How to Avoid Probate in Iowa

Non-probate options in Iowa include: joint tenancy with full rights of survivorship; payable-on-death and beneficiary-designated accounts and life insurance; property in a funded revocable trust (Iowa Code § 633A.3102); the small estate affidavit for $50,000 or less of personal property when there is no real property, usable 40 days after death (Iowa Code § 633.356); and small estate administration for probate assets of $200,000 or less (Iowa Code § 635.1). Iowa has not adopted a transfer-on-death deed for real estate.

If the gross value of the decedent's personal property that would pass by will or intestacy is $50,000 or less and there is no real property, a successor can collect the property by affidavit after 40 days have passed since the death, without opening an estate. The affidavit (under penalty of perjury) is given to the holder of the property with a certified copy of the death certificate, and covers tangible personal property, debts, accounts, securities and similar rights, and insurance or other property with no named beneficiary. It cannot be used while an estate administration is pending, and it does not transfer real estate. Medicaid repayment, taxes and creditors must be paid from what is received.

Iowa law does not provide for a transfer-on-death deed for real estate. Bills to adopt one (for example House File 125 in 2025) were introduced but not enacted. Common alternatives include joint tenancy with right of survivorship and living trusts.