In Re the Marriage of Cervetti

NEUMAN, Judge.

This case reaches us following the district court’s denial of petitioner’s pre-an-swer motion to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds. The question is whether the Iowa district court should exercise jurisdiction in this child custody modification action, or defer to the children’s home state of North Carolina. We granted interlocutory appeal to consider petitioner’s challenge to the district court’s decision and now reverse.

The dispositive facts are not in controversy. Debra and Ron Cervetti were divorced in Black Hawk County, Iowa, on March 9, 1989. Their three daughters — then…