The rest of what we have written about Iowa. Every figure is quoted from Iowa’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a Iowa divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Iowa: how property gets divided, what Iowa calls spousal support and how it is decided, whether one spouse can be made to pay the other’s legal fees while the case is running, and — the part nobody publishes — whether Iowa’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Iowa’s own statute, court rule or revenue department, quoted where the wording carries the meaning. Where we could not verify something, the page says so instead of filling the space. Information, not legal advice — and tax questions in particular need a professional in your state. Corrections: thecusp.app/corrections.
Does Iowa follow the federal alimony rule?
Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
Iowa’s 2018 tax reform (2018 Iowa Acts ch. 1161) moved the state to rolling IRC conformity. Iowa Code § 422.3(5)(a) fixed ‘Internal Revenue Code’ for tax year 2019 at March 24, 2018 (already after the TCJA’s December 22, 2017 enactment), and § 422.3(5)(b) provides that for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, ‘Internal Revenue Code’ means the IRC ‘as amended’ – i.e., full rolling conformity going forward. Iowa therefore follows the federal non-deductible/non-taxable treatment of post-2018 alimony.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Iowa Code § 422.3(5) (Definitions controlling chapter – ‘Internal Revenue Code’) · source
Conformity: rolling (for tax years beginning on or after 1 Jan 2020); static at 24 Mar 2018 for tax year 2019 only – both post-TCJA
Nationally: 36 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, 4 are decoupled, and 1 — Maine — we could not establish. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
Iowa is an equitable distribution state. That means the court divides marital property fairly, which is not a synonym for equally. What counts as marital rather than separate property is frequently the whole argument.
The court shall divide all property, except inherited property or gifts received or expected by one party, equitably between the parties after considering all of the following: a. The length of the marriage …
Source: Iowa Code § 598.21(5)
Spousal support (statute heading: ‘Orders for spousal support’; historically also called alimony)
Iowa calls it spousal support (statute heading: ‘Orders for spousal support’; historically also called alimony). Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
There is no guideline calculation. A judge weighs the statutory factors and reaches a number.
This is the norm and it is why alimony is the least predictable figure in a divorce. Two judges can reach different answers on the same facts and both be right. It also means the strength of your evidence about income, earning capacity and the standard of living during the marriage does real work.
the court may grant an order requiring support payments to either party for a limited or indefinite length of time after considering all of the following: a. The length of the marriage …
Source: Iowa Code § 598.21A(1)
Who pays for the lawyers
In a proceeding for the modification of an order or decree under this chapter the court may award attorney fees to the prevailing party in an amount deemed reasonable by the court
Source: Iowa Code § 598.36
The court may order either party to pay the clerk a sum of money for the separate support and maintenance of the other party and the children and to enable such party to prosecute or defend the action (Iowa Code § 598.10(1)(a)) – the basis for temporary/pendente lite support and fee awards during the pendency of a dissolution action, per Iowa Code § 598.10-.11
A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case. By then it is over. An interim award is what stops a wealthier spouse winning by attrition.
If you are the lower earner, this is the single most actionable thing on this page. Ask at the first meeting, in these words: “Can we move for an interim award of attorney fees now?” Do not let “we will deal with fees at the end” pass unexamined.
Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that. What that costs in Iowa, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Iowa
Iowa expressly excludes inherited property and gifts from the equitable-division estate as a matter of course (Iowa Code § 598.21(5)-(6)), dividing them only if the court finds that refusing to divide them would be inequitable to the other party or the children – a narrower divisible estate than states like Hawaii, which fold separate property into the partnership pot as a matter of course.
What we could not verify
For Iowa, we could not confirm the following from a primary source. We would rather print the gap than fill it:
- the child support model
If you practice in Iowa and can point us at the right provision, tell us. Corrections are published with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.