On February 13, 2013, the court of appeals affirmed, stating, “The district court was correct in not reopening that issue.” In re Marriage of Rhinehart, No. 12–0287, 2013 WL 530838 (Iowa Ct.App. Feb. 13, 2013). B. The Merrigan Fee Dispute. The second count of the Board's complaint involves Rhinehart's fee dispute with Andrew and Susan Merrigan.
After trial and another appeal, the court of appeals held the district court did not err in rejecting the husband's request to reconsider "the issue of whether he committed extrinsic fraud when he did not disclose the contingency fee cases." In re Marriage of Rhinehart , No. 12-0287, 2013 WL 530838, at *4 (Iowa Ct. App. Feb. 13, 2013). In In re Marriage of Stanbrough , the court of appeals held there was "sufficient evidence of extrinsic fraud to warrant vacation of the economic and child custody provisions of the parties’ decree."
This is the fourth time this dissolution of marriage case has been before our court. See In re Marriage of Rhinehart, No. 12–0287, 2013 WL 530838, at *1–2 (Iowa Ct.App. Feb. 13, 2013) (recounting the history of this dissolution case). Following the last appeal, we remanded the case to the district court to determine the “amount of fees applicable to the retrial only.”
See Iowa Code § 598.21(5)(i) (“Future interests may be considered, but expectancies or interests arising from inherited or gifted property created under a will or other instrument under which the trustee, trustor, trust protector, or owner has the power to remove the party in question as a beneficiary, shall not be considered.”). The legislature added this language in 2007 in an apparent response to Rhinehart I. See 2007 Iowa Acts ch. 163, § 2; see also In re Marriage of Rhinehart, No. 12–0287, 2013 WL 530838, at *1 (Iowa Ct.App. Feb. 13, 2013).At the time of the dissolution trial, Craig had a remainder or “future interest” in the farmland devised to him in Hirner's will. The phrase “future interest” denotes “an interest in property in which the privilege of possession or of enjoyment is future and not present.”