Setting aside an Iowa default judgment: sixty days, and check whether you got the ten-day notice
Iowa procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Iowa has the shortest deadline in the country for setting aside a default judgment: sixty days.
It also has one of the strongest protections against getting defaulted in the first place. Before a default can be entered, the other side must give you ten days' written notice of its intention to apply for one, and must certify that it did.
If that notice was never given, the entry itself did not comply with the rule — and that is a better argument than excusable neglect.
Sixty days
Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.977:
On motion and for good cause shown, and upon such terms as the court prescribes, but not ex parte, the court may set aside a default or the judgment thereon, for mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect or unavoidable casualty. Such motion must be filed promptly after the discovery of the grounds thereof, but not more than 60 days after entry of the judgment. Its filing shall not affect the finality of the judgment or impair its operation.
| Standard | good cause shown, on the listed grounds |
| Grounds | mistake · inadvertence · surprise · excusable neglect · unavoidable casualty |
| Timing | promptly after discovering the grounds, and no more than 60 days after entry |
| Ex parte | not permitted |
| Effect on the judgment | none — it does not suspend enforcement |
Two timing requirements, not one. Sixty days is the outer limit, but the motion must also be filed promptly after the discovery of the grounds. A defendant who learned of the judgment on day 10 and files on day 55 has met the cap and may still fail the promptness test.
Unavoidable casualty is a ground several states omit, and it is the natural home for illness, accident, or a genuine emergency that kept you from responding.
After sixty days: the petition to vacate
Iowa's second route is a different proceeding, not a motion. Rule 1.1012:
Upon timely petition and notice under rule 1.1013 the court may correct, vacate or modify a final judgment or order, or grant a new trial on any of the following grounds:
(1) Mistake, neglect or omission of the clerk. (2) Irregularity or fraud practiced in obtaining it. (3) Erroneous proceedings against a minor or person of unsound mind, when such errors or condition of mind do not appear in the record.
And Rule 1.1013(1) sets out what it takes:
Petition. A petition for relief under rule 1.1012 requires payment of the filing fee set forth in Iowa Code section 602.8105(1)(a), or if made in small claims, the filing fee set forth in section 631.6(1)(a), and must be filed and served in the original action within one year after the entry of the judgment or order involved. It shall state the grounds for relief, and, if it seeks a new trial, show that they were not and could not have been discovered in time to proceed under rule 1.977 or 1.1004. If the pleadings in the original action did not allege a meritorious action or defense the petition shall do so. It shall be supported by affidavit as provided in rule 1.413(3).
| Rule 1.977 motion | Rule 1.1012 petition | |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 60 days from entry | one year from entry |
| Form | motion in the case | petition, filed and served in the original action |
| Filing fee | none | yes |
| Grounds | mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, unavoidable casualty | clerk error · irregularity or fraud · erroneous proceedings against a minor or person of unsound mind |
| Meritorious defense | not stated | required if not already pleaded |
| Affidavit | not stated | required |
| Service | motion practice | original notice and petition |
The petition route is real but narrow. Ordinary excusable neglect is not one of its grounds — that lives only in Rule 1.977, on the sixty-day clock. And the petition must show the grounds "were not and could not have been discovered in time to proceed under rule 1.977."
Rule 1.1013(3) adds that the court assigns the petition for trial "not less than 20 days after notice is served", that it "shall stand denied without answer", and that "No new claim shall be introduced."
Rule 1.1013(4) lets the court "try and determine the validity of the grounds to vacate or modify a judgment or order before trying the validity of the claim or defense" — so the threshold question can be decided first.
The ten-day notice
This is where Iowa default judgments most often fail. Rule 1.972(2):
Application. Requests for entry of default under rule 1.972 (1) shall be by written application to the clerk of the court in which the matter is pending. No default shall be entered unless the application contains a certification that written notice of intention to file the written application for default was given after the default occurred and at least ten days prior to the filing of the written application for default. A copy of the notice shall be attached to the written application for default. If the certification is filed, the clerk on request of the adverse party must enter the default of record without any order of court.
