Iowa living trusts & estate documents

Living trust law in Iowa

A revocable living trust holds your home, accounts, and other property during your life, you stay in full control as trustee and can change or revoke it any time, then passes it to your beneficiaries without probate when you're gone. In Iowa, trusts are governed by the Iowa Trust Code, Iowa Code Chapter 633A.

Avoiding probate in Iowa

Probate in Iowa is governed by the Iowa Probate Code, Chapter 633 and handled by the District Court. Iowa estates are administered in district court sitting in probate; regular administration ends with a final report and court discharge, though the accounting may be waived by all interested parties (Iowa Code 633.477).

Distribution by affidavit is available when the decedent's probate assets consist only of personal property, with no interest in real estate, and the gross value of that personal property is, or has been at any time since the death, $100,000 or less (Iowa Code § 633.356, as amended by 2026 Iowa Acts HF2660, sections 2 to 4, signed April 16, 2026, effective July 1, 2026; the limit was $50,000 before that date); a simplified small-estate administration covers estates up to $200,000 (ch. 635). Assets held in a funded living trust pass to your beneficiaries without probate, whatever the size of the estate. Many Iowa homeowners set one up for that reason.

In Iowa, creditors generally have 4 months after the second published notice to creditors to file claims against the estate (Iowa Code § 633.410), one reason court probate takes time that a funded trust avoids.

Estate and inheritance tax in Iowa

Iowa's inheritance tax fully phased out for deaths on or after January 1, 2025; no estate tax. The separate federal estate tax reaches only estates above $15 million per person (2026, adjusted yearly), so most families never owe it.

Protecting a surviving spouse in Iowa

A surviving spouse in Iowa who is left out of the will can instead claim an elective share of one-third of the decedent's real property plus one-third of the remaining personal property under Iowa Code § 633.238, a protection the will itself cannot override.

Iowa also sets aside a court-set support allowance for 12 months, plus a life estate in the homestead for the surviving spouse, with an additional amount for the decedent's dependents who reside with the spouse (Iowa Code § 633.374), paid as part of the costs of administration (§ 633.374(2)).

Signing your Iowa documents

1. Sign the living trust. Executed and acknowledged before a notary.
2. Sign the will. Two witnesses; notarized self-proving affidavit included (standalone and pour-over wills).
3. Sign the power of attorney. Sign your Durable Power of Attorney before a Notary Public.
4. Sign the health care documents. Sign your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and Declaration Relating to Life-Sustaining Procedures (Living Will) in the presence of two adult witnesses and before a Notary Public, as the form’s execution block provides.
5. Follow your package instructions. Your package includes page-by-page signing instructions written for Iowa. Follow those as the authoritative guide.

Serving all of Iowa

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