Iowa Code § 633A.1101 Short title.
633A.1101. Short title.
This chapter may be cited as the “Iowa Trust Code” or “Trust Code”.
99 Acts, ch 125, §1, 109C2001, §633.11012005 Acts, ch 38, §52, 54CS2005, §633A.1101
DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
Iowa Code tit. XV, ch. 633A, subch. I
in effectIowa Code § 633A.1102 Definitions.
633A.1102. Definitions.
For purposes of this chapter:
1. “Adjusted gross estate”, as it relates to a trust, means the same as defined in section 633.266.
2. “Beneficiary”, as it relates to a trust beneficiary, includes a person who has any present or future interest in the trust, vested or contingent, and also includes the owner of an interest by assignment or other transfer.
3. “Charitable trust” means a trust created for a charitable purpose as specified in section 633A.5101.
4. “Competency” means any one of the following:
a. In the case of a revocable transfer, “competency” means the degree of understanding required to execute a will.
b. In the case of an irrevocable transfer, “competency” means the ability to understand the effect the gift may have on the future financial security of the donor and anyone who may be dependent on the donor.
5. “Conservator” means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a minor or adult individual.
6. “Court” means any Iowa district court.
7. “Distribution trust director” means any person given authority by an instrument to exercise all or any portion of the powers set forth in section 633A.4810. Except as provided in the trust instrument, the distribution trust director shall have the same fiduciary duty and liability in the exercise or nonexercise of such powers as the trustee would in the absence of such directory powers.
8. “Excluded fiduciary” means any fiduciary excluded from exercising certain powers under an instrument which powers may be exercised by the settlor, trust director, trust protector, or other persons designated in the instrument.
9. “Fiduciary” includes a personal representative, executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, trustee, trust director, and any other person designated as a fiduciary by the applicable instrument or this trust code.
10. “Guardian” means a person appointed by a court to make decisions with respect to the support, care, education, health, and welfare of a minor or adult individual, but excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem. A minor’s custodial parent shall be deemed to be the child’s guardian in the absence of a court-appointed guardian.
11. “Instrument” means a signed writing.
12. “Interested person” includes a trustee, an acting successor trustee, a beneficiary who may receive income or principal currently from the trust, or would receive principal of the trust if the trust were terminated at the time relevant to the determination, and a fiduciary representing an interested person. The meaning as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time according to the particular purpose of, and matters involved in, any proceeding.
13. “Investment trust director” means any person given authority by an instrument to exercise all or any portion of the powers set forth in section 633A.4809. Except as provided in the trust instrument, the investment trust director shall have the same fiduciary duty and liability in the exercise or nonexercise of such powers as the trustee would in the absence of such directory powers.
14. “Person” means an individual or any legal or commercial entity.
15. “Petition” includes a complaint or statement of claim.
16. “Property” means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, legal or equitable, tangible or intangible, and includes any interest in such item, including a chose in action, claim, or beneficiary designation under a policy of insurance, employees’ trust, or other arrangement, whether revocable or irrevocable.
17. “Qualified beneficiary” means a beneficiary who, on the date the beneficiary’s qualification is determined, is any of the following:
a. Eligible to receive distributions of income or principal from the trust.
b. Would receive property from the trust upon immediate termination of the trust.
18. “Settlor” means a person, including a testator, who creates a trust.
19. “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
20. “Term” or “terms”, when used in relation to a trust, means the manifestation of the settlor’s intent regarding a trust’s provisions at the time of the trust’s creation or amendment. “Term” includes those concepts expressed directly in writing, as well as those inferred from constructional preferences or rules, or by other proof admissible under the rules of evidence.
21. “Trust” means an express trust, charitable or noncharitable, with additions thereto, wherever and however created, including a trust created or determined by a judgment or decree under which the trust is to be administered in the manner of an express trust. “Trust” does not include any of the following:
a. A Totten trust account.
b. A custodial arrangement pursuant to the uniform transfers to minors Act of any state.
c. A business trust that is taxed as a partnership or corporation.
d. An investment trust subject to regulation under the laws of this state or any other jurisdiction.
e. A common trust fund.
f. A voting trust.
g. A security arrangement.
h. A transfer in trust for purpose of suit or enforcement of a claim or right.
i. A liquidation trust.
j. A trust for the primary purpose of paying debts, dividends, interest, salaries, wages, profits, pensions, or employee benefits of any kind.
k. An arrangement under which a person is a nominee or escrow agent for another.
l. Constructive or resulting trusts.
m. Burial, funeral, and perpetual care trusts.
22. “Trust company” means a person who has qualified to engage in and conduct a trust business in this state.
23. “Trust director” means either an investment trust director or a distribution trust director.
24. “Trust protector” means any person whose appointment as protector is provided for in the instrument. A trust protector shall not be considered to be acting in a fiduciary capacity except to the extent the governing instrument provides otherwise. However, a trust protector shall be considered to be acting in a fiduciary capacity to the extent that the trust protector exercises the authority or powers of a trust director.
25. “Trustee” includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by a court.
99 Acts, ch 125, §2, 109; 2000 Acts, ch 1150, §7C2001, §633.11022002 Acts, ch 1107, §1; 2003 Acts, ch 95, §6; 2004 Acts, ch 1015, §25; 2005 Acts, ch 38, §35, 52, 54, 55CS2005, §633A.1102 2020 Acts, ch 1076, §1, 2
Iowa Code § 633A.1103 Per stirpes rule of descent.
