Settle a small estate in Iowa without probate
In Iowa this is called: Affidavit for distribution of property (very small estates); small estate administration. If the person's probate property is only personal property worth $100,000 or less, a person who inherits can collect it after 40 days by giving the holder a sworn affidavit, with no court case.
Up to $100,000, 40 days after the death, no court filing.
Checked against official sources: October 30, 2026.
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Free tools
Small estate checker
Add up the estate and compare it with the Iowa limit for the date of death.
Letter to a bank
Present your signed affidavit to a bank or other holder in Iowa.
Balance request letter
Ask a bank or holder for the balance on the date of death.
What-to-gather checklist
Papers, steps, forms and fees for Iowa, by procedure.
Car, bank, house in Iowa
Car or other vehicle
If the estate is not probated, the person entitled to the vehicle files an affidavit with the county treasurer stating the name and date of death, their right to the vehicle and that there has been no administration, and agreeing to indemnify the person's creditors up to the vehicle's value.
Bank accounts
A state bank pays a payable-on-death account to the named beneficiary, and is not liable for the person's debts for doing so; the money stays subject to the person's debts (and Iowa inheritance tax only for deaths before 2025).
Related pages
Distribution of property by affidavit - very small estates (Iowa Code 633.356)
A sworn affidavit you give to the bank, company or person holding the person's property, so they pay or transfer it to the people who inherit. It is not filed with the court.
- Limit
Up to $100,000 Counted at full value, without subtracting debts.
Since July 1, 2026, the gross value of the person's personal property, at any time since the death, cannot be more than $100,000, and the person's probate assets must be only personal property, with no interest in real estate. Before July 1, 2026, the limit was $50,000.
- What counts
The gross value of the person's personal property, at its highest at any time since the death. The person's probate assets must be only personal property, with no interest in real estate.
- Waiting period
At least 40 days must have passed since the death, shown by an attached certified death certificate.
- Who can use it
A 'successor': the beneficiary under the will (a trust that inherits under the will counts), or the heir under the inheritance law if there is no will. If there are two or more successors, any one of them may sign. If the person got Medicaid, the Iowa Medicaid agency can also be a successor. The procedure can be used only if no estate administration is pending.
- Court or where to file
Given to the holder of the property. To release a judgment or mortgage, or deed real estate under a contract the person signed, the affidavit is filed with the county recorder.
- Notary
Signed under penalty of perjury. The holder must be given reasonable proof of each successor's identity.
- Papers to attach
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Copy of the will, if inheriting under a will, with a statement that it was delivered to the clerk of the district court
- The person's evidence of ownership (passbook, stock certificate, title), if available
- Reasonable proof of identity of each successor
- Steps
- Wait 40 days after the death and check that no estate is being administered.
- If unsure of the value, give the holder an affidavit asking it to disclose whether the property it holds is (or was since the death) $100,000 or less; the holder must say.
- Fill in the affidavit with all the statements the law lists, including that any Medicaid debt, creditors and (for deaths before 2025) inheritance tax will be paid from what you receive.
- Sign it under penalty of perjury and give it to the holder with the death certificate, any will, proof of ownership and proof of identity.
- Fee
No court fee, because the affidavit is not filed with the court. The county recorder charges its recording fee if you record it.
- Debts and responsibility
The affidavit states that Medicaid debt and creditors will be paid to the extent of the money received, and that no one else has a right to the property. A false affidavit is perjury.
- What the bank or holder must do
If the requirements are met, the holder must pay, deliver or transfer the property, and a transfer agent must re-register securities. The holder may rely in good faith on the affidavit, is discharged from further liability and is not liable for the person's debts. If the holder does not have the person's evidence of ownership, it may require a bond or an indemnity agreement. If it refuses within a reasonable time, you may sue, and the court must award attorney fees if the refusal was unreasonable.
Law: Iowa Code 633.356 (as amended by 2025 Iowa Acts ch. 148 and 2026 HF 2660)
Source: Official page
Administration of small estates (Iowa Code chapter 635)
A simpler court probate. The clerk issues letters to a personal representative, who gives the required notices, files an inventory and then closes the estate with a sworn closing statement.
- Limit
Up to $200,000 Counted at full value, without subtracting debts.
The gross value of the person's probate assets in Iowa cannot be more than $200,000.
- What counts
The gross value of the person's probate assets subject to Iowa's jurisdiction. Joint tenancy property, life insurance, retirement accounts and POD or TOD accounts paid to beneficiaries, and real estate outside Iowa are not probate assets.
