What Adult Guardianship Costs in Iowa

Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Iowa’s petition filing fee is a formula rather than a flat number, and the periodic accounting is annual and expressly non-waivable. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Iowa publishes no figure this page says so rather than printing an estimate. What drives the rest of the bill — lawyers, an investigation, a capacity evaluation — is on what guardianship costs.

What Iowa fixes by statute

What the proceeding is called here. Guardian (person) and conservator (property) of a protected person under the Iowa Probate Code, ch. 633, substantially rewritten by 2019 Acts ch. 57.

The filing fee

Ad valorem for conservatorships. ‘For other services performed in a CONSERVATORSHIP, the clerk shall charge and collect court costs equal to TWO-TENTHS OF ONE PERCENT (0.2%) of the gross value of the assets listed in the inventory MINUS THE VALUE OF THE LIFE INSURANCE.’ The same section fixes flat probate charges including $20.00 ‘For taking and approving a bond, or the sureties on a bond’, $10.00 for entering a rule or order, $10.00 for a certificate and seal and $50.00 for filing and indexing a transcript.

It is not one number. The statute states it as: Conservatorship: 0.2% of gross inventory assets less life insurance; plus $20 bond approval

Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Iowa Code s.633.31(2)(d), (4) (Iowa Code 2026).

The bond

Split by role. ‘When the guardian appointed for a person is NOT the conservator of the property of that person, NO BOND SHALL BE REQUIRED of the guardian, unless the court for good cause finds it proper to require one’ – and the court may impose one later for good cause. ‘EVERY CONSERVATOR shall execute and file with the clerk a bond with sufficient surety or sureties except as provided in section 633.175’ (waiver of bond by court).

‘Costs of administration’ includes court costs, fiduciary’s fees, attorney fees, all appraisers’ fees, premiums on corporate surety bonds, statutory allowance for support of surviving spouse and children, cost of continuation of abstracts of title, recording fees, transfer fees, transfer taxes, agents’ fees allowed by order of court, interest expense, including but not limited to interest payable on extension of federal estate tax, and all other fees and expenses allowed by order of court in connection with the administration of the estate.

Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Iowa Code s.633.174(1)-(2); ss.633.170, 633.175-633.177.

Who pays the premium. A surety bond carries a recurring premium, and it is usually the largest ongoing cost of a guardianship of the estate. Iowa is one of the few jurisdictions whose own text answers who bears it.

‘Costs of administration’ includes court costs, fiduciary’s fees, attorney fees, all appraisers’ fees, premiums on corporate surety bonds, statutory allowance for support of surviving spouse and children, cost of continuation of abstracts of title, recording fees, transfer fees, transfer taxes, agents’ fees allowed by order of court, interest expense, including but not limited to interest payable on extension of federal estate tax, and all other fees and expenses allowed by order of court in connection with the administration of the estate.

That is a rule about who pays, not a published price. No authority publishes what a bond actually costs, because a surety prices it against the estate.

Guardian ad litem and attorney fees

‘If the respondent is an adult and IS NOT THE PETITIONER, the respondent is entitled to representation by an attorney. UPON THE FILING OF THE PETITION, THE COURT SHALL APPOINT AN ATTORNEY to represent the respondent, set a hearing on the petition, and provide for notice of the appointment of counsel and the date for hearing.’ If the respondent is the petitioner, or is an adult under a standby petition, the court determines – with or without notice – whether the respondent is entitled to representation, and appoints if so.

Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Iowa Code s.633.561(1)(a)-(b).

How often you have to account

Annual and expressly non-waivable. Do not carry that assumption across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately, several are biennial or triennial, and your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum. The document that governs you is your order.

Annual and expressly non-waivable. A guardian ‘shall file with the court the following verified reports WHICH SHALL NOT BE WAIVED BY THE COURT’: an initial care plan within 60 days of appointment, and ‘AN ANNUAL REPORT, FILED WITHIN SIXTY DAYS OF THE CLOSE OF THE REPORTING PERIOD, unless the court otherwise orders on good cause shown’, covering living arrangements, sources of payment, health/education/vocational services, social participation, family contact and the guardian’s visits. A conservator files a verified initial financial management plan within 90 days of appointment – also ‘not be waived by the court’ – including a proposed budget for the next annual reporting period (s.633.670(1)), with reporting and accounting requirements in s.633.671. The clerk must notify delinquent fiduciaries each June 1 and December 1 and report them to the presiding judge each August 1 and February 1, with removal exposure under s.633.65.

Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Iowa Code ss.633.669(1)(b)-(c), 633.670(1), 633.671, 633.32(1)-(2).

What an accounting has to contain, and the duties that come with it, are on the guardian accounting duties page.

What this page does not tell you

All four items this page set out to establish were read at primary and are stated above with their cites. What is missing everywhere, in every state, is a price: what an attorney charges to bring an uncontested petition, what a court-ordered capacity evaluation or investigation costs, and what a surety charges for the bond. None of it is published by any authority, and this page does not estimate it.

Where this fits

The filing fee is the smallest part of what a guardianship costs, and the national page sets out the costs that are larger and are not published anywhere. If nobody has been appointed yet, the comparison that actually matters is against the document that avoids this proceeding entirely — guardianship against a power of attorney.

Sources

General consumer information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Guardianship and conservatorship are governed by STATE law and differ materially between states; every figure here is quoted from the cited source as read on the date shown and changes without notice. Read as of August 14, 2026.