Iowa Code § 633B.101 Title.
633B.101. Title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Iowa Uniform Power of Attorney Act”.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §3
CONSTRUCTION — SCOPE — EFFECT
Iowa Code tit. XV, ch. 633B, subch. I, pt. 1
in effectIowa Code § 633B.102 Definitions.
633B.102. Definitions.
1. “Agent” means a person granted authority to act for a principal under a power of attorney, whether denominated an agent, attorney in fact, or otherwise. The term includes an original agent, coagent, successor agent, and a person to which an agent’s authority is delegated.
2. “Conservator” or “conservatorship” means a conservator appointed or conservatorship established pursuant to section 633.553, 633.554, or 633.567 or a similar provision of the laws of another state.
3. “Durable”, with respect to a power of attorney, means not terminated by the principal’s incapacity.
4. “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
5. “Good faith” means honesty in fact.
6. “Guardian” or “guardianship” means a guardian appointed or a guardianship established pursuant to sections 633.552 and 633.568 or a similar provision of the laws of another state.
7. “Incapacity” means the inability of an individual to manage property or business affairs because the individual is any of the following:
a. An individual whose decision-making capacity is so impaired that the individual is unable to make, communicate, or carry out important decisions concerning the individual’s financial affairs.
b. Detained or incarcerated in a penal system.
c. Outside the United States and unable to return.
8. “Person” means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.
9. “Power of attorney” means a writing that grants authority to an agent to act in the place of the principal, whether or not the term “power of attorney” is used.
10. “Presently exercisable general power of appointment”, with respect to property or a property interest subject to a power of appointment, means power exercisable at the time in question to vest absolute ownership in the principal individually, the principal’s estate, the principal’s creditors, or the creditors of the principal’s estate. The term includes a power of appointment not exercisable until the occurrence of a specified event, the satisfaction of an ascertainable standard, or the passage of a specified period of time only after the occurrence of the specified event, the satisfaction of the ascertainable standard, or the passage of the specified period of time. The term does not include a power exercisable in a fiduciary capacity or only by will.
11. “Principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.
12. “Property” means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal, or legal or equitable, or any interest or right therein.
13. “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
14. “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to do any of the following:
a. Execute or adopt a tangible symbol.
b. Attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol, or process.
15. “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
16. “Stocks and bonds” means stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and all other types of securities and financial instruments, whether held directly, indirectly, or in any other manner. The term does not include commodity futures contracts and call or put options on stocks or stock indexes.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §4; 2019 Acts, ch 57, §39, 43, 44
Iowa Code § 633B.103 Applicability.
633B.103. Applicability.
This chapter applies to all powers of attorney except for the following:
1. A power to the extent it is coupled with an interest of the agent in the subject of the power, including but not limited to a power given to or for the benefit of a creditor in connection with a credit transaction.
2. A power to make health care decisions.
3. A proxy or other delegation to exercise voting rights or management rights with respect to an entity.
4. A power created on a form prescribed by a government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality for a governmental purpose.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §5
Iowa Code § 633B.104 Durability of power of attorney.
633B.104. Durability of power of attorney.
A power of attorney created under this chapter is durable unless the power of attorney expressly provides that it is terminated by the incapacity of the principal.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §6
Iowa Code § 633B.105 Execution.
633B.105. Execution.
A power of attorney must be signed by the principal or in the principal’s conscious presence by another individual, other than any prospective agent, directed by the principal to sign the principal’s name on the power of attorney. A power of attorney must be acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments. An agent named in the power of attorney shall not notarize the principal’s signature. An acknowledged signature on a power of attorney is presumed to be genuine.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §7
Iowa Code § 633B.106 Validity.
633B.106. Validity.
1. A power of attorney executed in this state on or after July 1, 2014, is valid if the execution of the power of attorney complies with section 633B.105.
2. A power of attorney executed in this state before July 1, 2014, is valid if the execution of the power of attorney complied with the law of this state as it existed at the time of execution.
3. A power of attorney executed other than in this state is valid in this state if, when the power of attorney was executed, the execution complied with any of the following:
a. The law of the jurisdiction that determines the meaning and effect of the power of attorney pursuant to section 633B.107.
b. The requirements for a military power of attorney pursuant to 10 U.S.C. §1044b, as amended.
4. Except as otherwise provided by law, a photocopy or electronically transmitted copy of an original power of attorney has the same effect as the original.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §8
Iowa Code § 633B.107 Meaning and effect.
633B.107. Meaning and effect.
