Former Governor’s brother could lose the farm

Former Governor Terry Branstad’s brother, Monte, could lose his Hancock County farm.
Eleven years ago, Monte Branstad borrowed 100-thousand dollars from his aunt, and she says he hasn’t been paying the interest on the loan, as promised. Jeanne Garland filed a lawsuit to foreclose on the property, but it was thrown out by a district court. She appealed, and she’s won one round at the Appeals Court level. Monte Branstad claims he and his aunt had an oral agreement that he would maintain some of her properties in exchange for just paying the principal of the loan back, but she says there was no such agreement and she wants the interest, too. One of Monte Branstad’s lawyers on the case in Richard Schwarm of Lake Mills who was chairman of the Iowa Republican Party during Terry Branstad’s tenure as Governor.