Autofill Legal Iowa Patents Forms For Free

In Iowa, you have to file an action against the other party to seek enforcement of the existing court decree order. The enforcement action is formally known as an Application for Rule to Show Cause, commonly referred to as a contempt filing. This filing brings the opposing party's bad acts to the court's attention.

If you want to file for divorce or are responding to a divorce your spouse has filed without using an attorney, you must use the forms in chapter 17 of the Iowa Court Rules. The forms are available free of charge on this website.

A defendant's or respondent's answer must be electronically filed with the court. The papers (original notice and petition) that were served on the defendant or respondent tell how long the defendant or respondent has to file an answer. For information on calculating answer deadlines, see Iowa Code section 4.1(34).

NOTE: A Notice of Appearance is filed by an attorney/representative to indicate his or her appearance in the appeal. NOTE: Once a Notice of Appearance has been filed, the filer may receive automatic email notifications whenever a filing is made on the appeal.

If the defendant fails to answer and the clerk of court determines proper notice was given to the defendant, the clerk of court or a judge may enter a default judgment against the defendant if the plaintiff's damages are clearly identified.

Respondent must file an Answer within 20 days after receiving the Petition and Original Notice, or the court may enter a judgment against Respondent giving Petitioner what he or she asked for in the Petition. Use this Answer form 115 if you received Petition form 101, otherwise use form 116.