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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 0-679 / 10-0101 Filed October 20, 2010 IN RE THE MARRIAGE OF JENNIFER GONZALEZ AND CLIFFORD GONZALEZ Upon the Petition of JENNIFER GONZALEZ, Petitioner-Appellee, And Concerning CLIFFORD GONZALEZ, Respondent-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, J. Hobart Darbyshire, Judge.

Clifford Gonzalez appeals from the economic provisions of the decree dissolving his marriage to Jennifer Gonzalez. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.

Robert S. Gallagher of Gallagher, Millage & Gallagher, P.L.C., Davenport, for appellant. Michael J. Koury, Jr. of Bush, Motto, Creen & Koury, P.C., Davenport, for appellee.

Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.

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TABOR, J. Clifford Gonzalez contests two determinations in the decree dissolving his twenty-year marriage to Jennifer Gonzalez. He challenges how the district court calculated the value of Jennifer's 401(k) account and contends he was entitled to traditional rather than rehabilitative alimony. Finding the 401(k) account should have been valued as of the time of trial and not reduced by the amount of a loan, we modify the decree. We also modify the spousal support award to achieve equity between the parties. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. Clifford and Jennifer Gonzalez were married in 1989 and have one son who was born in 1993.1 At the time of the marriage, Clifford worked as a waiter. He possessed a high school diploma and received some junior college training in broadcast journalism. The record does not reflect whether Jennifer had any post-secondary education. The couple lived in California for several years early in the marriage. Clifford worked as a manager at the Chinese Theater in

Hollywood. Clifford and Jennifer moved back to Davenport, Iowa when their son was six months old. When the dissolution decree issued, Clifford was fifty-two years old and Jennifer was forty-two years old. Both parties enjoyed good health, though For the past

Clifford took medication for diabetes and high blood pressure.

fifteen and one-half years, Clifford had been a stay-at-home father and tended to the couple's house, while Jennifer worked at Kraft Foods. Jen nifer started out
1

The parties are not appealing the portions of the decree relating to custody and support of their sixteen-year-old son.

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covering odd shifts at the business when it was known as Oscar Mayer. She advanced in the company and at the time of the trial, she was a business unit manager, earning a gross income of approximately $125,000 annually. On February 24, 2009, Jennifer filed a petition for dissolution of the marriage; she moved out of the marital home during the first week in March 2009. The district court heard evidence on October 14, 2009, and issued the decree on November 16, 2009. The court indicated its intent to divide the

parties' assets "more or less" equally and awarded Clifford one -half of Jennifer's 401(k) plan and one-half of her Roth IRA. The court ordered Jennifer to pay $1047.65 a month in child support. The decree also directed Jennifer to pay Clifford $700 a month in spousal support for three years. On November 30, 2009, Clifford filed a motion to reconsider and enlarge the ruling, challenging--among other things--the court's method of calculating Clifford's share of Jennifer's 401(k) and the award of spousal support. Jennifer resisted the motion on December 3, 2009. Without waiting for a ruling on the motion to reconsider, Clifford filed a notice of appeal on January 13, 2010. The district court denied the reconsideration motion on January 19, 2010. Clifford filed another notice of appeal on January 19, 2010. II. Jurisdiction and Timeliness of Appeal As a threshold matter, we consider the timeliness of Clifford's appeal. While the parties do not bring this matter to our attention we may consider matters of jurisdiction on our own accord. See Doland v. Boone County, 376 N.W.2d 870, 876 (Iowa 1985) ("It is our duty to refuse, on our own motion, to

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entertain an appeal not authorized by rule."). The district court issued the decree on November 16, 2009. Clifford filed a motion to reconsider or enlarge on

November 30, 2009. Given the Thanksgiving holiday and following weekend (see Iowa Code

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