The clerk may:
 1. Administer oaths and take affirmations as provided in section 63A.1.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 602.8103

  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • clerk: means clerk of the court in which the action or proceeding is brought or is pending; and the words "clerk's office" mean the office of that clerk. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Collateral: means an individual who is related to another individual under the law of intestate succession of this state but who is not the other individual's ascendant or descendant. See Iowa Code 651.1
  • destroy: includes the transmission of the original records which are of general historical interest to any recognized historical society or association. See Iowa Code 602.8103
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • final disposition: means one year after dismissal of the case, after judgment or decree without appeal, or after procedendo or dismissal of appeal is filed in cases where appeal is taken. See Iowa Code 602.8103
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Magistrate: means a person appointed under article 6, part 4 to exercise judicial functions. See Iowa Code 602.1101
  • person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • purging: means the removal and destruction of documents in the court file which have no legal, administrative, or historical value. See Iowa Code 602.8103
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Iowa Code 651.1
  • Records: includes probate and other official public records, as well as records in the office of the county recorder. See Iowa Code 614.29
  • sentences imposed: includes all sentencing options pursuant to section 901. See Iowa Code 602.8103
  • State: includes any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority of the United States. See Iowa Code 633D.2
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. Reproduce original records of the court by any reasonably permanent legible means including, but not limited to, reproduction by photographing, photostating, microfilming, computer cards, and electronic digital format. The reproduction shall include proper indexing. The reproduced record has the same authenticity as the original record. The supreme court shall adopt rules to provide for continued evaluation of the accessibility of records stored or reproduced in electronic digital format.
 3. After the original record is reproduced and after approval of a majority of the judges of the district court by court order, destroy the original records including, but not limited to, dockets, journals, scrapbooks, files, and marriage license applications. The order shall state the specific records which are to be destroyed. An original court file shall not be destroyed until after the contents have been reproduced. As used in this subsection and subsection 4, “destroy” includes the transmission of the original records which are of general historical interest to any recognized historical society or association.
 4. Destroy the following original records without prior court order or reproduction except as otherwise provided in this subsection:

 a. Records including but not limited to journals, scrapbooks, and files, forty years after final disposition of the case. However, judgments, decrees, stipulations, records in criminal proceedings, probate records, and orders of court shall not be destroyed unless they have been reproduced as provided in subsection 2.
 b. Administrative records, after five years, including but not limited to warrants, subpoenas, clerks’ certificates, statements, praecipes, and depositions.
 c. Records, dockets, and court files of civil and criminal actions heard in the municipal court which were transferred to the clerk, other than juvenile and adoption proceedings, or heard in justice of the peace proceedings, after a period of twenty years from the date of filing of the actions.
 d. Original court files on dissolutions of marriage, one year after dismissal by the parties or under rule of civil procedure 1.943, Iowa court rules.
 e. Small claims files, one year after dismissal with or without prejudice.
 f. Uniform traffic citations in the magistrate court or traffic and scheduled violations office, one year after final disposition.
 g. Court reporters’ notes and certified transcripts of those notes in civil cases, ten years after final disposition of the case. For purposes of this section, “final disposition” means one year after dismissal of the case, after judgment or decree without appeal, or after procedendo or dismissal of appeal is filed in cases where appeal is taken.
 h. Court reporters’ notes and certified transcripts of those notes in criminal cases, ten years after dismissal of all charges, or ten years after the expiration of all sentences imposed or the date probation is granted, whichever later occurs. For purposes of this subsection “sentences imposed” includes all sentencing options pursuant to section 901.5.
 i. Court files, as provided by rules prescribed by the supreme court, ten years after final disposition in civil cases, or ten years after expiration of all sentences in criminal cases. For purposes of this paragraph, “purging” means the removal and destruction of documents in the court file which have no legal, administrative, or historical value. Purging shall be done without reproduction of the removed documents. For purposes of this paragraph, “civil cases” does not include juvenile, mental health, probate, or adoption proceedings.
 j. Court reporters’ notes and certified transcripts of those notes in mental health hearings under section 229.12 and substance abuse hearings under section 125.82, ninety days after the respondent has been discharged from involuntary custody.
 k. Complaints, trial informations, and uniform citations and complaints relating to parking violations under sections 321.236, 321.239, 321.358, 321.360, and 321.361, one year after final disposition.
 5. Invest money which is paid to the clerk to be paid to any other person in any of the following:

 a. A savings account of a supervised financial organization as defined in section 537.1301, subsection 45, except a credit union operating pursuant to chapter 533. The provisions of chapter 12C relating to the deposit and investment of public funds apply to the deposit and investment of the money except that a supervised financial organization other than a credit union may be designated as a depository and the money shall be available upon demand. The interest earnings shall be paid into the general fund of the state, except as otherwise provided by law.
 b. An open-end management investment company organized in trust form registered with the federal securities and exchange commission under the federal Investment Company Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. § 80a-1 et seq., and operated in accordance with 17 C.F.R. §270.2a-7, the portfolio of which is limited to obligations of the United States of America or agencies or instrumentalities of the United States of America and to repurchase agreements fully collateralized by obligations of the United States of America or an agency or instrumentality of the United States of America if the investment company takes delivery of the collateral either directly or through an authorized custodian.
 6. Establish and maintain a procedure to set off against amounts held by the clerk of the district court and payable to the person any debt which is in the form of a liquidated sum due, owing and payable to the clerk. The procedure shall meet all of the following conditions:

 a. Before setoff, the clerk shall provide written notice to the debtor of the clerk’s claim to all or a portion of the amount held by the clerk for the debtor and the clerk’s right to recover the amount of the claim through the setoff procedure, the opportunity to request in writing, that a jointly or commonly owned right to payment be divided among owners, and the opportunity to give written notice to the clerk of the district court of the person’s intent to contest the amount of the claim. The debtor must file a notice of intent to contest the claim within fifteen days after the mailing of the notice of claim by the clerk or, if the notice of claim was provided by the clerk at the time the debtor appeared in the clerk’s office to claim payment, within fifteen days of that date.
 b. Upon the request of the debtor or the owner of a jointly or commonly owned right to payment, the clerk of the district court shall divide the payment. Unless otherwise stated in a judgment or court order, any jointly or commonly owned right to payment is presumed to be owned in equal portions by joint or common owners.
 c. Upon timely filing of a notice of intent to contest the setoff, the matter shall be set for hearing before a judge or magistrate. The clerk shall notify the debtor in writing of the time and date of the hearing.
 d. If the claim is not contested or upon final determination of a contested claim authorizing a setoff, the clerk shall set off the debt against any amount the clerk is holding for payment to the debtor and pay any balance of the amount to the debtor. The amount set off shall be applied by the clerk of the district court according to the order of priority set out in section 602.8107, subsection 2.