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An independent Iowa journalEstates, probate and elder lawPublished in Des Moines, Iowa
The Hawkeye LedgerEstates, Probate and Elder Law in Iowa

An independent Iowa journal of estates, probate and elder law

Getting your affairs in order in Iowa

An independent Iowa journal on estate planning, probate, wills, trusts and elder law, written in plain English for families, farmers and executors.

Start with estate planningHow Iowa probate works

A farmhouse kitchen table by a window with stacked documents, a fountain pen, reading glasses and a brass paperweight, Iowa fields outside
Planning, probate and care all start with the same list: what you own, how it is titled, and who depends on you.

Section 1 of 3

Estate Planning

Wills, trusts, beneficiary forms and how a home, a farm or savings passes to the next generation in Iowa.

Open the Estate Planning index

Section 2 of 3

Probate and Administration

How an Iowa estate is opened, administered and closed, what an executor does, and what probate really costs.

Open the Probate and Administration index

Contents: planning and probate

  1. 01Wills vs Living Trusts in Iowa
  2. 02Estate Planning for Growing Families
  3. 03Estate Planning for Married Couples
  4. 04Reducing Your Taxable Estate
  5. 05How Iowa Probate Works

Contents: care and reference

  1. 01What an Iowa Executor Does
  2. 02Is Iowa Probate Really That Bad?
  3. 03Power of Attorney in Iowa
  4. 04Families With Elderly Parents
  5. 05Guardianship and Conservatorship

Section 3 of 3

Elder Law and Care

Powers of attorney, advance directives, guardianship and conservatorship, and how families arrange and pay for care.

Open the Elder Law and Care index

Where the editors look

Public sources worth bookmarking

The Hawkeye Ledger sells nothing and answers to no firm. These public sources carry the current rules, the official forms and the plain-language guides this journal draws on.

  • Iowa Judicial Branch

    Court information, forms and instructions for probate and for guardianship and conservatorship in Iowa.

  • Iowa Legal Aid

    Free civil legal help and plain-language guides on wills, probate, powers of attorney and housing for Iowans.

  • IRS estate and gift tax

    The federal estate and gift tax rules, the annual exclusion and the portability election, with current figures.

  • Iowa Department of Revenue

    State tax information, including how Iowa treats inheritance and what an estate may owe.

  • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

    Guides on managing someone else’s money as an agent, guardian, trustee or representative payee.

  • American Bar Association

    Public estate planning materials on wills, trusts, powers of attorney and advance directives.

From the record

Guides at historical addresses

This domain published a law practice in West Des Moines for years. These guides answer the questions those pages answered, in the third person and from public sources.