Iowa Code § 649.5
Demand for quitclaim — attorney fees
Redline — January 1, 2012 → current.View current text →
Current — January 1, 2019
As of January 1, 2012
If a party, twenty days or more before bringing suit to quiet a title to real estate, requests of the person holding an apparent adverse interest or right therein the execution of a quitclaim deed thereto, and also tenders to the person one dollar and twenty-five cents to cover the expense of the execution and delivery of the deed, and if the person refuses or neglects to comply, the filing of a disclaimer of interest or right shall not avoid the costs in an action afterwards brought, and the court may, in its discretion, if the plaintiff succeeds, assess, in addition to the ordinary costs of court, an attorney fee for plaintiff’s attorney, not exceeding twenty-five dollars if there is but a single tract not exceeding forty acres in extent, or a single lot in a city, involved, and forty dollars, if but a single tract exceeding forty acres and not more than eighty acres. In cases in which two or more tracts are included that may not be embraced in one description, or single tracts covering more than eighty acres, or two or more city lots, a reasonable fee may be assessed, not exceeding, proportionately, those provided for in this section.
1. Before bringing suit to quiet a title to real estate, a party may make a written request to the person holding an apparent adverse interest or right in the property asking that such person, and that person’s spouse if any, execute, have acknowledged, and deliver a quitclaim deed to the property to such requesting party.
2. The written request described in subsection 1 shall include a draft quitclaim deed to the property, the street address of the property, a brief explanation of how the apparent adverse interest or right arose, if known, and why the party believes the interest or right is not a valid claim against title, a copy of this section, a self-addressed stamped envelope, and fifty dollars to cover the expense of the execution, acknowledgment, and delivery of the deed.
3. If the person holding an apparent adverse interest or right in the property fails to comply within twenty days of receiving the written request, the filing of a disclaimer of interest or right shall not avoid the costs in an action afterwards brought, and the court may assess, in addition to the ordinary costs of court, a reasonable attorney fee for the requesting party’s attorney.
86 Acts, ch 1237, §37
86 Acts, ch 1237, §37; 2017 Acts, ch 147, §1
Official source: Iowa Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Iowa statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.