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

The personal representative may pay any valid debts and charges against the estate even though no claim for such debts and charges has been filed, but all such payments made by the personal representative shall be at the personal representative’s own peril. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, …

1. Except as provided in sections 633.211 and 633.212 , shares of the distributees shall abate, for the payment of debts and charges, federal estate taxes, legacies, the shares of children born or adopted after the making of a will, or the share of the surviving spouse who elects…

1. When provisions of the will, trust or other testamentary instrument of the decedent provide explicitly for an order of abatement contrary to the provisions of section 633.436 , the provisions of the will or other testamentary instrument shall determine the order of abatement. …

Where a claim has been filed, but not admitted in writing by the personal representative before a request for hearing has been given as hereinafter provided, the claim shall be considered as generally denied by the personal representative without any pleading on behalf of the per…

At any time after the filing of a claim against an estate, the personal representative may give the claimant and the claimant’s attorney of record, if any, written notice of disallowance of claim. The notice shall be given by certified mail addressed to the claimant at the addres…

Any notice required under this probate code, or by order of court, may be waived in writing by the person, or the fiduciary, entitled to receive such notice. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.44 ] 2005 Acts, ch 38, §51

A notice of disallowance under section 633.439 shall advise the claimant that the claim has been disallowed and will be forever barred unless the claimant shall within twenty days after the date of mailing the notice, file a request for hearing on the claim with the clerk. [C66, …

Proof of service of the notice of disallowance shall be made by affidavit, shall show the date and place of mailing, and shall be filed with the clerk. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.441 ] Referred to in §633.417 , 633.432 , 633.666

Unless the claimant shall within twenty days after the date of mailing the notice of disallowance, file a request for hearing with the clerk, the claim shall be deemed disallowed, and shall be forever barred. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.442 ] 2021 Acts, ch 23, §3 Referred …

At the time of the filing of a claim against an estate, or at any time thereafter prior to the time that the claim may be barred by the provisions of section 633.442 , or the approval of the final report of the personal representative after notice to the claimant, the claimant ma…

The personal representative shall file a pre-answer motion or answer to a claim within twenty days from the filing of the request for hearing on the claim in the same manner as though the claim were a petition filed in an ordinary action, and thereafter, all provisions of law and…

At the time of the filing of an answer to a claim, the personal representative shall plead all offsets against the claim, and shall plead all counterclaims against the claimant of which the personal representative has knowledge. An offset or counterclaim may or may not diminish o…

The burden of proving that a claim is unpaid shall not be placed upon the party filing a claim against the estate; but the personal representative may on the trial of the cause, subject the claimant to an examination on the question of payment or consideration, and the estate sha…

The trial of a claim and the offsets or counterclaims, if any, shall be to the court without a jury. However, the court may, in its discretion, either on its own motion or upon the motion of any party, submit the matter to a jury. In the event that the amount of the claim or a co…

Upon the trial of a claim, offsets, and counterclaims, the amount owing by or to the estate, if any, shall be determined. A claim against the estate shall be allowed for the net amount. Judgment shall be rendered for any amount found to be due the estate. If a judgment is rendere…

All federal estate taxes, distinguished from state inheritance taxes, owing by the estate of a decedent shall be paid from the property of the estate, unless the will of the decedent, or other trust instrument, provides expressly to the contrary. [C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §63…

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…