Iowa Code 633.336 – Damages for wrongful death
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Terms Used In Iowa Code 633.336
- Charges: includes costs of administration, funeral expenses, cost of monument, and federal estate taxes. See Iowa Code 633.3
- Child: includes an adopted child but does not include a grandchild or other more remote descendants, nor, except as provided in sections 633. See Iowa Code 633.3
- Court: means , when referring to a court of this state, the district court sitting in probate with jurisdiction of conservatorships and guardianships. See Iowa Code 633.701
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Debts: includes liabilities of the decedent which survive, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise. See Iowa Code 633.3
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Estate: means the real and personal property of either a decedent or a ward, and may also refer to the real and personal property of a trust described in section 633. See Iowa Code 633.3
- Surviving spouse: means the surviving wife or husband, as the case may be. See Iowa Code 633.3
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 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.