- Waiting period
The law sets no waiting period after the death. Creditors file claims within the time in the published notice, and objections to the closing statement are due within 30 days after it is served.
- Who can use it
A person who may petition for administration under Iowa law files; the clerk appoints the personal representative named in the petition if qualified.
- Court or where to file
Clerk of the district court (probate) in the proper county, usually where the person lived.
- Notary
The closing statement is verified under penalty of perjury.
- Papers to attach
- Petition with the person's name, domicile, date of death, spouse, heirs, will information and estimated value
- Report and inventory of probate and nonprobate assets
- Closing statement with accounting and proposed distribution
- Steps
- File the petition with the clerk.
- Give the required notices to heirs and creditors.
- File the report and inventory.
- Pay claims and expenses.
- File the closing statement and serve it on all interested parties; distribute if no objection within 30 days.
- Fee
Court costs equal two-tenths of one percent of the value of the probate assets in the report and inventory; non-probate assets are not charged. Other clerk charges apply for specific services.
Law: Iowa Code 635.1, 635.2, 635.7, 635.8, 635.13; Iowa Code 633.31(3)
Source: Official page
What counts toward the limit in Iowa
For the affidavit: add up the gross value of the person's personal property (the highest value at any time since the death). If any probate asset is an interest in real estate, the affidavit cannot be used.
Law: Iowa Code 633.356 (2026 HF 2660)
In this state the total is counted at full value, without subtracting debts.
| Kind of property | How it is treated | Details |
|---|---|---|
Bank accounts in the person's name alone | Counts | Bank accounts in the person's name alone count. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(1), (3)(a)(3) |
Joint or payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts | Not clear | The 2026 wording counts 'the decedent's personal property' and does not say how joint or payable-on-death accounts are treated; ask the clerk of court or legal aid. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(3)(a)(3) (2026 HF 2660) |
Cars and other vehicles | Counts | Vehicles are personal property and count. Heirs can also retitle a vehicle at the county treasurer with an affidavit under Iowa Code 321.47. Law: Iowa Code 633.356; Iowa Code 321.47(2) |
Boats and mobile or manufactured homes | Counts | Boats and other personal property count. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Real estate in Iowa | Left out | Real estate is not added to the total, but if the person's probate assets include any interest in real estate, the affidavit cannot be used. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(3)(a)(3) |
Main home (primary residence) | Left out | The home is real estate. If it is a probate asset, the affidavit cannot be used. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(3)(a)(3) |
Real estate in another state | Not clear | The law does not say whether real estate in another state prevents use of the affidavit; ask the clerk of court or legal aid. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Unpaid wages owed to the person | Counts | Money owed to the person, such as unpaid wages, counts. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(1)(b) |
Military pay owed to the person | Not clear | The law does not address military pay separately; ask the paying agency. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Life insurance or retirement money paid to a named person | Not clear | The 2026 wording does not say whether benefits paid to a named beneficiary count; ask the clerk of court or legal aid. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Life insurance or retirement money paid to the estate | Counts | Life insurance or other property with no named beneficiary counts and can be collected with the affidavit. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(1)(c) |
Property in a living trust | Not clear | The law does not address living trust property; ask the clerk of court or legal aid. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Property owned jointly with right of survivorship | Not clear | The law does not say how jointly held personal property is treated; ask the clerk of court or legal aid. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Property going to a surviving spouse | Counts | Personal property going to the spouse counts. Law: Iowa Code 633.356 |
Stocks, bonds and brokerage accounts | Counts | Stocks and bonds in the person's name count; a transfer agent must re-register them on a proper affidavit. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(1)(b), (6)(a)(2) |
Furniture, jewelry and other belongings | Counts | Furniture, jewelry and other belongings count. Law: Iowa Code 633.356(1)(a) |
Source: Official page
Car or vehicle title after a death in Iowa
If the estate is not probated, the person entitled to the vehicle files an affidavit with the county treasurer stating the name and date of death, their right to the vehicle and that there has been no administration, and agreeing to indemnify the person's creditors up to the vehicle's value. Iowa DOT uses form 411088 (no will) or 411083 (will not probated), plus the title application form 411007, the title, and a copy of the death certificate. Title fees are waived when the vehicle goes to the surviving spouse.
Law: Iowa Code 321.47(2)
- Agency
- Iowa Department of Transportation, through the county treasurer
- Fee
Title fees apply, except the title fee and surcharge are waived for a surviving spouse.
