Sarah Ingles, REALTOR® SRES® · Fathom Realty
If you own a home in the Des Moines metro and you're trying to decide whether to put it in a revocable living trust or let it pass through probate, the right answer depends on three things: the value of your estate, whether your beneficiaries live out of state, and how much privacy matters to your family.
Iowa probate is not as expensive or as slow as estate-planning marketing materials usually claim. A typical Polk County probate runs 6 to 12 months and costs 2 to 5 percent of gross estate value in court fees, attorney fees, and executor compensation. The biggest line item — the REALTOR® commission on the house sale — is the same whether the property passes through probate or a trust.
Setting up a revocable living trust in Iowa typically runs $1,500 to $4,000 in attorney fees, depending on complexity. You also need to formally retitle each asset into the trust, which takes time and costs filing fees on real property. Many people skip the retitling step and end up with a partially funded trust — which still has to go through probate for the un-funded assets.
A revocable living trust is usually worth it if any of these apply:
For most Des Moines metro families with a single-state, uncontested estate worth less than $750,000, plain probate is genuinely fine. The cost difference is small once you factor in the cost of setting up and properly funding a trust, and the timeline difference is usually 3 to 6 months — not the 18+ months you sometimes hear about.
Iowa allows transfer-on-death (TOD) deeds for real property, payable-on-death (POD) designations for bank accounts, and beneficiary designations for retirement accounts and life insurance. These pass outside probate without the cost or complexity of a trust. For many simple estates this is the highest-leverage thing to do — set up a TOD deed on your home and POD designations on your accounts, and you've avoided 80% of what probate is supposed to be.
Q: Does a trust avoid Iowa inheritance tax? A: Iowa inheritance tax is being phased out and is at zero for most beneficiaries as of 2025. A trust does not provide additional Iowa tax benefits over probate.
Q: Can I sell a house held in an Iowa trust without probate? A: Yes. The trustee has authority to sell trust property without court involvement. This is one of the cleanest reasons to consider a trust if you own real property.
Q: Is probate worse for an out-of-state heir? A: Yes. Out-of-state heirs need to coordinate remotely with the executor, attorney, and REALTOR® and may need to travel to Iowa for documents or court appearances. A trust or TOD deed simplifies this significantly.
Q: How long does an Iowa trust take to settle? A: A simple Iowa trust can be settled in 60 to 90 days after the trustee has access. The 4-month creditor claim period from probate does not apply to trust assets.
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