Power of attorney, health care directive and guardianship in Iowa

Financial power of attorney in Iowa

Law and official form

Law

Iowa Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Yes (effective July 1, 2014)

Official form

Iowa Statutory Power of Attorney Form (Iowa Code 633B.301)Published by Iowa Legislature

You do not have to use it.

The form 'may be used'; it is not required. It covers property and money only, not health care. Like any Iowa power of attorney, it must be acknowledged before a notary. An agent's certification form is in section 633B.302.

Law: Iowa Code §§ 633B.101, 633B.403 (2014 Iowa Acts ch. 1078); Iowa Code §§ 633B.301, 633B.302

Signing rules

How to sign

A power of attorney must be signed and acknowledged before a notary public or another person authorized to take acknowledgments. An agent named in the power of attorney may not notarize your signature.

Who signs

Signed by you, or in your conscious presence by another person you direct to sign your name. That person cannot be someone who will be your agent.

Notary

Required

Witnesses

None required

Agent's acknowledgment

No agent signature is required. A person accepts the job of agent by acting as agent or by other conduct showing acceptance, unless the document says otherwise.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.113

Law: Iowa Code §§ 633B.105, 633B.106

Durable and springing

Is it durable?

A power of attorney is durable (keeps working if you become incapacitated) unless it expressly says it ends on your incapacity.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.104

Durable unless it says otherwise?

Yes: it continues if you lose capacity unless it says otherwise.

Starting later (springing)

A power of attorney takes effect when signed unless it says it starts on a future date or event. You can name who decides whether the event happened. If it starts on your incapacity and no one you named can decide, it starts when a licensed physician or licensed psychologist, or a judge or appropriate government official, determines in writing that you are incapacitated.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.109

What an agent can and cannot do

Needs express permission

• Create, amend, revoke or end a living (inter vivos) trust
• Make a gift
• Create or change rights of survivorship
• Create or change a beneficiary designation
• Delegate authority granted under the power of attorney
• Waive your right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a retirement plan survivor benefit
• Exercise fiduciary powers you have authority to delegate
• Disclaim property, including a power of appointment
• Exercise rights and powers given to an agent under Iowa Code chapter 638 (access to digital assets)

No power of attorney can

Unless the power of attorney says otherwise, an agent who is not your ancestor, spouse or descendant may not use the power of attorney to give themselves, or someone they must support, an interest in your property. A power of attorney under chapter 633B does not cover health care decisions.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.201(2); Iowa Code 633B.103

Law: Iowa Code § 633B.201(1)

Agent duties, pay and court review

Agent duties

• Act according to your reasonable expectations, if known, and otherwise in your best interest
• Act in good faith and only within the authority granted
• Act loyally for your benefit and avoid conflicts of interest
• Use the care, competence and diligence ordinarily used by agents
• Keep a record of all receipts, payments and transactions
• Cooperate with your health care decision-maker
• Try to preserve your estate plan, if known and in your best interest
• Disclose records within 30 days when asked by you, a conservator, a protective agency, a court, or after death your personal representative

Agent pay

Unless the power of attorney says otherwise, an individual agent is entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expenses but not to compensation. If the document provides for pay, or the agent is a bank or trust company, the pay must be reasonable.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.112

Asking a court to review an agent

You, the agent, a guardian or conservator, your health care decision-maker, your spouse, parent, descendant or presumptive heir, a beneficiary, a protective agency, a person aware of dependent adult abuse charges or an investigation involving the agent, your caregiver or another interested person, a person asked to accept the power of attorney, or a person you named in it can ask a court to interpret it or review the agent's conduct. The court must dismiss the petition if you ask, unless it finds you lack capacity to revoke. In an abuse case the court may suspend the power of attorney and appoint a guardian ad litem.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.116

