Iowa executor and estate paperwork checklist

This is an organizer, not legal advice. An estate attorney or the county probate/surrogate office answers questions about your situation.

The first 30 days

Plain steps that apply wherever the person lived, with the small estate dates for this state. Ticks stay on your screen only.

1. Get several certified copies of the death certificateThe funeral home can usually order them, or the vital records office can. Each bank, insurer and pension plan may ask for its own.
2. Make sure Social Security knowsFuneral homes generally report the death. If not, call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). A surviving spouse, or some children if there's no spouse, may get a one-time $255 payment.
3. Track down the willCheck the home, a safe deposit box and the lawyer who drafted it. Leave the original exactly as you found it and work from copies.
4. Look at the last pages of the willA sworn statement signed by the witnesses before an officer may be attached; what this state says about it is below.
5. Protect the propertyChange locks if keys are out, keep insurance paid, and have the mail forwarded so bills and statements reach you.
6. Pause before paying creditors or dividing keepsakesWho may act, and in what order bills get paid, depends on the route. Ask before you spend or distribute anything.
7. Put the power of attorney awayA power of attorney ends at the principal's death. Whoever was the agent no longer signs for the person.
8. Start an inventoryEvery account, property, vehicle and debt, with how each is held. Beneficiary and joint accounts usually pass directly, not through the estate.
9. Compare the estate with $100,000That's the small estate figure on this state's official page. Count only what the page says counts.
10. Mark day 40 after the deathThe small estate route opens 40 days after the death, per the official page.
11. Keep an account of every transactionWrite down each payment and each deposit with the date and a receipt; heirs and the court may ask to see it.
12. Get the estate its own tax number and bank accountThe IRS asks for an EIN before the estate's Form 1041, which applies once the estate has more than $600 of gross income in a year.

Sources for the federal steps: Social Security Administration: When someone dies · IRS: Deceased taxpayers, filing the estate income tax return (Form 1041) · power of attorney: Power of attorney at a real estate closing.

The small estate route

• ConfirmedSmall estate limit

  Personal property worth $100,000 or less, and no real property, under H.F. 2660 (2026 Iowa Acts ch. 1048, approved April 16, 2026), which raised the limit from $50,000. The Act doesn't state its own effective date, so for a death in 2026 ask the clerk which figure applies. For deaths before January 1, 2025, real property passing to exempt persons as joint tenants with survivorship didn't count against the limit.

  "one hundred thousand dollars or less"

  Source: 2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1048 (H.F. 2660), amending Iowa Code 633.356, approved April 16, 2026 (Iowa Legislature), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedReal estate

  Real estate in the person's name alone takes the estate out of this procedure.

  Source: 2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1048 (H.F. 2660), amending Iowa Code 633.356, approved April 16, 2026 (Iowa Legislature), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedWaiting period after the death

  40 days. Forty days after the death.

  "if forty days have elapsed since the death of the decedent"

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.356, Distribution of property by affidavit (Iowa Legislature); 2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1048 (H.F. 2660), amending Iowa Code 633.356, approved April 16, 2026 (Iowa Legislature); Nolo (secondary source): Probate Shortcuts in Iowa (Nolo, updated 10/17/2024), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedNotary or oath

  Signed before a notary. Sworn and notarized, as Nolo's summary describes it.

  "After signing the document (and swearing to its truthfulness) and having it notarized"

  Source: Nolo (secondary source): Probate Shortcuts in Iowa (Nolo, updated 10/17/2024), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedWhere the paperwork goes

  Handed to the bank or other holder. The successor gives the holder an affidavit under penalty of perjury. Only when an Iowa estate is open is an affidavit for a deceased distributee filed with the clerk.

  "furnish to the holder of the decedent's property an affidavit under penalty of perjury"

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.356, Distribution of property by affidavit (Iowa Legislature); 2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1048 (H.F. 2660), amending Iowa Code 633.356, approved April 16, 2026 (Iowa Legislature); Nolo (secondary source): Probate Shortcuts in Iowa (Nolo, updated 10/17/2024), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedOfficial form

  No official form. Iowa Code 633.356 prescribes no form; subsection 3 lists what the affidavit, sworn under penalty of perjury, must state.

