors for custodial determinations)
In re Marriage of Hansen, 733 N.W.2d 683 (Iowa 2007) (continuity, stability, communication, approximation factors in custody)
Gamerdinger v. Schaefer, 603 N.W.2d 590 (Iowa 1999) (abuse-of-discretion standard for evidentiary rulings)
In re Marriage of Fennelly, 737 N.W.2d 97 (Iowa 2007) (weight of factual findings and credibility in custody appeals)