Law: Iowa Code § 633B.114

When it ends and how to revoke it

It ends when

• You die
• You become incapacitated, if the power of attorney is not durable
• You revoke it
• It says it ends, or its purpose is accomplished
• The agent dies, becomes incapacitated or resigns, or you revoke the agent's authority, and no other agent is named
• An action is filed for divorce, annulment or legal separation from an agent who is your spouse
• The agent is named in a founded dependent adult abuse report, or convicted of dependent adult abuse, for abusing you (ends that agent's authority)

Divorce ends a spouse's authority

Yes · Divorce rules in Iowa (Divorce Law Map)

How to revoke

You can revoke a power of attorney or an agent's authority. The Act does not set a required method. Signing a new general (plenary) power of attorney automatically revokes earlier general powers of attorney you signed in Iowa, but not a limited power of attorney for a specific transaction still in progress.

Telling others

Tell the agent and every bank or business that has a copy. An agent or other person who acts in good faith without actual knowledge that the power of attorney or the agent's authority has ended is protected, and the act binds you.

Law: Iowa Code § 633B.110; Iowa Code § 633B.110(1)-(4), (6)

Banks, other states and real estate

Banks and other businesses

A person asked to accept a notarized (acknowledged) power of attorney must accept it, or within 7 business days ask for an agent's certification, an English translation or a lawyer's opinion, and then accept it within 5 business days after receiving it, unless a legal reason to refuse applies (for example, good-faith belief it is invalid, or a report of suspected abuse to the Department of Health and Human Services). A person may not demand a different form. A wrongful refusal can lead to a court order to accept it, plus liability for the principal's damages and reasonable attorney fees and costs; the action must be brought within one year of the first request. A photocopy or electronically sent copy has the same effect as the original.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.119, 633B.120; Iowa Code 633B.106(4)

Signed in another state

A power of attorney signed outside Iowa is valid in Iowa if its signing followed the law of the jurisdiction named in it (or, if none, where it was signed), or the federal military power of attorney rules.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.106(3), 633B.107

Health care directive in Iowa

The document and its form

Document

Durable power of attorney for health care

Official form

Durable power of attorney for health care - optional statutory form (Iowa Code 144B.5)Published by Iowa LegislatureVersion: Iowa Code 2026 (section last amended 2022 Iowa Acts ch. 1066)

You do not have to use it.

Living will

Declaration (Life-sustaining Procedures Act)

The living will is a separate document.

A declaration tells your attending provider to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures if you are in a terminal condition and cannot take part in treatment decisions. Another physician, advanced registered nurse practitioner or physician assistant must confirm the terminal condition. It is signed like the health care power of attorney (two qualified witnesses or a notary). You are responsible for giving it to your attending provider or health care provider.

Living will

Law: Iowa Code § 144B.5; Iowa Code §§ 144A.3, 144A.5 (as amended by 2026 Iowa Acts, House File 2305)

Signing rules

How to sign

The document must say it authorizes your attorney in fact to make health care decisions, must be dated, and must be either signed by two qualified witnesses or acknowledged before a notarial officer in Iowa. The same signing rules apply to a declaration (living will).

Who signs

Signed by you, or by another person on your behalf at your direction, and dated.

Notary

A notary or witnesses (your choice)

Witnesses

2 (instead of a notary)

Who cannot witness

Two witnesses must sign in the presence of each other and of you, having seen the document signed. A witness cannot be a health care provider attending you on the date you sign, an employee of that provider, the person you name as attorney in fact, or anyone under 18. At least one witness must not be related to you by blood, marriage or adoption within the third degree.

Law: Iowa Code §§ 144B.3, 144A.3

Who can be your agent and what the agent can do

Who cannot be your agent

A health care provider attending you on the date you sign cannot be your attorney in fact. An employee of that provider also cannot, unless related to you by blood, marriage or adoption within the third degree.

Law: Iowa Code 144B.4

When the agent starts

Your attorney in fact can make a health care decision only when your attending provider (a physician, physician assistant or advanced registered nurse practitioner) judges that you are unable to make it. If you object to withholding or withdrawing care, you are presumed able to decide. A known, available attorney in fact has priority over anyone else, including a guardian, unless a court finds the attorney in fact is acting against your wishes.