The meaning and effect of a power of attorney is determined by the law of the jurisdiction indicated in the power of attorney and, in the absence of an indication of jurisdiction, by the law of the jurisdiction in which the power of attorney was executed.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §9
Iowa Code § 633B.108 Nomination of conservator or guardian — relation of agent to court-appointed fiduciary.
633B.108. Nomination of conservator or guardian — relation of agent to court-appointed fiduciary.
1. Under a power of attorney, a principal may nominate a conservator of the principal’s estate or guardian of the principal’s person for consideration by the court if proceedings for the principal’s estate or person are begun after the principal executes the power of attorney. Except for good cause shown or disqualification, the court shall make its appointment in accordance with the principal’s most recent nomination. This section does not prohibit an individual from executing a petition for the voluntary appointment of a guardian or conservator on a standby basis pursuant to sections 633.568 and 633.591.
2. If, after a principal executes a power of attorney, a court appoints a conservator of the principal’s estate or other fiduciary charged with the management of some or all of the principal’s property, the power of attorney is suspended unless the power of attorney provides otherwise or unless the court appointing the conservator decides the power of attorney should continue. If the power of attorney continues, the agent is accountable to the fiduciary as well as to the principal. The power of attorney shall be reinstated upon termination of the conservatorship as a result of the principal regaining capacity.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §10; 2019 Acts, ch 57, §40, 43, 44
Iowa Code § 633B.109 When power of attorney effective.
633B.109. When power of attorney effective.
1. A power of attorney is effective when executed unless the principal provides in the power of attorney that it becomes effective at a future date or upon the occurrence of a future event or contingency.
2. If a power of attorney becomes effective upon the occurrence of a future event or contingency, the principal, in the power of attorney, may authorize one or more persons to determine in a writing or other record that the event or contingency has occurred.
3. If a power of attorney becomes effective upon the principal’s incapacity and the principal has not authorized a person to determine whether the principal is incapacitated or the person authorized is unable or unwilling to make the determination, the power of attorney becomes effective upon a determination in a writing or other record by the occurrence of any of the following:
a. A licensed physician or licensed psychologist determines that the principal is incapacitated.
b. A judge, or an appropriate governmental official determines that the principal is incapacitated.
4. A person authorized by the principal in the power of attorney to determine that the principal is incapacitated may act as the principal’s personal representative pursuant to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191, including amendments thereto and regulations promulgated thereunder, to obtain access to the principal’s health care information and to communicate with the principal’s health care provider.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §11
Iowa Code § 633B.110 Termination — power of attorney or agent authority.
633B.110. Termination — power of attorney or agent authority.
1. A power of attorney terminates when any of the following occurs:
a. The principal dies.
b. The principal becomes incapacitated, if the power of attorney is not durable.
c. The principal revokes the power of attorney.
d. The power of attorney provides that it terminates.
e. The purpose of the power of attorney is accomplished.
f. The principal revokes the agent’s authority or the agent dies, becomes incapacitated, or resigns, and the power of attorney does not provide for another agent to act under the power of attorney.
2. An agent’s authority terminates when any of the following occurs:
a. The principal revokes the authority.
b. The agent dies, becomes incapacitated, or resigns.
c. An action is filed for the dissolution or annulment of the agent’s marriage to the principal or for their legal separation, unless the power of attorney otherwise provides.
d. The power of attorney terminates.
e. The agent is named as having abused the principal in a founded dependent adult abuse report.
f. The agent is convicted of dependent adult abuse for having abused the principal.
3. Unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, an agent’s authority is exercisable until the agent’s authority terminates under subsection 2, notwithstanding a lapse of time since the execution of the power of attorney.
4. Termination of a power of attorney or an agent’s authority under this section is not effective as to the agent or another person that, without actual knowledge of the termination, acts in good faith under the power of attorney. An act so performed, unless otherwise invalid or unenforceable, binds the principal and the principal’s successors in interest.
5. Incapacity of the principal of a power of attorney that is not durable does not revoke or terminate the power of attorney as to an agent or other person that, without actual knowledge of the incapacity, acts in good faith under the power of attorney. An act so performed, unless otherwise invalid or unenforceable, binds the principal and the principal’s successors in interest.
6. Except as provided in section 633B.103, the execution of a general or plenary power of attorney revokes all general or plenary powers of attorney previously executed in this state by the principal, but does not revoke a power of attorney limited to a specific and identifiable action or transaction, which action or transaction is still capable of performance but has not yet been fully accomplished by the agent.
2014 Acts, ch 1078, §12; 2018 Acts, ch 1084, §1
Source: Iowa Legislature (legis.iowa.gov)URL: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/law/iowaCode/sections?codeChapter=633B&year=2026Fetched: 10/20/2026