Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Iowa

At a glance

Requirements one by one

The will and covered property

Iowa Code § 633.276 permits a will to refer to a written statement, letter, or list for tangible personal property that the will does not otherwise specifically dispose of. The will may refer to a writing that will exist at the testator's death, so the list need not exist when the will is executed.

The section expressly includes household goods, furnishings, furniture, personal effects, clothing, jewelry, books, works of art, ornaments, and automobiles. It excludes tangible personal property used in trade or business. It states no dollar ceiling and no additional categorical exclusion, but an item still must be tangible personal property and not already specifically disposed of by the will.

Date, handwriting or signature, and identification

The writing must be dated. It also must either be in the testator's handwriting or be signed by the testator, and it must describe the items and distributees with reasonable certainty. Section 633.276 states no witness, notarization, or signature-placement condition for this separate writing.

Timing and changes

The writing may be prepared before or after execution of the will. It may be a document with no significance apart from its effect on the will's dispositions. After preparing it, the testator may alter it, add to it, or change it “in any respect.”

The section does not prescribe a replacement method or state which of two conflicting writings controls. A claimed later version still must be dated, handwritten or signed, and reasonably certain about its items and distributees.

Effect in probate

When the statutory conditions are met, the personal representative “shall distribute” the described items to the distributees entitled to them. Property passing through the writing is treated as a specific bequest under the will.

Section 633.276 states no separate filing or delivery procedure and no savings rule for a writing that omits the date, handwriting or signature, or reasonably certain descriptions. An omission means the writing does not satisfy the conditions that trigger the section's distribution command; the section does not label every defect with a separate consequence.

What trips people up

Iowa requires a date even though some states using a similar device do not. Handwriting and signature are alternatives, but dating is required under either route.

The statute's examples include automobiles. That does not eliminate a separate title-transfer requirement or decide whether a particular vehicle belonged to the testator. Those questions fall outside the memorandum rule.

Common questions

May the list be created after the will is signed?

Yes. The will may refer to a writing that will exist at death, and the writing may be prepared before or after the will is executed.

Can the list cover business equipment?

Not when the tangible personal property is used in trade or business. Section 633.276 expressly excludes that property from this device.

Does a newer list automatically cancel an older one?

Section 633.276 permits changes but states no rule making the newest of multiple writings control a conflict. It is unsafe to add such a priority rule to the statute.

Does property on the list pass through the will?

Yes. The statute says property passing by the writing is considered property passing as a specific bequest under the will.

Statutes and sources

• Iowa Code § 633.276 — will reference, tangible-property scope and examples, business-property exclusion, date, handwriting-or-signature, reasonable-certainty, timing, changes, mandatory distribution, and treatment as a specific bequest. Iowa Legislature: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/2026/633.pdf (accessed 2026-08-11; official Iowa Code 2026 compilation, checked against the official 2026 Code & Acts Sections Amended report).