Title XV, JUDICIAL BRANCH AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURES (Ch. 595 - 686D)

When the court makes an order affecting a fiduciary, it shall be served upon the fiduciary and the fiduciary’s attorney of record in such manner as the court may prescribe. [R60, §2474, 2475, 2476; C73, §2479, 2480, 2481; C97, §3403, 3404; S13, §3403; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 12055…

Proof of the publication of all notices that are by this probate code or by order of court required to be published shall be made by an affidavit of the publisher or of any employee having knowledge of the facts. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.46 ] 2005 Acts, ch 38, §51

1. The personal representative may at any time file an interlocutory accounting to the court showing the condition of the estate, the estate’s debts and property, the amount of money received, and the disposition made of any of the assets of the estate. 2. The court may on applic…

Proof of service of any notice, required by this probate code or by order of court, including those by publication, shall be filed with the clerk. The costs of serving any notice given by the fiduciary shall be paid directly by the estate. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.47 ] …

The distributee, if under no legal disability, may waive the accounting. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.470 ]

When a distributee of an estate is indebted to the estate, or if a distributee takes as an heir of a deceased devisee indebted to the estate, the amount of such indebtedness, if due, or the present worth of the indebtedness, if not due, shall be treated as a setoff and retained b…

Property not otherwise disposed of by the personal representative may be distributed in kind. [C51, §1384, 1385, 1392; R60, §2416, 2417, 2424; C73, §2432, 2433, 2438; C97, §3358, 3359, 3364; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11981, 11982, 11988; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §635.76, 635.77, 636.3; …

Final settlement shall be made within three years, after the second publication of the notice to creditors, unless otherwise ordered by the court after notice to all interested parties. [C51, §1393; R60, §2425; C73, §2439, 2469; C97, §3365, 3394; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11989, 120…

For the purpose of facilitating the speedy settlement and distribution of estates, the county treasurer of such county, by and with the consent of the board of supervisors may compromise and agree upon the amount of personal taxes at any time due or to become due the county from …

In an action against the distributees, where the judgment is to be against them in proportion to the respective amounts received by them from the estate, costs awarded against them shall be in like proportion, and anyone may tender the amount due from that distributee to the plai…

Each personal representative shall, in the personal representative’s final report, set forth: 1. An accurate description of all the real estate of which the decedent died seized, stating the nature and extent of the decedent’s interest therein, which has not been sold and conveye…

A personal representative shall not be discharged from further duty or responsibility upon final settlement until notice of the final report or of an application for discharge has been served upon all persons interested, in accordance with section 633.40 , unless notice is waived…

1. Upon final settlement of an estate, an order shall be entered discharging the personal representative from further duties and responsibilities. The order approving the final report shall constitute a waiver of the omission from the final report of any of the recitals required …

A certified copy of any proceedings, order, judgment, or deed, affecting real estate in any county other than that in which administration or conservatorship is originally granted, shall be furnished to the clerk of the court of the county where such real estate is situated. Upon…

After discharge as provided in section 633.479 , the personal representative shall deliver to the county recorder of the county in which the real estate is situated a certificate pertaining to each parcel of real estate described in the final report of the personal representative…

When an inventory or report is filed under section 450.22 for deaths occurring before January 1, 2025, without administration of the estate of the decedent, the heir or heir’s attorney shall prepare and deliver to the county recorder of the county in which the real estate is situ…

No person, having been served with notice of the hearing upon the final report and accounting of a personal representative or having waived such notice, shall, after the entry of the final order approving the same and discharging the said personal representative, have any right t…

Whenever a final report has been approved and a final accounting has been settled in the absence of any person adversely affected and without notice to the person, the hearing on such report and accounting may be reopened at any time within five years from the entry of the order …

Upon the petition of any interested person, the court may, with such notice as it may prescribe, order an estate reopened if other property be discovered, if any necessary act remains unperformed, or for any other proper cause appearing to the court. It may reappoint the personal…

In any proceeding in probate, the court may, upon written showing, supported by affidavit, and on such notice to interested parties as the court may prescribe, transfer such proceeding to any other county, when it is made to appear that such transfer will be in furtherance of jus…

A will of a nonresident of this state, not probated in any other state or county, may be admitted to probate in any county of this state where either real or personal property of the deceased nonresident is located. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.495 ]

A will probated in any other state or country shall be admitted to probate in this state upon the production of a copy of the will and of the original record of probate. The will and record of probate must be authenticated by the certificate of the clerk of the court in which the…

After the expiration of the five-year period from the date of the death of the decedent, an exemplified copy of a will which has not been denied probate in Iowa, and of the order admitting it to probate in a foreign state or country, may be recorded in the office of the county re…

