When used in this Code, unless otherwise required by the context, or another division of this Code, the following words and phrases shall be construed as follows:
1. Administrator---any person appointed by the court to administer an intestate estate.
2. Bequeath---includes the word "devise" when used as a verb.
3. Bequest---includes the word "devise" when used as a noun.
4. Charges---includes costs of administration, funeral expenses, cost of monument, and federal and state estate taxes.
5. 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.
6. Clerk---"Clerk of the District Court" in the county in which the matter is pending and includes the term "Clerk of the Probate Court".
7. Conservator---a person appointed by the court to have the custody and control of the property of a ward under the provisions of this Code.
8. 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.
9. Court---the Iowa district court sitting in probate and includes any Iowa district judge.
10. Debts---includes liabilities of the decedent which survive, whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise.
11. Devise---when used as a noun, includes testamentary disposition of property, both real and personal.
12. Devise---when used as a verb, to dispose of property, both real and personal, by a will.
13. Devisee---includes legatee.
14. Distributee---a person entitled to any property of the decedent under the decedent's will or under the statutes of intestate succession.
15. Estate---the real and personal property of a decedent, a ward, or a trust, as from time to time changed in form by sale, reinvestment or otherwise, and augmented by any accretions or additions thereto and substitutions therefor, or diminished by any decreases and distributions therefrom.
16. Executor---means any person appointed by the court to administer the estate of a testate decedent.
17. Fiduciary---includes personal representative, executor, administrator, guardian, conservator and trustee.
18. Full age---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.
19. Guardian---the person appointed by the court to have the custody of the person of the ward under the provisions of this Code.
20. 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 ward, the term "guardian of the property" may be used, which term shall be synonymous with the term "conservator".
21. Heir---any person, except the surviving spouse, who is entitled to property of a decedent under the statutes of intestate succession.
22. Incompetent---includes any person who has been adjudicated by a court to be incapable of managing the person's property, or caring for the person's own self, or both.
23. 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.
24. Legacy---a testamentary disposition of personal property.
25. Legatee---a person entitled to personal property under a will.
26. Letters---includes letters testamentary, letters of administration, letters of guardianship, letters of conservatorship, and letters of trusteeship.
27. Minor---a person who is not of full age.
28. Person---includes natural persons and corporations.
29. Personal representative---includes executor and administrator.
30. Property---includes both real and personal property.
31. Surviving spouse---the surviving wife or husband, as the case may be.
32. Temporary administrator---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.
33. Trustee---the person or persons appointed as trustee by the instrument creating the trust, or the person or persons appointed by the court to administer the trust.
34. Trusts---include only: Testamentary trusts; express trusts where jurisdiction is specifically conferred on the court by the trust instrument; express trusts where the jurisdiction of the court is invoked by the trustee, beneficiary or any interested party for a limited purpose, or otherwise; and trusts which are established by a judgment or a decree of court which results in administration of the trust by the court, and the court entering the judgment or decree establishing such trust orders the administration of the trust transferred to the probate court.
35. Will---includes codicil; it also includes a testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, and a testamentary instrument that merely revokes or revives another will.
[C51, § 1286; R60, § 2318; C73, § 2336; C97, § 3280; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 11860; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, § 633.15; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 633.3]
94 Acts, ch 1046, §26
Referred to in § 232.2, 249A.5, 450.1, 523A.3, 523A.8, 523E.8, 600A.2, 633.63, 633.89
Iowa General Assembly
Search: Iowa Code 1997
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