Four requirements, all checkable against the file:
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Written application to the clerk | not an oral request |
| Certification of notice | must be in the application |
| Notice given after the default occurred | not in advance |
| Notice given at least 10 days before the application | a real waiting period |
| A copy of the notice attached | to the application |
"No default shall be entered unless" — the certification is a precondition. Pull the application and look for it, and for the attached copy of the notice.
Rule 1.972(3) says where the notice must go:
a. To the party. A copy of the notice of intent to file written application for default shall be sent by ordinary mail to the last known address of the party claimed to be in default. No other notice to a party claimed to be in default is required.
b. Represented party. When a party claimed to be in default is known by the party requesting the entry of default to be represented by an attorney, whether or not that attorney has formally appeared, a copy of notice of intent to file written application for default shall be sent by ordinary mail to the attorney for the party claimed to be in default. This rule shall not be construed to create any obligation to undertake any affirmative effort to determine the existence or identity of counsel representing the party claimed to be in default.
Note (b): notice is owed to a known attorney "whether or not that attorney has formally appeared". If you had a lawyer corresponding with the other side before suit, and they knew it, the notice was owed to that lawyer too — though the rule imposes no duty to go looking for one.
What counts as a default in the first place
Iowa's definition is broader than most. Rule 1.971:
A party shall be in default whenever that party does any of the following:
(1) Fails to serve and, within a reasonable time thereafter, file a motion or answer as required in rule 1.303 or 1.304. (2) Withdraws a pleading without permission to replead. (3) Fails to be present for trial. (4) Fails to comply with any order of court. (5) Does any act which permits entry of default under any rule or statute.
Five routes into default, and only the first is the familiar failure to answer. Failing to appear for trial and failing to comply with any court order are defaults in Iowa in their own right.
That matters for which relief rule applies: a default under (1) or (2) is entered by the clerk, and everything else by the court. From Rule 1.972(1):
Entry. If a party not under legal disability or not a prisoner in a reformatory or penitentiary is in default under rule 1.971(1) or 1.971(2), the clerk shall enter that party's default in accordance with the procedures set forth in this rule without any order of court. All other defaults shall be entered by the court.
The judgment cannot exceed the petition
Rule 1.976:
The judgment may award any relief consistent with the petition and embraced in its issues; but unless the defaulting party has appeared, it cannot exceed what is demanded.
Compare the judgment against what the petition asked for. If you never appeared, anything beyond the demand is outside the rule.
If you have not been defaulted yet
Respond rather than relying on any of this — the windows afterwards are among the shortest anywhere. See responding to an Iowa complaint.
How Iowa compares
| Iowa | Nebraska | South Dakota | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deadline to set aside a default judgment | 60 days | 6 months | 1 year | 1 year |
| Second route, and its limit | petition to vacate, 1 year | equity, unlimited | — | independent action |
| Excusable neglect available in the second route | no | no | yes | yes |
| Notice of intent before default | 10 days, certified | — | — | none |
| Notice owed to an attorney who never appeared | yes, if known | — | — | no |
| Failure to appear at trial is a default | yes | — | — | no |
| Motion suspends the judgment | no | no | no | no |
A short checklist
- Find the entry date. Sixty days is the whole of Rule 1.977.
- File promptly after you discover the grounds — the rule imposes that separately from the sixty days.
- Pull the application for default and check for the certification and the attached notice.
- Count back ten days from the application to the notice. Less than ten, and the entry did not comply.
- Check whether a known attorney was notified, even one who never appeared.
- Consider unavoidable casualty, which is a ground in its own right.
- If more than sixty days have passed, look at Rule 1.1012 — but note excusable neglect is not one of its grounds, and it needs a fee, an affidavit and a meritorious defense.
- Compare the judgment to the petition. If you never appeared, it cannot exceed the demand.
- Ask for a stay separately. Filing does not affect the judgment's operation.
Where these rules live
- Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.971 — Default defined
- Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.972 — Procedure for entry of default
- Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.976 — Relief in other cases
- Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.977 — Setting aside default
- Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.1012 — Grounds for vacating or modifying judgment
- Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.1013 — Procedure for vacating or modifying judgment
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and what amounts to good cause or excusable neglect is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.