Estate Planning

An estate plan is a set of instructions for the people who will have to act when you cannot. Done well, it spares them guesswork at the worst possible time. We draft plans for Iowa families, farmers, and business owners — the straightforward ones and the complicated ones.

What we handle

Wills

Revocable living trusts

Financial powers of attorney

Healthcare powers of attorney and living wills

Beneficiary and transfer-on-death designations

Guardian and conservator nominations for minor children

Farm and family business succession

Plan reviews after a marriage, a divorce, a move, or a death in the family

What actually goes wrong

In our experience, plans fail for a short list of reasons — and none of them is an exotic tax problem.

Beneficiary designations override the will. A retirement account or life insurance policy pays whoever is named on the form, no matter what the will says. An ex-spouse named in 2009 still gets the money.

No financial power of attorney. When someone loses capacity without one, the family goes to court for a conservatorship — months of delay and expense that a one-page document would have prevented.

Joint titling does not do what people assume. Adding a child to a deed or an account to "keep it simple" can create gift, creditor, and fairness problems the parent never intended.

Farmland split evenly between heirs, with nothing about who farms it. Equal shares and no operating agreement is how families end up in a partition action.

Common questions

Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?

For many Iowa families a well-drafted will, current beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney do the job. Trusts earn their keep in specific situations — property in more than one state, a beneficiary who should not receive a lump sum, privacy, or planning around incapacity. We will tell you honestly which one you are.

What happens if I die without a will in Iowa?

Iowa's intestacy statute decides who inherits, in a fixed order that may not match what you would have chosen — particularly in blended families. The court also decides who administers the estate and who raises minor children.

Iowa inheritance tax — do I still need to plan around it?

No. Iowa phased its inheritance tax out between 2021 and 2024 and repealed it entirely for deaths on or after January 1, 2025, so it is no longer the driver it once was. Federal estate tax still applies above the exemption, and income tax basis planning matters for farmland and appreciated assets.

Nothing in place, or a plan you have not looked at in a decade? Either one is worth an hour.