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The Latest from the Iowa Academy Community

Stay up to date with announcements, member news, and developments in trust and estate law across Iowa. It’s your go-to source for what’s happening within—and around—our professional community.

Never the Oppressed Minority in Iowa

David M. Repp, Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen, P.C., Des Moines, IA The Iowa Supreme Court has championed the cause of minorities on more than one occasion: slavery in In Re the Matter of Ralph (1839), allowing women the right to practice law (Arabella Mansfield – 1869), gay marriage in Varnum v. Brien (2009).  Perhaps no one should be surprised by the Iowa […]

Rowan Atkinson Would Condemn this Mr. Bean

STATE OF IOWA V. RODNEY LEE BEAN AFFIRMS NEED FOR OVERSIGHT OF A REPRESENTATIVE UNDER POWER OF ATTORNEY SEPTEMBER 9, 2013 Margaret Van Houten, Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C. A recent criminal case, State of Iowa v. Rodney Lee Bean, Court of Appeals of Iowa, No. 3-494/11-1828 (September 5, 2013), shows us how elderly individuals can […]

An adult and two children walking through a corn maze on a sunny day, surrounded by tall dried corn stalks.

Will your children be too wealthy?

A couple I know used to spend their time on long car trips imagining they won the lottery.  They would seriously discuss the right amount of money to leave to their children and then decide where to leave the rest.  Once they had figured out how much to leave their children, they would pick charities […]

Elderly farmer sitting on a red tractor, looking out over a green field at sunset.

The IRS Might Be Your Next Farm Tenant

Everyone knows that farmland prices are at historic highs. The average per-acre price for Iowa farmland is $8300.  That average is figured on both pasture land and crop land, so the average price is much higher for tillable ground. It is also much higher forIowa’s best land.  Sales have been recorded for at least twice […]

Bright red barn with white trim standing in a green grassy field under a partly cloudy blue sky, surrounded by trees and hay bales.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm, His Children Had a Fight

WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO WILL, THERE MAY BE CHAOS  JANUARY 7, 2014  Nothing gives rise to a family fight as quickly as a family farm.  Even if none of the children farm, they will have different views about how to deal with their farm inheritance. If two or […]

Close-up of people working on financial documents with a calculator, laptop, and charts at a desk.

The 3.8% Medicare Tax: Applicability to Trusts and Estates.

Breanna Young, Nelson Young & Braland Introduction The Medicare tax on net investment income is imposed under section 1411 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 1411 was adopted on March 30, 2010 as part of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The section comprises the newly enacted Chapter 2A of the Code, […]

Will and Testament document on a desk with a fountain pen, reading glasses, and a wax seal stamp.

The Importance of Wills

WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO WILL, THERE MAY BE CHAOS When you go see a layer to prepare your Will, he or she will ask a series of important questions.  Your Will is the place to answer those questions.  If you don’t have a Will, there are no answers.  […]

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