House File 232, which was discussed in my article of last month was signed by the Governor on June 1, 2023. Said bill also amends Section 633.555 to provide that in situations where a conservator has not been appointed for a minor, property due to a minor, not exceeding the aggregate of $50,000.00, shall be…
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House File 232, which is currently before the Governor for signature, provides a mechanism whereby new trusts and existing trusts will have a new tool to obtain information from third parties. The new provision allows a Trustee to present a written request to any person for the purpose to obtain information required to perform the Trustee’s duties or any information on property owned by the Trust and which is owned by the Trust Settlor at the time of death, including information about the property that has passed or will pass by beneficiary designations or joint tenancy ownership. The request must
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On December 21, 2022, the Court of Appeals of Iowa issued an opinion in the case of In Re: The Marriage of Derek W. George and Debra A. George, and Upon the Petition of Derek W. George, Petitioner-Appellee, and concerning Debra A. George, Respondent-Appellant (No. 21-1998). Derek and Debra were married in 1998 and had four children. The District Court made a finding of the pre-marital assets of Debra which consisted of gifted and inherited assets. The District Court concluded that Debra’s inherited and gifted funds “became so invested in marital assets that the Court could not fully compensate her
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On July 22, 2020, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the matter of the Inman Family Living Trust (No. 19-1045). Leland and Ella Mae Inman executed the Inman Family Living Trust in 2014. In 2016, Leland passed away. The Trust provided that the trustees possessed the powers, rights and discretion set forth in the Iowa Code; that the trustees are authorized to determine fairly and equitably the manner of ascertainment of income and principal and the allocation of all receipts and disbursements to income and principal accounts; and that the Trust shall be governed in accordance with
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The Internal Revenue Service recently issued a Notice (Notice 2018-76) regarding the deductibility of business meal expenses under the new Tax Act. The Notice may be relied on until proposed regulations are published. The Notice provides that most business meal expenses will be 50 percent deductible as long as a separate invoice is provided for the food. The new Tax Act prohibits the deduction of entertainment expenses. It has been unclear until this Notice whether business meals involving a client or a potential client would fall into the entertainment expense category. As such, until the proposed regulations are published, a
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Chapter 365 of the Iowa Code contains the Small Estate Statute. Recent legislation was passed which has made changes to the Chapter. The current statute is applicable to an estate if the value of the probate assets are $100,000.00 or less. One of the changes made in the legislation is to increase the maximum value of probate assets for an estate to qualify for small estate administration to $200,000.00 effective for estates of decedents dying on or after July 1, 2020. The new change in the maximum value of probate assets, combined with the increase in the amount for distribution
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The Governor recently signed Legislation which amends the Iowa Code Section 633.356 which allows distribution of a decedent’s property by Affidavit in lieu of a formal probate proceeding. The previous Section applied when the gross value of a decedent’s personal property was valued at $25,000.00 or less. The new Section increases the dollar amount to $50,000.00 or less. The new Act, like the previous Act, requires 40 days to pass from the death of a decedent before the Affidavit can be utilized. The new Act becomes effective July 1, 2018. The new Act requires that an Affidavit state that no
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This month’s article discusses the sale of pre-need funeral arrangements which are sold by funeral homes and cemeteries. The contract is entered into whereby the customer selects the various features of a funeral and the various details regarding the final disposition of the body. Under Iowa law, such pre-need contracts can be cancelled by the customer within three days after signing the contract if you change your mind. The contract can require either a lump sum payment or a series of installment payments. If you elect to pay in installments, it is important to verify what happens in the event
More Legal News & Information... →The use of transfer on death and payable on death registrations for bank and investment accounts has increased dramatically. Banks and investment firms are pushing their clients to sign the forms claiming that the forms will eliminate the need for probate administration. Chapter 633D of the Iowa Code deals with transfer on death registrations which applies to investment accounts. The Act allows the owner to designate the beneficiary of the account in the event of the owner’s death. The beneficiary form may be cancelled or changed at any time by the owner without the consent of the beneficiary. The Act
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The Iowa Supreme Court, on November 17, 2017, issued an opinion interpreting a definition utilized in an inheritance tax exemption. The Court points out that for many years prior to 1997 the Iowa inheritance tax had an unlimited exemption for any share of the estate passing to the surviving spouse, limited exemptions for lineal descendants and lineal ascendants and no exemption for step-children. In 1997, the Legislature eliminated inheritance tax on property passing to parents, grandparents, great grandparents, children, stepchildren, grandchildren and great grandchildren among others. In 2003, the Legislature added a definition for “stepchild” which defined “stepchild” as the
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