When a wrongful act produces death, damages recovered as a result of the wrongful act
shall be disposed of as personal property belonging to the estate of the deceased; however, if
the damages include damages for loss of services and support of a deceased spouse, parent,
or child, the damages shall be apportioned by the court among the surviving spouse, children,
and parents of the decedent in a manner as the court may deem equitable consistent with
the loss of services and support sustained by the surviving spouse, children, and parents
respectively. Any recovery by a parent for the death of a child shall be subordinate to the
recovery, if any, of the spouse or a child of the decedent. If the decedent leaves a spouse,
child, or parent, damages for wrongful death shall not be subject to debts and charges of
the decedent’s estate, except for amounts to be paid to the department of health and human
services for payments made for medical assistance pursuant to chapter 249A, paid on behalf
of the decedent from the time of the injury which gives rise to the decedent’s death up until
the date of the decedent’s death.
[R60, §4111; C73, §2526; C97, §3313; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §11920; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §635.9;
C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §633.336]
89 Acts, ch 111, §2; 2007 Acts, ch 132, §2, 3; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §1277
\n
633.337 through 633.341 Reserved.\n\n PART 2
TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATION
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Notes of Decisions
Cited in
31
cases (
3 in the last 5 years), 1967–2026 · leading case:
Madison v. Colby, 348 N.W.2d 202 (Iowa 1984).
Madison v. Colby, 348 N.W.2d 202 (Iowa 1984).
· cites it 24× “That recovery was to be distributed to the deprived spouse pursuant to section 633.336. In the parent-child relationship, rule 8 gave a parent the right to recover for loss of consortium, including services, for the period before and after the child's death.”
Audubon-Exira Ready Mix, Inc. v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R.R., 335 N.W.2d 148 (Iowa 1983).
· cites it 12× “Damages for the parent who is killed, recovered by an administrator, are to *152 be distributed by the trial court under section 633.336. When an injured parent recovers for the child the jury or finder of facts should make a separate finding, specially fixing the amount of any…”
Matter of Est. of Parsons, 272 N.W.2d 16 (Iowa 1978).
· cites it 26× “At that time § 633.336 of the 1973 Code provided: When a wrongful act produces death, damages recovered therefor shall be disposed of as personal property belonging to the estate of the deceased, but if the deceased leaves a spouse, child, or parent, it shall not be liable for…”
Wilson v. Iowa Power & Light Co., 280 N.W.2d 372 (Iowa 1979).
· cites it 14× “Plaintiff asserts that a 1976 amendment to section 633.336, The Code 1975, has changed the nature of the wrongful death action insofar as it includes a claim for loss of support and services to the decedent’s spouse and children.”
Denekas v. Shalala, 943 F. Supp. 1073 (S.D. Iowa 1996).
· cites it 8× “Iowa Code § 633.336 merely provides for determination of the estate’s “share of the pie” against which Medicare can claim reimbursement, and conversely, of the surviving children’s separate property interest in the wrongful death recovery.”
Varnum v. Brien, 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009).
“§ 633.336 (damages for wrongful death). The Government Accounting Office, as of 2005, had identified more than 1000 federal legal rights and responsibilities derived from marriage.”
Matter of Est. of Wagner, 507 N.W.2d 711 (Iowa Ct. App. 1993).
· cites it 8× “Iowa Code § 633.336 (Iowa 1987), amended by 1989 Iowa Acts ch.”
Est. of Dieleman v. Dep't of Revenue, 222 N.W.2d 459 (Iowa 1974).
· cites it 5× “Trial court held the wrongful death proceeds non-taxable on two grounds: 1) they were not property subject to tax under the provisions of chapter 450, The Code, and 2) they were exempt from taxation under § 633.336, The Code. Our finding the court was right on the first ground…”
In Re Est. of Johnson, 213 N.W.2d 536 (Iowa 1973).
· cites it 5× “The mother contends all of the wrongful death recovery must go into the estate by virtue of the plain language of § 633.336, The Code. “When a wrongful act produces death, damages recovered therefor shall be disposed of as personal property belonging to the estate of the…”
Matter of Est. of Gearhart, 584 N.W.2d 327 (Iowa 1998).
· cites it 4× “The district court reasoned that the settlement proceeds were personal property of the estate and therefore, distribution of the proceeds was governed by Iowa Code section 633.336 (1997). 1 Accordingly, it awarded the decedent’s adult children fifteen percent of the settlement…”
Bertrand v. Sioux City Grain Exch., 419 N.W.2d 402 (Iowa 1988).
· cites it 4× “A reasonable interpretation of this section would allow reduction of a dependent’s benefits only to the extent the recovered damages are available to the dependent.”
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.