Law: Iowa Code 144B.6(1), as amended by 2026 Iowa Acts, House File 2305, eff. July 1, 2026

Decisions an agent cannot make

The attorney in fact must act according to your wishes as stated in the durable power of attorney for health care, in a declaration (living will), or otherwise made known to the attorney in fact, and if those are unknown, in your best interests. Since July 1, 2026, wishes you expressed only verbally to someone other than your attorney in fact, or in another document, do not restrict the attorney in fact unless your declaration, or a separate section of the durable power of attorney for health care stating that it is limited, says so.

Law: Iowa Code 144B.6(2), as amended by 2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2198

Revoking and conflicting documents

Revoking your agent

You can revoke a durable power of attorney for health care at any time and in any way you can communicate, whatever your mental or physical condition, for example by telling your attorney in fact or a health care provider who is treating you, orally or in writing. A new valid durable power of attorney for health care revokes the earlier one unless it says otherwise.

Revoking your instructions

You can revoke a declaration (living will) at any time and in any way you can communicate. It is effective once your attending provider is told, by you or by someone you told.

Telling others

A revocation is effective as to a health care provider once the provider is told, and the provider must record it in your treatment records.

Divorce ends a spouse's authority

Yes · Divorce rules in Iowa (Divorce Law Map)

Conflicting documents

Since July 1, 2026, your attorney in fact must follow wishes stated in your declaration (living will), but other documents and verbal statements to other people do not limit the attorney in fact unless the declaration, or a separate section of the durable power of attorney for health care stating that it is limited, says so.

Law: Iowa Code 144B.6(2), as amended by 2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2198

Law: Iowa Code §§ 144A.4, 144B.8, 144B.12(3)

If you have no directive

Who decides without a directive

This applies to decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures for a person in a terminal condition who cannot communicate and has no declaration. The decision needs consultation and written agreement between your attending provider, another physician, advanced registered nurse practitioner or physician assistant, and your attorney in fact or guardian; if you have neither, the first available person in this order decides, guided by your wishes, with a witness present at the consultation. A 'close adult friend' must give your attending provider an affidavit. Since July 1, 2026, a guardian may make this decision without court approval. The same order applies to withholding resuscitation in a health care facility or hospice when there is no out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate order.

1. Attorney in fact under a durable power of attorney for health care, or a guardian
2. Spouse
3. Adult children (decision agreed to by a majority of those reasonably available)
4. Parents (both, if both are reasonably available)
5. Adult siblings (majority of those reasonably available)
6. Other adult relatives, such as grandchildren, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, stepchildren, stepparents and stepsiblings (majority of those reasonably available)
7. A close adult friend

Other states, registry and medical orders

Signed in another state

A health care power of attorney or living will signed in another state under that state's law is valid in Iowa to the extent it is consistent with Iowa law. A document that meets federal Department of Veterans Affairs advance directive requirements is also valid.

Law: Iowa Code 144A.3(4), 144B.3(4)

POLST (medical orders)

Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment

Law: Iowa Code § 144D.2

Guardianship and conservatorship in Iowa

What guardianship or conservatorship is

What it is called

Guardian, conservator (full or limited); standby guardian or conservator; emergency (temporary) appointment

When a court may appoint one

A guardian may be appointed only if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the adult's decision-making capacity is so impaired that they cannot care for their safety or provide necessities such as food, shelter, clothing or medical care, and that a guardian is in their best interest. A conservator may be appointed if the adult cannot make, communicate or carry out important financial decisions and it is in their best interest. The petition must explain why no less restrictive alternative works, and the court must consider a limited guardianship or conservatorship and less restrictive alternatives such as third-party assistance.