633A.1103. Per stirpes rule of descent.
Unless the trust instrument provides otherwise, all gifts to multigeneration classes shall be per stirpes.
99 Acts, ch 125, §3, 109C2001, §633.11032005 Acts, ch 38, §54CS2005, §633A.1103
Iowa Code § 633A.1104 Common law of trusts.
633A.1104. Common law of trusts.
Except to the extent that this chapter modifies the common law governing trusts, the common law of trusts shall supplement this trust code.
99 Acts, ch 125, §4, 109C2001, §633.11042005 Acts, ch 38, §52, 54CS2005, §633A.1104
Iowa Code § 633A.1105 Trust terms control.
633A.1105. Trust terms control.
The terms of a trust shall always control and take precedence over any section of this trust code to the contrary. If a term of the trust modifies or makes any section of this trust code inapplicable to the trust, the common law shall apply to any issues raised by such term.
99 Acts, ch 125, §5, 109C2001, §633.11052003 Acts, ch 95, §7; 2004 Acts, ch 1015, §26; 2005 Acts, ch 38, §54CS2005, §633A.1105
Iowa Code § 633A.1106 General rule concerning application of the Iowa trust code.
633A.1106. General rule concerning application of the Iowa trust code.
1. This trust code applies to all trusts within the scope of this trust code, regardless of whether the trust was created before, on, or after July 1, 2000, except as otherwise stated in this trust code.
2. This trust code applies to all proceedings concerning trusts within the scope of this trust code commenced on or after July 1, 2000.
3. This trust code applies to all trust proceedings commenced before July 1, 2000, unless the court finds that application of a particular provision of this trust code would substantially interfere with the effective conduct of the proceedings or the rights of the parties or other interested persons. In that case, the particular provision of this trust code at issue shall not apply, and the court shall apply prior law.
99 Acts, ch 125, §6, 109C2001, §633.11062005 Acts, ch 38, §54CS2005, §633A.1106
Iowa Code § 633A.1107 Scope of trust code.
633A.1107. Scope of trust code.
1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, this trust code shall apply to trusts, as defined in section 633A.1102, that are intentionally created, or deemed to be intentionally created, by individuals and other entities.
2. With regard to trusts described in section 633.10 that have not been judicially released from continuous court supervision, this trust code shall apply only to the extent not inconsistent with the relevant provisions of chapter 633. With regard to all other trusts defined in section 633A.1102, the terms of chapter 633 shall be inapplicable, and the terms of this trust code shall prevail over any inconsistent provisions of Iowa law.
99 Acts, ch 125, §7, 109C2001, §633.11072005 Acts, ch 38, §36, 54, 55CS2005, §633A.1107 Applicability of probate to trusts and trustees, see §633.751
Iowa Code § 633A.1108 Governing law.
633A.1108. Governing law.
1. A trust not created by will is validly created if its creation complies with the law of the jurisdiction in which the trust instrument was executed, or the law of the jurisdiction in which at the time the trust was created the settlor was domiciled, had a place of abode, or was a national.
2. The meaning and effect of the terms of the trust not created by will shall be determined by any of the following:
a. Except as provided in paragraph “c”, the law of the jurisdiction designated in the terms of the trust, on the condition that at the time the trust was created the designated jurisdiction had a substantial relationship to the trust. A jurisdiction has a substantial relationship to the trust if it is the residence or domicile of the settlor or of any qualified beneficiary, the location of a substantial portion of the assets of the trust, or a place where the trustee was domiciled or had a place of business.
b. Except as provided in paragraph “c”, in the absence of a controlling designation in the terms of the trust, the law of the jurisdiction that has the most significant relationship to the matter at issue.
c. As to real property, the law of the jurisdiction where the real property is located.
2003 Acts, ch 95, §8CS2003, §633.11082005 Acts, ch 38, §54CS2005, §633A.1108
Iowa Code § 633A.1109 Methods of notice and document delivery — waiver.
633A.1109. Methods of notice and document delivery — waiver.
Except as otherwise provided by this chapter:
1. Giving notice to a person, including notice of a judicial proceeding, or the sending of a document to a person under this chapter shall be accomplished in a manner reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt of the notice or document. Permissible methods of giving notice or sending a document include first-class mail, personal delivery to a person’s last known place of residence or place of business, or by properly directed electronic mail. When notice in a trust proceeding is served on an interested party via the United States postal service, the service is made and completed when the notice being served is enclosed in a sealed envelope with proper postage paid, is addressed to the interested party at the party’s last known post office address, and is deposited in a mail receptacle provided by the United States postal service.
2. In the case of a proceeding against an unknown person whose address or whereabouts are unknown, the court shall prescribe that notice may be served by publication within the time and in the manner provided by the rules of civil procedure.
3. Notice under this chapter or the right to receive a document under this chapter may be waived by the person to be notified or entitled to receive the document.
4. For purposes of this section, “properly directed” means directed to an electronic mail address that the sender reasonably believes is a current electronic mail address of the recipient.
2016 Acts, ch 1088, §2, 3
Source: Iowa Legislature (legis.iowa.gov)URL: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/law/iowaCode/sections?codeChapter=633A&year=2026Fetched: 10/20/2026