1. An action based upon a claim arising or existing prior to January 1, 1980, shall not be maintained, either at law or in equity, in any court to recover real estate in this state or to recover or establish any interest in or claim to real estate, legal or equitable, against the holder of the record title to the real estate in possession, when the holder of the record title and the holder’s immediate or remote grantors are shown by the record to have held chain of title to the real estate, since January 1, 1980, unless the claimant in person, or by the claimant’s attorney or agent, or if the claimant is a minor or under legal disability, by the claimant’s guardian, trustee, or either parent, within one year from and after July 1, 1991, files in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county in which the real estate is situated, a statement in writing, which is duly acknowledged, definitely describing the real estate involved, the nature and extent of the right or interest claimed, and stating the facts upon which the claim is based.
2. For the purposes of this section, section 614.17A, and sections 614.18 through 614.20, a person who holds title to real estate by will or descent from a person who held the title of record to the real estate at the date of that person’s death or who holds title by decree or order of a court, or under a tax deed, trustee’s, referee’s, guardian’s, executor’s, administrator’s, receiver’s, assignee’s, master’s in chancery, or sheriff’s deed, holds chain of title the same as though holding by direct conveyance.
3. For the purposes of this section and section 614.17A, such possession of real estate may be shown of record by affidavits showing the possession, and when the affidavits have been\n\nTue Dec 09 21:59:36 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 614 (37, 0) §614.17, LIMITATIONS OF ACTIONS 10\n\nfiled and recorded, it is the duty of the recorder to index the applicable entries specified in sections 558.49 and 558.52 and to index the name of the owner in possession, as named in the affidavits, and in like manner, the affidavits may be filed and recorded where any action was barred on any claim by this section as in force prior to July 1, 1991. [C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §11024; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §614.17] 91 Acts, ch 183, §36; 2007 Acts, ch 101, §5; 2021 Acts, ch 80, §355 Referred to in §614.17A, 614.19, 614.20 \n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
33
cases (
3 in the last 5 years), 1947–2024 · leading case:
State v. Sorensen, 436 N.W.2d 358 (Iowa 1989).
State v. Sorensen, 436 N.W.2d 358 (Iowa 1989).
· cites it 45× “The principal issue is whether Iowa Code section 614.17 (1983), which bars claims to real estate predating 1970, applies to the state.”
Fencl v. City of Harpers Ferry, 620 N.W.2d 808 (Iowa 2000).
· cites it 14× “See Iowa Code § 614.17 (1999). 4 . Contrary to the city’s contentions, we have never applied the public trust doctrine to streets and alleys.”
Tesdell v. Hanes, 82 N.W.2d 119 (Iowa 1957).
· cites it 16× “The action involves the sufficiency and effectiveness of the provisions of section 614.17, 1954 Code, which statute pertains to the right of recovery of real estate by a claimant on a claim of title arising prior to 1940.”
Lakeside Boating & Bathing Inc. v. State, 344 N.W.2d 217 (Iowa 1984).
· cites it 16× “In its petition as amended, plaintiff sought to quiet title on theories of adverse possession, equitable estoppel, accretion, and record title under Iowa Code section 614.17 (1981). In its counterclaim the State sought to quiet title on the theory the land was part of the…”
Marksbury v. State, 322 N.W.2d 281 (Iowa 1982).
· cites it 10× “The plaintiffs sought declaratory rulings that the beach was dedicated to property owners only; that if dedicated to the general public it was never accepted; that they acquired the beach by prescription, abandonment, adverse possession, and estoppel; that any claims by the…”
Presbytery of Se. Iowa v. Harris, 226 N.W.2d 232 (Iowa 1975).
· cites it 8× “Certainly Tesdell, interpreting Iowa Code, § 614.17 (a statute of limitations) was relevant to the issue before the court.”
Lytle v. Guilliams, 41 N.W.2d 668 (Iowa 1950).
· cites it 6× “The principal contentions of defendants were: (1) That the interests of Cora Slinker and Myrtle Lytle were contingent and had lapsed on the death of each beneficiary before her legacy vested.”
Shearer v. Perry Cmty. Sch. Dist., 236 N.W.2d 688 (Iowa 1975).
· cites it 4× “24 (reversion of use restrictions on landpreservation) not only are the time sequences more reasonable, the obligation to take affirmative action to preserve the right is, in the case of a minor, placed squarely on his "guardian, trustee or either parent" (§ 614.”
Garrett v. Huster, 684 N.W.2d 250 (Iowa 2004).
· cites it 2× “Section 614.17 states that for purposes of section 614.”
Wichelman v. Messner, 83 N.W.2d 800 (Minn. 1957).
· cites it 2× “The Iowa Marketable Title Act (Iowa Code 1950, § 614.17) uses the phrase “record title” to describe the title benefited.”
Petersen v. Olson, 112 N.W.2d 874 (Iowa 1962).
· cites it 6× “Petersen, pursuant to the provisions of Section 614.17, Iowa Code Annotated making the following statement of my claim relative to the following real estate, situated in Cass County, Iowa to-wit: [detailed lengthy description] I purchased this real estate from the estate Of W.”
— Iowa Code § 614.17(1) — 2 cases
— Iowa Code § 614.17(2) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.