When used in this probate code, unless otherwise required by the context, or another
subchapter of this probate code, the following words and phrases shall be construed as
follows:
1.“Administrator” means any person appointed by the court to administer an intestate
estate.
2.“Assistance animal” means an animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation
under the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §3601 et seq., as amended, or section 504 of the
federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794, as amended. 3.“Assistive animal” means a simian or other animal specially trained or in the process of
being trained to assist a person with a disability.
4.“Bequeath” includes the word “devise” when used as a verb.
5.“Bequest” includes the word “devise” when used as a noun.
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When used in this probate code, unless otherwise required by the context, or another
subchapter of this probate code, the following words and phrases shall be construed as
follows:
1. “Administrator” means any person appointed by the court to administer an intestate
estate.
2. “Assistance animal” means an animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation
under the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §3601 et seq., as amended, or section 504 of the
federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. §794, as amended.
3. “Assistive animal” means a simian or other animal specially trained or in the process of
being trained to assist a person with a disability.
4. “Bequeath” includes the word “devise” when used as a verb.
5. “Bequest” includes the word “devise” when used as a noun.
6. “Charges” includes costs of administration, funeral expenses, cost of monument, and
federal estate taxes.
7. “Child” includes an adopted child but does not include a grandchild or other more
remote descendants, nor, except as provided in sections 633.221 and 633.222, a biological
child.
8. “Clerk” means “clerk of the district court” in the county in which the matter is pending
and includes the term “clerk of the probate court”.
9. “Conservator” means a person appointed by the court to have the custody and control
of the property of a protected person under the provisions of this probate code.
10. “Costs of administration” includes court costs, fiduciary’s fees, attorney fees, all
appraisers’ fees, premiums on corporate surety bonds, statutory allowance for support of
surviving spouse and children, cost of continuation of abstracts of title, recording fees,
transfer fees, transfer taxes, agents’ fees allowed by order of court, interest expense,
including but not limited to interest payable on extension of federal estate tax, and all other
fees and expenses allowed by order of court in connection with the administration of the
estate. Court costs shall include expenses of selling property.
11. “Court” means the Iowa district court sitting in probate and includes any Iowa district
judge.
12. “Debts” includes liabilities of the decedent which survive, whether arising in contract,
tort, or otherwise.
13. “Devise”, when used as a noun, includes testamentary disposition of property, both
real and personal.
14. “Devise”, when used as a verb, means to dispose of property, both real and personal,
by a will.
15. “Devisee” includes legatee.
16. “Distributee” means a person entitled to any property of the decedent under the
decedent’s will or under the statutes of intestate succession.
17. “Estate” means the real and personal property of either a decedent or a protected
person, and may also refer to the real and personal property of a trust described in section
633.10.
18. “Executor” means any person appointed by the court to administer the estate of a
testate decedent.
19. “Fiduciary” includes personal representative, executor, administrator, guardian,
conservator, and the trustee of any trust described in section 633.10.
20. “Full age” means the state of legal majority attained through arriving at the age of
eighteen years or through having married, even though such marriage is terminated by
divorce.
21. “Functional limitations” means the behavior or condition of a person which impairs
the person’s ability to care for the person’s personal safety or to attend to or provide for
necessities for the person.
22. “Guardian” means the person appointed by the court to have the custody of the person
of the protected person under the provisions of this probate code.
23. “Guardian of the property”— at the election of the person appointed by the court to
have the custody and care of the property of a protected person, the term “guardian of the
property” may be used, which term shall be synonymous with the term “conservator”.
24. “Heir” means any person, except the surviving spouse, who is entitled to property of
a decedent under the statutes of intestate succession.
25. “Incompetent”meanstheconditionofanypersonwhohasbeenadjudicatedbyacourt
to meet at least one of the following conditions:
a. To have a decision-making capacity which is so impaired that the person is unable to
care for the person’s personal safety or to attend to or provide for necessities for the person
such as food, shelter, clothing, or medical care, without which physical injury or illness may
occur.
b. To have a decision-making capacity which is so impaired that the person is unable
to make, communicate, or carry out important decisions concerning the person’s financial
affairs.
c. To have a decision-making capacity which is so impaired that both paragraphs “a” and
“b” are applicable to the person.
26. “Issue”, for the purposes of intestate succession, includes all lawful lineal descendants
of a person, whether biological or adopted, except those who are the lineal descendants of
the person’s living descendants.
27. “Legacy” means a testamentary disposition of personal property.
28. “Legatee” means a person entitled to personal property under a will.
29. “Letters” includes letters testamentary, letters of administration, letters of
guardianship, letters of conservatorship, and letters of trusteeship.
30. “Limited guardianship” means a guardianship that grants the guardian less than all
powers available under this chapter or otherwise restricts the powers of the guardian.
31. “Minor” means a person who is not of full age.
32. “Person” includes natural persons and corporations.
33. “Personal representative” includes executor and administrator.
34. “Probate assets” means a decedent’s property subject to administration by a personal
representative.
35. “Property” includes both real and personal property.
36. “Protected person” means a person subject to guardianship or a person subject to
conservatorship, or both.
37. “Respondent” means a person who is alleged to be a person in need of a guardianship
or conservatorship, or both.
38. “Service animal” means a dog or miniature horse as set forth in the implementing
regulations of Title II and Title III of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42
U.S.C. §12101 et seq.
39. “Surviving spouse” means the surviving wife or husband, as the case may be.
40. “Temporary administrator” means any person appointed by the court to care for an
estate pending the probating of a proposed will, or to handle any special matter designated
by the court.
41. “Trustee”meansthepersonorpersonsservingastrusteeofatrustdescribedinsection
633.10.
42. “Trusts” includes only those trusts described in section 633.10.
43. “Will”includescodicil; italsoincludesatestamentaryinstrumentthatmerelyappoints
an executor, and a testamentary instrument that merely revokes or revives another will.