Source: Official page
Bank accounts after a death in Iowa
A state bank pays a payable-on-death account to the named beneficiary, and is not liable for the person's debts for doing so; the money stays subject to the person's debts (and Iowa inheritance tax only for deaths before 2025). For an account in the person's name alone, the heirs can use the 40-day affidavit if the estate qualifies; the bank must tell an affiant whether the account is (or was since the death) $100,000 or less. If the person got Medicaid and no successor presents an affidavit within 90 days, the state can collect the account up to its claim.
Law: Iowa Code 524.805(8); Iowa Code 633.356(8)(b), (9)
Source: Official page
Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) in Iowa
- Bank account (POD)
Yes
Law: Iowa Code 524.805(8)
- Securities (TOD)
Yes
Law: Iowa Code ch. 633D (Transfer on Death Security Registration)
Source: Official page
Surviving spouse in Iowa
With no will, a surviving spouse whose children with the person are all also the spouse's children receives all of the person's real estate interests during the marriage and all personal property not needed for debts. A spouse can retitle the person's vehicle with the title fee waived.
Debts of the person in Iowa
The affiant states that creditors and any Medicaid debt will be paid to the extent of the money received through the affidavit. A vehicle affidavit includes a promise to indemnify creditors up to the vehicle's value.
Medicaid estate recovery in Iowa
Medicaid paid for a person 55 or older, or for a resident of a nursing facility, ICF/ID or mental health institute who could not be expected to return home, is a debt against the estate. Iowa uses an expanded estate: it includes any real or personal property the person had an interest in at death, including jointly held property, retained life estates and trust interests. HHS waives collection to the extent it would reduce what a surviving spouse, or a child under 21, blind or permanently disabled, receives, or would cause undue hardship (the waived amount can be collected later). The facility administrator and personal representative must report the death to HHS within 10 days. If no small estate affidavit is presented within 90 days of the death, HHS can collect the person's accounts by its own affidavit.
Law: Iowa Code 249A.53; Iowa Code 633.356(2)(c), (8)(b)
- Agency
- Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Medicaid Estate Recovery
- Official page
- Official page
Who inherits with no will in Iowa
If there is no will and all the person's children are also the spouse's children (or there are no children), the spouse gets all real estate interests held during the marriage, exempt personal property and all other personal property not needed for debts. If some children are not the spouse's, the spouse gets half of the real estate and other personal property, the exempt personal property, and enough more to total at least $50,000. The rest goes to the children and their descendants, then parents, then the parents' descendants, then grandparents and their descendants, then great-grandparents and their descendants, then descendants of a deceased spouse.
Law: Iowa Code 633.211, 633.212, 633.219
Source: Official page
Death certificates in Iowa
The state vital records office has death records since July 1880. A certified copy from the state office costs $20. Application instructions are on the Iowa HHS website.
- Where to get it
- Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Statistics (vital records)
- Official page
- Official page
Where to file in Iowa
The small estate affidavit is not filed with a court; you give it to each holder of property (and record it with the county recorder only to release a judgment or mortgage or complete a real estate contract). A will must be delivered to the clerk of the district court. A small estate administration is opened with the clerk of the district court (probate). Vehicle affidavits go to any county treasurer.
Good to know in Iowa
- Since July 1, 2026, the Iowa small estate affidavit limit is $100,000 of personal property (it was $50,000), and the person's probate assets must include no interest in real estate (2026 Iowa HF 2660, approved April 16, 2026).
- A bank or other holder must tell a successor whether the property it holds is, or was at any time since the death, under the limit.
- Iowa's Medicaid estate recovery reaches jointly held property, life estates and trust interests, not only probate property.
Changes in 2024–2026
Iowa inheritance tax repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2025; 2025 Iowa Acts ch. 148 (retroactive to January 1, 2025) removed inheritance-tax conditions from 633.356 for later deaths. 2026 Iowa Acts, House File 2660 (approved April 16, 2026; effective July 1, 2026 under Iowa Code 3.7(1)): affidavit limit raised from $50,000 to $100,000; affidavit now requires that probate assets consist only of personal property with no interest in real estate; child support services to provide a form when it holds undistributed child support owed to the person; 524.805(8) POD wording updated.
National rules that apply in every state
Federal estate tax
- For a person who died in 2026, a federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required only if the gross estate, plus certain lifetime taxable gifts, is more than $15,000,000.
- Most estates owe no federal estate tax and do not need to file a federal estate tax return.
Law: 26 U.S.C. 2010(c)(3) (as amended by Pub. L. 119-21)
The final income tax return
- Report all income up to the date of death and claim all eligible credits and deductions.
