Creating specialty probate courts

Description

House File 2483 instructs the Iowa Supreme Court to create three specialty probate courts in the State, each with a qualified full-time associate probate judge. One probate court is to be in the county with the largest population, one is to be in an eastern county, and one is to be in a western county. Each probate court has jurisdiction granted to the district court under the probate code and the trust code.

Background

Iowa Code chapter 633 allows a full-time associate probate judge to be appointed, but only one county is currently utilizing this option.

Under Iowa Code section 633.10, the jurisdiction of the district court under the probate code includes: estates of decedents and absentees, the construction of wills, conservatorships and guardianships, trusts and trustees, and actions for accounting against a beneficiary of a transfer on death security registration.

According to Iowa Code section 633A.6101, under the trust code, a district court sitting in probate has exclusive jurisdiction of proceedings concerning the internal affairs of a trust and of actions and proceedings to determine the existence of a trust, actions and proceedings by or against creditors or debtors of a trust, and other actions and proceedings involving a trust and third persons.

Assumptions

• The Supreme Court will establish two more probate courts in the State.
• The Judicial Branch reports that it will require the following full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to support two additional probate courts:
• 2.0 FTE positions for associate probate judges, at the cost of $191,000 per FTE position.
• 1.0 FTE position for a judicial specialist, at the cost of $49,000 per FTE position.
• 1.8 FTE positions for court reporters, at the cost of $72,000 per FTE position.
• 2.0 FTE positions for law clerks, at the cost of $63,000 per FTE position.
• It will take approximately three months to hire new positions and set up the new probate courts, so costs related to the FTE positions are calculated at 75.0% for the first year.

Fiscal Impact

House File 2483 is estimated to have a cost of $516,000 to the Judicial Branch in FY 2023 and a cost of $687,000 each fiscal year after, as shown in Table 1 below. The Judicial Branch is funded from the State General Fund.

Table 1 — Estimated Cost to Judicial Branch

Sources

• Judicial Branch
• Legislative Services Agency