Iowa probate leads and inheritance data, by county.
If you are researching Iowa probate leads, the public court file is only one part of the inherited-property market. USLeadList starts with death and property records, typically about five weeks after death, and generates an average of 1216 records a month across Iowa.
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Iowa counties
Browse 99 counties.Every Iowa county has its own page. Highlighted counties currently generate the largest monthly record volume.
How inherited property moves in Iowa
Verified state rules behind the county data.Probate rules matter because they determine when a public court record appears and which inherited properties never appear in an ordinary probate case.
What changes for an heir
Iowa has no transfer on death deed for real estate, which is the fact that matters most here. Chapter 633F of the Iowa Code is the Iowa Uniform Custodial Trust Act, not a transfer on death act, and there is no chapter 561B. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act exists only as bills that went nowhere in the 91st General Assembly: House File 125, which would create a new chapter 633G, sat in House Judiciary after a subcommittee recommended passage on February 6, 2025, and its Senate companion, Senate File 408, was introduced on February 20, 2025 and referred to Senate Judiciary, where a subcommittee was assigned on February 25, 2025. Neither passed. Iowa also imposes no death tax that would pressure a sale, since the estate tax has not applied to deaths on or after January 1, 2005 and the inheritance tax does not apply to deaths on or after January 1, 2025, and there is no reassessment on transfer. With no deed instrument to route around the courthouse, inherited Iowa real estate usually surfaces in a court file.
Where probate records appear
Iowa District Court Iowa Courts Online Search, the Iowa Judicial Branch trial court case search. A paid subscription is required for Advanced Case Search.
Ways property can avoid ordinary probate
Revocable living trust and joint tenancy with right of survivorship, plus transfer on death registration of securities under Iowa Code chapter 633D and the personal property affidavit under Iowa Code 633.356. Iowa does not authorize a transfer on death deed for real estate.
Small-estate route
Two routes, and only one is an affidavit. Distribution of property by affidavit under Iowa Code 633.356 applies where the gross value of the decedent's personal property that would pass by will or intestate succession is $50,000 or less and there is no real property, usable 40 days after death; for deaths before January 1, 2025 real property could still be present if it passed to inheritance tax exempt joint tenants with full rights of survivorship. Administration of small estates under Iowa Code chapter 635 applies where the gross value of probate assets does not exceed $200,000 (Iowa Code 635.1); it has no real property restriction, but it is a court administration with letters of appointment rather than an affidavit shortcut.
Timing investors should understand
On admission of a will to probate the executor publishes notice once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the estate is pending (Iowa Code 633.304). Claims are forever barred unless filed with the clerk within the later of 4 months after the date of the second publication or, for a claimant whose identity is reasonably ascertainable, one month after service of notice by ordinary mail (Iowa Code 633.410(1)). Medicaid estate recovery claims run 6 months from electronic notice to the designated agency (633.410(2)). The 633.356 affidavit cannot be used until 40 days after death. No Iowa court publishes a typical duration.
Iowa inheritance volume
Updated monthly · October 2026 edition.Newly inherited residential properties recorded in Iowa, from the same database that builds the lists. Published nationally in the Inheritance Property Index.
Biggest Iowa counties by volume
- Polk 1,763
- Linn 958
- Scott 823
- Black Hawk 547
- Dubuque 492
- Woodbury 432
- Pottawattamie 421
- Johnson 354
Free to cite with attribution: USLeadList Inheritance Property Index, October 2026 edition. See every state and download the data.
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