All provisions of law relating to the carrying of domestic wills into effect after their probate shall apply, so far as applicable, to foreign wills admitted to probate in this state. [C73, §2352; C97, §3295; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11878; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §633.34; C66, 71, 73…

A decedent’s estate shall not include life insurance proceeds, unless the proceeds are payable to the decedent’s estate. 94 Acts, ch 1153, §7

The clerk of the court which orders such a transfer shall retain the original files and papers, but shall make a certified copy thereof and of all record entries pertaining to the proceedings. The clerk of court shall at once file the same in the office of the clerk of the court …

Notwithstanding any other provision of this probate code, if administration of the estate of a deceased intestate nonresident has been granted in accordance with the law of the state where the nonresident resided, the duly qualified administrator of the estate of the nonresident …

The application for any such appointment under section 633.500 shall contain the name and address of the foreign administrator and of the resident administrator, if any, to be appointed, and shall be accompanied by a certificate of the clerk of the court of original jurisdiction …

Notwithstanding any other provision of this probate code, the duly qualified fiduciary under a will admitted to probate in another state, may upon application be appointed fiduciary in this state, after said will has been admitted to probate in this state, provided that a residen…

The application for appointment of a nonresident executor or trustee shall include the name and address of the nonresident executor or trustee, and the name and address of the resident executor or trustee, if any, to be appointed. It shall be accompanied by a certificate of the c…

In all estates of nonresidents, being administered in this state, the court may require payment of all claims filed and allowed belonging to residents of this state, and all legacies or distributive shares payable to residents of this state, before allowing any of the property in…

The clerk of the court to which the proceedings are transferred shall file, within a new file of the clerk’s county, the certified copy of the record entries referred to in section 633.50 . [C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11831; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §631.13; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, …

Administration may be had upon the estate of an absentee. A petition therefor must be filed in the office of the clerk and must allege: 1. Whether the absentee was a resident or a nonresident of this state, and the absentee’s address at the absentee’s last known domicile; that th…

Upon filing of such petition, the court shall, by a proper order, prescribe the notice and the return day therein, which shall be addressed to and served upon such absentee and the alleged distributees of the absentee’s estate. [C97, §3307; S13, §3307; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 1190…

Said notice shall in all cases be served: 1. By publication in the county in which the petition is filed, once each week for three consecutive weeks, in a newspaper designated by the court; and 2. Upon all the alleged distributees of the estate of said absentee by ordinary mail a…

Proof of the publication and service of such notice shall be filed with the clerk aforesaid on or before the day set for hearing. [C97, §3307; S13, §3307; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11904; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §634.4; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.513 ]

If, on the day set for hearing, the absentee fails to appear, the court shall appoint some disinterested person as guardian ad litem to appear for the absentee and all distributees not appearing, and said cause shall thereupon stand continued for twenty days. The guardian ad lite…

Upon the entry of such further order under section 633.514 , administration of the estate of such absentee, whether testate or intestate, shall proceed as provided herein for the administration of the estates of other decedents, notwithstanding the provisions of section 633.330 .…

An order establishing the death of an absentee forever bars the rights of homestead and distributive share of the absentee, and the absentee’s interest in and to any real estate owned or held by the spouse of the absentee, and in which the spouse may have a legal or equitable int…

1. A written finding of presumed death, made by the secretary of defense, or other officer or employee of the United States authorized to make such finding, pursuant to the federal Missing Persons Act, 56 Stat. 143, 1092 , and Pub. L. No. 408, Ch. 371 , 2d Session 78th Congress c…

If a petition is presented by an interested person to a district judge or magistrate alleging that a designated person has disappeared and after a diligent search cannot be found, and if it appears to the satisfaction of the judge or magistrate that the circumstances surrounding …

If a jury in an inquiry regarding the disappearance of an individual renders a unanimous verdict in writing that sufficient evidence has been presented to them from which it fairly may be presumed that the missing person has met death, and if the judge or magistrate concurs in th…

Mistakes in settlements may be corrected at any time before the final discharge of any fiduciary on such notice, if any, as the court may direct. [C51, §1432; R60, §2457; C73, §2474; C97, §3398; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 12049; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §638.9; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 8…

A written finding of presumed death of a person resulting from a natural or man-made disaster, made by a local, state, or federal officer or employee authorized to make such a finding, or a duly certified copy of such a finding, shall be received by a judge or magistrate as evide…

Where the title to property or the devolution thereof depends upon priority of death, and there is no sufficient evidence that the persons have died otherwise than simultaneously, the property of each person shall be disposed of as if the person had survived, except as provided o…

Where two or more beneficiaries are designated to take successively, by reason of survivorship, under another person’s disposition of property, and there is no sufficient evidence that these beneficiaries have died otherwise than simultaneously, the property thus disposed of shal…