Law: Iowa Code 633.551, 633.552, 633.553, 633.556

Kinds

• Guardian
• Conservator
• Limited guardianship or conservatorship
• Standby (voluntary) guardian or conservator
• Emergency appointment

Law: Iowa Code §§ 633.551-633.556

Who can ask, which court and your own choice

Who may ask

Any person with an interest in the adult's welfare, including the adult, by filing a verified petition.

Law: Iowa Code 633.556

Court

Iowa District Court (probate) in the county where the person lives or is found.

Choosing your own

In your power of attorney you can nominate your future conservator or guardian; the court must follow your most recent nomination except for good cause or disqualification. You can also file a voluntary petition naming a standby guardian or conservator.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.108, 633.568, 633.591

Effect on a power of attorney

If a conservator or other fiduciary for your property is appointed, your financial power of attorney is suspended unless it says otherwise or the court lets it continue; if it continues, the agent also accounts to the conservator. It is reinstated if the conservatorship ends because you regain capacity. Your health care attorney in fact keeps priority over a guardian for health care decisions unless a court finds otherwise.

Law: Iowa Code 633B.108(2); Iowa Code 144B.6

Cost, fee waiver and forms

Filing fee

$215 filing fee for a civil petition, which includes petitions to appoint guardians and conservators; an extra $5 publication fee may apply in counties over 98,000 people. Conservatorships also pay court costs of 0.2% of the gross value of inventoried assets minus life insurance. Background check fees apply.

Law: Iowa Code 633.31(4)

Fee waiver

Application to Defer Costs, filed with the clerk; a judge decides whether to postpone the fees (Iowa Judicial Branch, Civil Court Fees).

Forms

• Iowa Judicial Branch court forms (guardianship background check authorization, initial care plan, annual report)
• Iowa Interactive Court Forms (including Application to Defer Costs)

Steps

Steps

Other options and where to report abuse

Less restrictive options

• Power of attorney: Names an agent for money and property; durable unless it says otherwise.
• Durable power of attorney for health care: Names an attorney in fact for health care decisions.
• Limited guardianship or conservatorship: The court gives the guardian or conservator only the powers that are needed.
• Third-party assistance: Help from others that meets the person's needs without a court appointment; the court must consider it.

Report abuse or exploitation

Iowa Department of Health and Human Services - Child or Dependent Adult Abuse Reporting (Adult Protective Services) · 1-800-362-2178

Call or text the Eldercare Locator to find your local adult protective services: 1-800-677-1116 · eldercare.acl.gov

Good to know in Iowa

• An Iowa financial power of attorney must be notarized, and your agent cannot be the notary.

  Law: Iowa Code 633B.105

• Signing a new general power of attorney in Iowa automatically revokes your earlier general powers of attorney signed in Iowa.

  Law: Iowa Code 633B.110(6)

• An agent loses authority if named in a founded dependent adult abuse report or convicted of dependent adult abuse against you.

  Law: Iowa Code 633B.110(2)

• Since July 1, 2026, if a person in a terminal condition has no living will or health care agent, Iowa law lets adult relatives or a close adult friend take part in decisions about life support when closer family is not available.

  Law: Iowa Code 144A.7, as amended by 2026 House File 2305

Changes in 2024–2026

2026 Iowa Acts, House File 2305 (approved May 2, 2026, eff. July 1, 2026) rewrote the no-declaration surrogate order in 144A.7 (adds adult relatives and a close adult friend, majority rules for children and siblings), added 144A.7B (resuscitation decisions without an out-of-hospital DNR order), replaced 'attending physician or physician assistant' with 'attending provider' (including advanced registered nurse practitioners) in chapters 144A and 144B, and let guardians make these decisions without court approval. 2026 Iowa Acts, Senate File 2198 (approved April 9, 2026, eff. July 1, 2026) amended 144B.6(2) on what limits a health care attorney in fact. 2024 Iowa Acts ch. 1043 §103 amended 633B.120 (agency name). No 2024-2026 changes to execution or revocation rules in chapters 633B, 144A or 144B.

Law: 633.635(6)

Questions about powers of attorney in Iowa