Settling Small Estates (MO)
In Missouri, small estates can avoid probate through either a small estate affidavit approach or a determination of heirship. Regardless of estate size, probate is not required if an estate contains only assets exempt from probate.
Small Estate without Administration
If a Missouri estate is worth <$40,000, you can use the small estate process to settle an estate with minimal court involvement.
Requirements
To use the small estate process, the following conditions must be true:
- The net value of the estate is <$40K
- At least 30 days have passed since the death
- The will (if one exists) has been submitted to the court
- No petition has already been made to the court to officially appoint a personal representative, or such petition has been refused
In determining the net value of the estate, you should value assets as of the date of death, and subtract any debts. Do not include any assets that would not normally go through probate, such as community property with right of survivorship, assets with named beneficiaries (e.g., 401Ks, life insurance policies), and other standard probate exclusions.
Process
To use the small estate process:
- Submit to the probate court a small estate affidavit (see below)
- Obtain and have the court approve a small estate bond equal to the value of the estate's personal property (or ask the court to waive this requirement)
- If the estate is worth >$15K, the court will publish a notice to creditors
- Once the court certifies your affidavit, obtain possession of the property by presenting the affidavit to the current custodian of the property
- Obtain possession of the property by presenting the affidavit to the current custodian of the property (real estate cannot be transferred via small estate affidavit)
- Settle the estate in the normal way (pay debts, distribute remaining assets)
- To transfer real estate, file a copy of the certified affidavit in the county office of the recorder of deeds where the property is located
- To transfer title of a vehicle, you must also file Form DOR-108 with the Motor Vehicle Bureau in the Department of Revenue if no Transfer on Death beneficiary was assigned
Affidavit Form
Missouri does not provide a state-wide form for a small estate affidavit, but local courts often provide their own (see St. Charles County Small Estate Affidavit Form).
You can either contact your local court for their preferred form, use this standard MO Small Estate Affidavit (Form 556-D), adapt the St. Charles County form, or create your own.
If you do choose to create your own, it must:
- State that the above requirements have been met
- State that the bond has been filed or the requirement waived by the court
- State that all debts of the decedent have been or will be paid to the extent possible
- List the estate assets and values
- List the names and addresses of the current custodians of the assets
- List the name and address of everyone entitled to the assets being claimed, along with their relationship to the decedent
- Explain why those people are entitled to the assets (i.e., stated in the will, rules of intestate succession)
Determination of Heirship
If more than a year has passed with no probate administration, you can simplify the settlement process via a Determination of Heirship, under which a judge simply orders the property transferred appropriately.
Requirements
You can use Determination of Heirship if:
- More than one year has passed since the death
- No will has been submitted to probate, and no probate administration has begun
The one-year deadline is key, since the MO statute of limitations on unsecured debts is one year, and thus estate settlement can be greatly simplified after one year because no attention needs to be paid to unsecured estate debts. Of course, secured debts (such as mortgages) do still have to be honored.
Process
To settle an estate via Determination of Heirship:
- Submit to the court a Petition for Determination of Heirship (see below) and schedule a hearing
- Publish notice of the hearing in a local newspaper once per week for 4 successive weeks
- Directly notify everyone named in the petition
- If everything goes well, at the hearing the court will give you an order transferring the property as specified
- To transfer real estate, file a copy of the order in the county office of the recorder of deeds where the property is located
- To transfer title of a vehicle, you must also file Form DOR-108 with Motor Vehicle Bureau in the Department of Revenue if no Transfer on Death beneficiary was assigned
Petition
Missouri does not provide a state-wide form for the required petition , but local courts often provide their own (see Boone County Petition for Determination of Heirship Form).
You can either contact your local court (see below) for their preferred form, adapt the Boone County form, or create your own.
If you do choose to create your own, it must:
- Include the decedent's name, address, age, and date of death
- State that the above requirements have been met
- List the name and address of all heirs at the time of death
- List the name and address of all heirs or descendants of heirs who are attempting to claim estate property
- List the estate assets and values
Intestate Inheritance
If there is no will, Missouri law defines who should inherit from the estate in MO Rev Stat § 474.010.
Estate Settlement Considerations
Before paying any debts or making any distributions, be sure to account for any Family Entitlements in MO, which typically have priority over everything except expenses of the last illness, funeral charges, and any estate administrations expenses.
Even if the estate does not go through probate, you may still be entitled to MO Executor Compensation, and this compensation also has priority over most estate debts.
Estate debts have priority over most distributions in turn, so before distributing assets you should resolve any estate debts. If the estate makes any distributions beyond amounts set aside for family entitlements, unpaid creditors have the right to sue the recipients for repayment using those excess distributions. Consequently, even if the settlement process does not require you to publish a Notice to Creditors, you may want to follow MO probate rules for finding estate debts, since doing so may limit the time creditors have to pursue repayment.
If estate solvency is uncertain, an executor should consider going through official probate for the increased creditor protection it offers. Alternately, such uncertainty can sometimes persuade creditors to forgive a portion of debts, since they will want to avoid legal expenses as well, and may prefer to get something rather than nothing.
See also Making Distributions.
Court
In Missouri, the probate division of the local Circuit Court handles wills and estate matters.
Additional Information
If your estate doesn't qualify for a small estate approach, or you're simply interested in exploring standard probate, take a look at Probate in MO.
And since probate is just the court-supervised subset of winding up a person's affairs after death, you'll probably want to check out our Complete Guide to Estate Settlement in MO.
Finally, in case you're interested, details about handling small estates in other states can be found here: