We have written detailed reviews of Iowa law impacting agricultural producers and landowners. Access these reviews by clicking on the tiles below. You can also review Iowa cases on a particular subject by searching our list of Iowa case law reviews at the bottom of this page.
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A revocable trust is owned by the settlor of the trust. The trustee, if different from the settlor, owes a fiduciary duty to the settlor. The beneficiaries of a revocable trust have no ownership interest or right to any accounting of the trust assets until after the settlor’s death. This is because the settlor, as the owner, can terminate the trust at any time. Once the settlor dies, however, the trust becomes irrevocable and the named beneficiaries now have a right to an accounting and the trustee owes a duty to the beneficiaries to administer the trust in their best interests.
When a person holds property that was intended to be transferred to another person, the court can create judicial remedies to ensure an equitable resolution and facilitate the transfer of the property to the intended person. Two remedies recently used by the court involved the establishment of a constructive trust and a resulting trust. A constructive trust is created when the holder of property is determined to be the trustee for the benefit of another who is entitled to an interest in the property.
The doctrine of res judicata prevents the continued litigation of an issue previously resolved through the court system. The concepts of issue preclusion and claim preclusion are both included in the doctrine. Issue preclusion prevents the relitigation of issues in a second action when the issues were previously raised and decided in another action. Claim preclusion bars a second legal action on a claim in which a valid and final judgment had already been issued.
In Iowa, the owner of an upper or dominant estate has a legal easement over the lower or servient estate for the natural drainage of water. The servient estate has a duty to accept this flow of water and cannot take measures to prevent it.
Typically, the relationship between an attorney and a client and the extent of the representation is pretty straightforward. Issues can arise, however, when clients have multiple roles that may create conflicts of interest in the representation.
Surviving spouses who receive little to no property from their deceased spouse under the terms of the will can choose to take an elective share of the deceased spouse’s estate. Typically, the spouse can receive one-third of the decedent’s real property, all exempt personal property held as head of the family, and one-third of other personal property not necessary for payment of debts and other charges. The Iowa Supreme Court in Sieh v.
When an administrative appeals process is outlined in a statute, a party is required to exhaust his administrative appeals before seeking judicial review of the matter. Failing to exhaust administrative appeals before filing suit in court almost always means the party has waived his right to appeal administrative decisions to a trial judge.
A garnishment proceeding is a method by which a judgment creditor can collect money owed by the judgment debtor directly from a third party who holds the debtor’s property (a garnishee). The proceeding is only effective to the extent of the debtor’s interest in the property attached.
Attorney fees in any legal proceeding are only awarded when there is statutory or contractual authority for the award. In probate proceedings, Iowa Code Chapter 633 establishes, upon proof of the work done, the ordinary fees that may be granted to attorneys for their work in settling an estate. Attorneys who tackle complex and unusual cases may request extraordinary fees for work done on these issues. Attorney fee awards must be approved by the probate court after proof of the ordinary (and extraordinary) work done on behalf of the estate.
“We’re Number One, We’re Number One!” While that doesn’t apply to the Cyclones, Panthers, Bulldogs or the Hawkeyes, it does apply to Iowa’s corporate income tax – it’s the highest stated rate in the nation. Now, the Iowa Supreme Court has held that the tax applies to royalties received by a company that has no assets or employees in Iowa. As a result of the Court’s decision, the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDOR) has taken an even more aggressive stance against out-of-state businesses.
In this case, the court was asked to determine whether there was acquiescence in a previously existing fence line establishing a boundary between adjoining property owners who were bound by a written fence agreement.
In this divorce case, the trial court entered a decree in early 2011 ordering the parties to share joint legal custody of their minor child and for the parties to claim the child as a dependent for income tax purposes in alternating years. The ex-wife appealed on several issues, including the tax issue. She claimed, on appeal, that she should have been awarded the tax exemption for the minor child each year and further claimed that awarding the tax exemption each year to her would be in the child’s best interests.
Iowa Code §468.621 states that a landowner “may drain the land in the general course of natural drainage by constructing or reconstructing open or covered drains, discharging the drains in any natural watercourse or depression so the water will be carried into some other natural watercourse…”. In addition, if the drainage is done solely upon the landowner’s property, the landowner is not liable for damages for the drainage unless it increases the quantity of water or changes the manner of discharge on the land of another. In this case, a landowner claimed that his property had be
Iowa Code Ch. 650 governs boundary by acquiescence disputes. In the past few years, we have seen several cases involving boundary disputes in Iowa, usually stemming from a change in ownership that triggers a survey of the property. Here, owners of two adjoining parcels disagreed as to whether they or their predecessors had acquiesced to use of an existing fence line as the boundary between their adjoining parcels. A farmer owned the north parcel for many years before selling the property to the plaintiff in 1998.
Development agricultural property around the Des Moines metro area provided the background for this case in which the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed a Dallas County trial court’s ruling recognizing an easement for access to farmland across developed lots. The plaintiffs owned and farmed the ag property adjacent to the existing housing development. They sued seeking judicial recognition of their right to access a farm field through the driveways of the lots. The defendant lot owners countersued, asking the court for damages caused by the farmer crossing their lots.