- Someone must file the final federal income tax return of a person who died, the same way it would have been filed if they were alive.
- To claim a refund due to the person who died, attach Form 1310 (Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer).
Law: Form 1310 instructions (Rev. December 2025)
Social Security
- Social Security retirement benefits are paid through the month before the month the person died.
- If the person had enough Social Security work credits (was fully or currently insured), a one-time death payment of $255 (or three times the person's basic benefit, if that is smaller) can be paid to a surviving spouse who lived with the person.
Law: 42 U.S.C. 402(a), 402(i)
Savings bonds
- If the person's savings bonds and other Treasury securities held directly with the Treasury are worth more than $100,000 at the date of death, the Treasury requires a court-administered estate.
Law: 31 CFR 353.71; FS Form 5336 (Rev. April 2026)
Debts
- Debts are generally paid from the money and property the person left (the estate).
- If the estate cannot pay a debt and no one else shared responsibility for it, the debt may go unpaid.
- You may have to pay if you co-signed the loan, were a joint account holder on a credit card (not just an authorized user), or state law makes a spouse responsible for certain debts, such as in community property states or states with laws on necessary costs like health care.
Law: 12 CFR 1006.6(a)(4)
A house with a mortgage
- For a home with fewer than five units, a lender may not call the whole loan due just because the home passes to a relative after the borrower's death, to a spouse or children who become owners, or to a surviving joint owner.
- Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-get-mortgage-information-about-a-home-i-inherited-en-217/
- Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/i-recently-inherited-a-house-the-mortgage-lender-said-its-required-to-determine-my-ability-to-repay-before-it-will-let-me-take-over-the-mortgage-loan-is-this-true-en-1939/
Law: 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(3), (5), (6); 12 CFR 1024.30(d), 1024.31
FDIC insurance on bank accounts
- After a deposit owner dies, FDIC insurance on the account stays the same for six months, unless the account is restructured.
Law: 12 CFR 330.3(j)
Medicaid estate recovery
- States must try to recover some Medicaid costs from the estate of a person who got benefits at age 55 or older: nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services.
- The 'estate' includes at least the property in the person's probate estate under state law.
- Https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/42/1396p?type=usc&year=mostrecent&link-type=html
Law: 42 U.S.C. 1396p(b)
Death certificates
- Certified copies of a death certificate come from the vital records office of the state where the death happened, not from the federal government.
Free help in Iowa
A court self-help center or a legal aid office can check whether the estate qualifies, free of charge or at low cost.
More help on our sister sites
Questions about small estates in Iowa
What is a small estate affidavit called in Iowa?
In Iowa this is called: Affidavit for distribution of property (very small estates); small estate administration. If the person's probate property is only personal property worth $100,000 or less, a person who inherits can collect it after 40 days by giving the holder a sworn affidavit, with no court case.
What is the small estate limit in Iowa?
Up to $100,000, 40 days after the death, no court filing.
How long do I wait in Iowa?
At least 40 days must have passed since the death, shown by an attached certified death certificate.
Do I have to go to court in Iowa?
Given to the holder of the property. To release a judgment or mortgage, or deed real estate under a contract the person signed, the affidavit is filed with the county recorder.
How do I transfer a car after a death in Iowa?
If the estate is not probated, the person entitled to the vehicle files an affidavit with the county treasurer stating the name and date of death, their right to the vehicle and that there has been no administration, and agreeing to indemnify the person's creditors up to the vehicle's value.
What happens to a bank account after a death in Iowa?
A state bank pays a payable-on-death account to the named beneficiary, and is not liable for the person's debts for doing so; the money stays subject to the person's debts (and Iowa inheritance tax only for deaths before 2025).
Who inherits in Iowa if there is no will?
If there is no will and all the person's children are also the spouse's children (or there are no children), the spouse gets all real estate interests held during the marriage, exempt personal property and all other personal property not needed for debts.
Do I owe the person's debts in Iowa?
The affiant states that creditors and any Medicaid debt will be paid to the extent of the money received through the affidavit. A vehicle affidavit includes a promise to indemnify creditors up to the vehicle's value.
- Iowa Code 2026, 633.356
- 2026 House File 2660, enrolled
- Governor's approval letter, HF 2660 (April 16, 2026)
- Iowa Code 3.7 (effective dates of Acts)
- Iowa Code chapter 635
- Iowa Code 633.31
- Iowa Code 321.47
- Iowa Code 249A.53
- Iowa Code 633.211, 633.212, 633.219
- Iowa DOT: Title transfer after death
- CDC NCHS Where to Write: Iowa