Iowa Intestate Succession Laws
If any part of an Iowa decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:
1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to varies as follows:
- A surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate if the decedent is not survived by issue (i.e., children) or all of decedent's issue are also the issue of the surviving spouse.
- If the decedent is survived by issue some of whom are not issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse is entitled to one-half of the value of real estate possessed by the decedent during the marriage; all personal property owned as a head of a family by the decedent at death; and one-half of the value of personal property (after debts, etc. are paid).
At a minimum, the surviving spouse is entitled to at least $50,000 in assets from the estate. If the surviving spouse comes up short because a class of property (e.g., real estate) is unavailable, the remainder can come from a different type of property. The surviving spouse also has first choice as to which property she gets.
2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows to:
- Decedent's children, with the issue of a deceased child splitting the deceased child's share.
- Decedent's parent or parents equally.
- Half to the issue of decedent's mother and half to the issue of decedent's father per stirpes. Usually, these will probably end up being the same or very similar. If, however, there are no surviving issue of one parent, everything goes to the issue of the other parent.
- Decedent's grandparents or their issue.
- Decedent's great-grandparents or their issue.
- As a next to last resort, the entire intestate estate goes to the issue of the decedent's deceased spouse, per stirpes. If the decedent had more than one spouse who died in lawful wedlock, the estate is divided equally between the issue, per stirpes, of those deceased spouses.
3. State of Iowa. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes to the state of Iowa.
Iowa Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts
- Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
- Heirs conceived before decedent's death, but born thereafter, inherit as if they had been alive at the time of decedent's death.
- Iowa's intestate succession laws, as well as other related laws, can be found in Chapter 633 of the Code of Iowa.
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