654.4A Service of process — in rem relief.

In addition to any other form of service authorized by law, where in rem relief is the only relief requested in a foreclosure action or nonjudicial foreclosure under section 654.18 or chapter 655A against either a party or a person to be served with a notice pursuant to section 654.15B, all of the following shall apply:

1. If the person to be served is a judgment creditor, service may be made by certified mail, with proof of delivery, to the judgment creditor’s registered agent or to the judgment creditor at the judgment creditor’s principal place of business in the state where the business is organized, as indicated by the records in the office of the secretary of state, or to the judgment creditor at the last address indicated in the case in which the judgment was entered.

2. Upon affidavit that service cannot be made on a judgment creditor either pursuant to subsection 1 or by personal service in this state, service may be made by certified mail, with proof of delivery, on the judgment creditor’s attorney of record if that attorney is a practicing attorney in this state, along with a copy of this section, and a payment of ten dollars. The attorney shall forward the notice by ordinary mail to the judgment creditor’s last known address but the attorney shall have no further duties under this section with respect to the notice.

3. An attorney who agrees to accept service on behalf of a judgment creditor may charge a reasonable fee, not to exceed ten dollars, for accepting service.

4. If a person, other than a governmental taxing unit, is an interested person with respect to a decedent’s estate in probate, the person may be named generally as a person interested in the decedent’s estate and service of process shall be made by personal service or certified mail, along with proof of delivery, on the attorney for the personal representative. If the estate is probated in this state and a person has requested notice pursuant to section 633.42, the mortgagee shall also serve that person or the person’s attorney by ordinary mail at the address specified in the request for notice. A person so served may intervene as a named defendant as a matter of right.

5. If a defendant, other than a governmental taxing unit, is a person whose identity is not reasonably ascertainable, and the person has an interest in a decedent’s estate not probated in this state, such person may be named generally as a person with an interest in the decedent’s estate and service of process shall be made by publication unless the mortgagee has actual notice that the decedent’s estate is probated in another state. A person so served may intervene as a named defendant as a matter of right.

2009 Acts, ch 51, §5, 17; 2012 Acts, ch 1053, §2

Referred to in §614.21, 624.23, 654.18, 655A.4, 656.3