Survivorship with respect to future interests under terms of trust — substitute takers.
Iowa Code § 633A.4701
in effect633A.4701. Survivorship with respect to future interests under terms of trust — substitute takers.
1. Unless otherwise specifically stated by the terms of the trust, the interest of each beneficiary is contingent on the beneficiary surviving until the date on which the beneficiary becomes entitled to possession or enjoyment of the beneficiary’s interest in the trust.
2. If a beneficiary dies prior to becoming entitled to possession or enjoyment of the beneficiary’s interest and the terms of the trust provide for an alternate beneficiary who is living on the date the interest becomes possessory, the alternate beneficiary succeeds to the interest in accordance with the terms of the trust.
3. If a beneficiary dies prior to becoming entitled to possession or enjoyment of the beneficiary’s interest and no alternate beneficiary is named in the trust, and the beneficiary has issue who are living on the date the interest becomes possessory, the issue of the beneficiary who are living on such date shall receive the interest of the beneficiary.
4. If both a beneficiary of an interest and any alternate beneficiary of that interest named in the trust die prior to the interest becoming possessory, and the beneficiary has no issue who are living on the date the interest becomes possessory, the issue of the alternate beneficiary who are living on such date shall take the interest of the beneficiary.
5. If both the beneficiary of an interest and any alternate beneficiary of that interest named in the trust die prior to the interest becoming possessory, and neither the beneficiary nor the alternate beneficiary has issue who are living on the date the interest becomes possessory, the beneficiary’s interest shall be distributed to the takers of the settlor’s residuary estate, or, if the trust is the sole taker of the settlor’s residuary estate, in accordance with section 633A.2106.
6. If both the beneficiary of an interest and any alternate beneficiary of that interest named in the trust die prior to the interest becoming possessory, and both the beneficiary and the alternate beneficiary have issue who are living on the date the interest becomes possessory, the issue of the beneficiary succeed to the interest of the beneficiary. The issue of the alternate beneficiary shall not succeed to any part of the interest of the beneficiary.
7. For the purposes of this section, persons appointed under a power of appointment shall be considered beneficiaries under this section and takers in default of appointment designated by the instrument creating the power of appointment shall be considered alternate beneficiaries under this section.
8. Subsections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 do not apply to any interest subject to an express condition of survivorship imposed by the terms of the trust. For the purposes of this section, words of survivorship including, but not limited to, “my surviving children”, “if a person survives” a named period, and terms of like import, shall be construed to create an express condition of survivorship. Words of survivorship include language requiring survival to the distribution date or to any earlier or unspecified time, whether those words are expressed in condition precedent, condition subsequent, or any other form.
9. For the purposes of this section, a term of the trust requiring that a beneficiary survive a person whose death does not make the beneficiary entitled to possession or enjoyment of the beneficiary’s interest in the trust shall not be considered as “otherwise specifically stated by the terms of the trust” nor as an “express condition of survivorship imposed by the terms of the trust”.
10. If an interest to which this section applies is given to a class, other than a class described as “issue”, “descendants”, “heirs of the body”, “heirs”, “next of kin”, “relatives”, “family”, or a class described by language of similar import, the members of the class who are living on the date on which the class becomes entitled to possession or enjoyment of the interest shall be considered as alternate beneficiaries under this section. However, neither the residuary beneficiaries under the settlor’s will nor the settlor’s heirs shall be considered as alternate beneficiaries for the purposes of this section.
99 Acts, ch 125, §84, 109C2001, §633.47012003 Acts, ch 95, §18, 19; 2005 Acts, ch 38, §42, 43, 54, 55CS2005, §633A.4701
Source: Iowa Legislature (legis.iowa.gov)URL: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/633A.4701.pdfFetched: 10/20/2026