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.356, Distribution of property by affidavit (Iowa Legislature); 2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1048 (H.F. 2660), amending Iowa Code 633.356, approved April 16, 2026 (Iowa Legislature), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedSimplified court procedure

  Small estate administration (Iowa Code chapter 635): As Nolo's summary describes it: for a gross probate estate up to $200,000, a petition to the probate court, an inventory of probate and nonprobate assets, and a closing statement; property is distributed if no one objects within 30 days after the closing statement goes to interested parties.

  Source: Nolo (secondary source): Probate Shortcuts in Iowa (Nolo, updated 10/17/2024), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedWorth knowing

  The affidavit is made under penalty of perjury; the section doesn't mention a notary. It can be used only if no administration of the estate is pending. The 2026 Act also has child support services make a form available for undistributed child support owed to a decedent.

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.356, Distribution of property by affidavit (Iowa Legislature); 2026 Iowa Acts, chapter 1048 (H.F. 2660), amending Iowa Code 633.356, approved April 16, 2026 (Iowa Legislature); Nolo (secondary source): Probate Shortcuts in Iowa (Nolo, updated 10/17/2024), checked November 2026

The will at probate

Signing rules for wills, as they bear on getting the will accepted.

• ConfirmedWitnesses the will needed

  Two witnesses, who sign at the testator's request in the presence of the testator and each other.

  "witnessed, at the testator's request, by two competent persons"

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.279, Signed and witnessed (Iowa Legislature, 2024); Iowa Code 633.281, Interest of witnesses (Iowa Legislature, 2024); Nolo (secondary source): How to Make a Will in Iowa (Nolo, updated September 2025), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedSelf-proving affidavit

  Allowed at signing or any later date, before a person authorized to administer oaths and take acknowledgments. A self-proved will can be admitted without witness testimony.

  "before a person authorized to administer oaths and take acknowledgments under the laws of this state"

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.279, Signed and witnessed (Iowa Legislature, 2024); Iowa Code 633.281, Interest of witnesses (Iowa Legislature, 2024); Nolo (secondary source): How to Make a Will in Iowa (Nolo, updated September 2025), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedIf the will is handwritten

  Not recognized unless witnessed: every will, to be valid, must be signed and declared before two witnesses (Iowa Code 633.279). The only exception the section names is for wills made under another state's law (633.283).

  "All wills and codicils, except as provided in section 633.283, to be valid, must be in writing"

  Source: Iowa Code 633.279, Signed and witnessed (Iowa Legislature, 2024), checked November 2026

• ConfirmedA witness who inherits

  The will stays valid, but unless two disinterested witnesses also signed, an interested witness loses whatever the will gives beyond what that witness would get with no will.

  "No will is invalidated because attested by an interested witness"

  Sources: Iowa Code 633.279, Signed and witnessed (Iowa Legislature, 2024); Iowa Code 633.281, Interest of witnesses (Iowa Legislature, 2024); Nolo (secondary source): How to Make a Will in Iowa (Nolo, updated September 2025), checked November 2026

Documents to gather

• Pension, Social Security and benefit letters
• Safe deposit box location and keys
• Certified death certificates
• The original will and any codicils
• Deeds and mortgage statements
• Vehicle titles and registrations
• Recent bank, brokerage and retirement statements
• Life insurance policies and annuities
• The last few years of tax returns
• Recent bills, loan and credit card statements
• The official small estate form: No official form

Who to notify

Pension or employer, Social Security (if the funeral home hasn't), Banks and credit unions, Brokerage and retirement accounts, Life insurance companies, Utilities and phone, Landlord or mortgage servicer, Credit card companies. A brief letter and a copy of the death certificate usually start each one; note the date and the person you reached.

Documents needed abroad

• ConfirmedA death certificate needed abroad

  Apostilles for this state's documents come from the Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services Division. $5 per apostille or certification (check or card; no cash by mail).

  Source: Iowa Secretary of State, Business Services Division, checked November 2026

Where to ask

An estate attorney or the county probate/surrogate office answers questions about your situation. Official pages for Iowa:

• Probate Shortcuts in Iowa (Nolo, updated 10/17/2024)

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. We are not lawyers, and MCC Solutions is not a law firm. An estate attorney or the county probate/surrogate office answers questions about your situation. Facts checked November 2026.

Common questions

Related: Executor guide by state · Will signing requirements · Estate paperwork help