In re the Marriage of Melcher

CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 25, 2026
Docket24-1930
StatusPublished

This text of In re the Marriage of Melcher (In re the Marriage of Melcher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Marriage of Melcher, (iowactapp 2026).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA _______________

No. 24-1930 Filed February 25, 2026 _______________

In re the Marriage of Adam R. Melcher and Lyndsey C. Melcher Upon the Petition of Adam R. Melcher, Petitioner–Appellant/Cross-Appellee,

And Concerning Lyndsey C. Melcher, Respondent–Appellee/Cross-Appellant. _______________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jefferson County, The Honorable Shawn R. Showers, Judge. _______________

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS _______________

Abigail L. Brown of Leff Law Firm, L.L.P., Iowa City, attorney for appellant.

Diana L. Miller and Sydnee M. Waggoner of Whitfield & Eddy, P.L.C., Mount Pleasant and Des Moines, attorneys for appellee. _______________

Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Greer and Buller, JJ. Opinion by Buller, J.

1 BULLER, Judge.

Adam Melcher appeals, and Lyndsey Melcher cross-appeals, from a modification proceeding following the dissolution of their marriage. They raise a variety of claims about physical care, the visitation schedule, Adam’s income for purposes of child support, trial-attorney fees, fees owed to the child and family reporter (CFR), and appellate-attorney fees. We affirm the custodial provisions but reverse and remand for further proceedings related to Adam’s income for purposes of child support and the CFR fees.

BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS Adam and Lyndsey divorced in 2021 by stipulation. They share three children born in 2010, 2013, and 2021. The stipulated decree established joint legal custody and shared physical care for the two oldest children, while Lyndsey had physical care of the youngest (who was a newborn at the time of divorce).

As of trial, Adam was thirty-seven and lived with his girlfriend and her children in Fairfield. He works for his parents’ automotive repair business, is an EMT and firefighter, and owns several rental properties. The court set his annual gross income for child support purposes at $100,000 after it attributed no income for Adam’s multiple rental properties.

Lyndsey was thirty-nine as of trial and lived in Libertyville. She works for an investment company, and the court determined her income to be $77,000 per year.

According to Lyndsey, she and Adam “got along” and co-parented reasonably well right after the divorce. And their public-facing interactions at the children’s sporting and school events showed them supporting the children as a team. But as time has passed, Adam’s communication with and

2 about Lyndsey has worsened significantly. For example, during a custody exchange with the children nearby, he called her a “fucking cunt” and told her “I hope you get cancer, you fucking bitch.” In a particularly concerning recording, Adam and his girlfriend discussed murdering Lyndsey in such detail that he mentioned wearing booties over his shoes and observed that using a gun would be messy—a conversation that, at trial, a deputy sheriff described as “disturbing.” The two also discussed their hope Lyndsey would get a boyfriend so they could “Romeo and Juliet[1] the shit out of that deal. She does him then she does herself.” And Adam said he was “stronger” than Lyndsey, so he “could probably make it look like she killed herself.” Adam also told the children’s daycare provider that Lyndsey is a “psycho” and “bad mother.” And he told law enforcement she was a “bitch.” At trial, Adam begrudgingly admitted to calling Lyndsey and her attorneys “a dumb bunch of cunts”—though he waffled on taking responsibility even after being confronted with his own recording of the comment.

According to Lyndsey, all of this strife and negative communication negatively affected the children—in particular the older children’s academics and mental health, and the youngest child’s toilet training. Lyndsey believed, and other evidence confirmed, that Adam was putting the children in the middle of their parenting disputes. For her part, Lyndsey testified that she tried to “never talk poorly about Adam in front of the children” and tried to be supportive of him spending time with the children whenever possible.

Adam surreptitiously created more than 700 audio or video recordings of his interactions with Lyndsey (sometimes including the children and their

Spoiler alert: by the end of the play, both Romeo and Juliet are dead. See William 1

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 5, sc. 3.

3 sporting events), which the district court found was a “red flag.”2 Adam claimed the recordings were evidence of Lyndsey “changing the story and misrepresenting what had happened,” but he later admitted the recordings did not support that claim. And he did not offer into evidence any recordings demonstrating bad behavior by Lyndsey. Lyndsey testified that Adam drove by her house so frequently she felt like she was “being watched.” At trial, Adam denied stalking Lyndsey, but the district court wrote it specifically “d[id] not believe this testimony.” Some of the other recordings include statements Adam made to the children, where he can be heard manipulating them or calling Lyndsey names. Adam testified that he wished he could get along better with Lyndsey and that he regretted some of the worst things he said. But he also described the recorded conversations—including the one about murdering Lyndsey—as “talking and venting and doing the things that most normal adults do.”

In addition to the interpersonal conflict with Lyndsey, Adam has also created other parenting problems. He has refused to pay for necessary allergy testing to address one of the children’s allergies to most common antibiotics. And he refused to participate in multiple sessions with one of the children’s counselors, even though the counselor concluded meeting with Adam and Lyndsey separately for multiple sessions was necessary for the counselor to make any progress with the child. Adam refused to introduce Lyndsey to his girlfriend, even though she has lived with the children for more than a year 2 Adam also recorded some of his interactions with people other than Lyndsey, and some were admitted as evidence at trial. We do not dwell on these, except to note they generally support the district court’s ruling. For example, Adam recorded himself disparaging Lyndsey to a stranger—a prospective tenant—and claimed he “gave up” physical care of the youngest child to get more time with his “big kids.” He also recorded interactions with the children in which he undermined Lyndsey’s parenting and told them they could soon choose to live with him most of the time.

4 and helps take care of them during Adam’s parenting time. Adam also repeatedly failed to pay one of the children’s daycare providers on time, forcing Lyndsey to cover Adam’s share so that the provider did not disenroll the child. Adam threatened criminal kidnapping charges against the same daycare provider when she asked him to not drop in unannounced and to follow the custody agreement for picking up the child; Adam made her so uncomfortable that she expressed concern to the local police chief. Before trial, the court enjoined Adam from being on the daycare provider’s property. Even with the injunction, the daycare provider testified at trial that she feared reprisal from Adam.

For his part, Adam blamed Lyndsey for not allowing him more parenting time with the youngest child after the child finished breastfeeding. He also faulted Lyndsey for subpoenaing his financial records, which he claimed was a “dig at financial control.” And he blamed the daycare provider for asking questions, though he admitted to eventually agreeing to the injunction.

A common theme among trial witnesses was that there was a “Jekyll and Hyde”3 dynamic at play, especially with Adam’s behavior.

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Related

In Re the Marriage of Walton
577 N.W.2d 869 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1998)
In Re the Marriage of Hansen
733 N.W.2d 683 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2007)
In Re the Marriage of Frederici
338 N.W.2d 156 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1983)

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