Estate Settlement · Probate
Most of what people call “the estate” never goes through probate.
Knowing which assets do is the first real question.
Probate is the court-supervised process for transferring assets a person owned in their own name alone at death, paying valid debts, and closing the estate. It is narrower than most families expect and slower than almost anyone wants. This page explains what goes through it, what does not, what the personal representative is actually obligated to do, and how long each step takes under Missouri law.
The threshold question
Probate versus non-probate: the distinction that decides everything.
Probate does not govern “everything the person owned.” It governs only assets that had no other way to transfer. An asset passes outside probate whenever a contract, a deed, or a form of ownership already tells it where to go. Missouri collects most of these mechanisms in Chapter 461, the Nonprobate Transfers Law of Missouri.
That is why two people with identical net worth can produce completely different estates — one closing in weeks, the other running eighteen months in court.
Goes through probate
Real estate titled in the decedent’s sole name. Bank and brokerage accounts with no beneficiary. Vehicles titled alone. Personal property, business interests, and any account where the named beneficiary died first or was never named.
Passes outside probate
Assets with a living named beneficiary, a survivorship co-owner, or a trust as owner. These transfer by operation of the contract or the deed, and the probate court has no role in them at all.
The common surprise
A will does not control non-probate assets. If the will leaves everything equally to three children but the largest account names only one, that account goes to the one named. The will never reaches it.
Transfer on death and payable on death. A TOD registration on a brokerage or vehicle title, and a POD designation on a bank account, pass directly to the named beneficiary on death. No court, no delay, no probate file. The beneficiary presents a death certificate and identification.
Beneficiary deeds. Missouri is unusually good here. Under RSMo § 461.025, a beneficiary deed transfers real estate effective on the owner’s death, provided the deed expressly states it does not take effect until death and is recorded with the recorder of deeds before the owner dies. No consideration and no delivery to the beneficiary are required, and the owner keeps full control and can revoke it at any time. One recorded page can keep a house out of probate entirely.
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. The surviving joint owner takes the whole by operation of law. Note that this is not the same as being an authorized signer, and adding a child as a joint owner during life has gift, creditor, and fairness consequences that frequently surprise families.
Beneficiary designations. Life insurance, retirement accounts, IRAs, annuities and employer plans pass by contract to the named beneficiary. These are the assets most often left stale after a divorce, a remarriage, or a death in the family.
Assets titled in a trust. A funded revocable trust avoids probate because the trust, not the decedent, owns the asset. An unfunded trust avoids nothing — a signed trust document with assets still titled personally produces a probate anyway.
Before you open anything, find out whether you need to.
A significant share of the families who call have no probate to open at all.
If everything passed by beneficiary designation, survivorship, or a funded trust, there may be nothing for the court to administer — and paying for an administration you do not need helps nobody. Bring the death certificate, the deed, and the account statements, and we will tell you which category each asset falls into.
The routes
Not every estate needs a full administration.
Missouri offers several procedures, and choosing the lightest one that fits is most of the value a lawyer adds at the beginning.
Small estate affidavit
Where the entire estate, less liens, debts and encumbrances, does not exceed $40,000. Available thirty days after death, with a bond and a filing fee, and published notice to creditors where the property exceeds $15,000. Weeks rather than months.
Refusal of letters
A surviving spouse or unmarried minor children may ask the court to refuse letters where the estate does not exceed the statutory allowances. No administration is opened at all.
Determination of heirship
Where the only real issue is who owns real estate after a death, this can settle title without a full administration — often used when nobody probated an estate years ago.
Independent administration
The personal representative acts largely without prior court approval for each step. Faster and cheaper. Available where the will authorizes it or the distributees consent, and the default preference in most solvent, uncontested estates.
Supervised administration
The court approves the significant steps. Slower and more expensive, and the right answer where beneficiaries are in conflict, the fiduciary’s judgment is questioned, or the estate is insolvent.
Ancillary administration
Where the decedent owned real estate in another state, a second proceeding is usually required there. Beneficiary deeds and trusts are the ordinary way to prevent this in advance.
The clock
The deadlines that actually bind.
Three of these are hard bars. Missing them does not create a problem to be argued about later — it ends the right permanently.
One year to present the will
Under RSMo § 473.050, a will must be presented for probate within one year of the date of death where no prior notice of letters has been given. A will not presented in time is, in the statute’s words, “forever barred from admission to probate in this state.” This is the deadline families miss most often, usually while waiting for grief to settle.
Thirty days to file the inventory
Within thirty days after letters are granted, unless the court extends it, the personal representative must file an inventory and appraisement of all the decedent’s property with encumbrances and liens — organised into the seven categories set out in RSMo § 473.233, from real property through to property held but not owned.
Six months for creditor claims
Under RSMo § 473.360, claims not filed within six months after the first published notice of letters — or within two months after actual notice was mailed to a known creditor, whichever gives that creditor longer — are “forever barred against the estate, the personal representative, the heirs, devisees and legatees.” This bar is the main reason a solvent estate still takes the better part of a year.
Six months to contest the will
RSMo § 473.083 gives an interested person six months from the probate or rejection of the will, or from first publication of notice of letters, whichever is later. After that the probate is binding. A contestant who does not serve the defendants within ninety days risks dismissal.
Distribution, then final settlement
After the claims period closes and taxes are addressed, the representative distributes and files a final settlement accounting for everything received and paid. Interested parties have an objection period before the court discharges the representative.
Realistically: nine to eighteen months
A straightforward solvent estate with a valid will and cooperative heirs generally runs nine to twelve months, driven by the six-month claims window. Real estate to sell, a business interest, a federal estate tax return, a will contest, or an out-of-state property can push it well past two years.
Fiduciary obligations
What the personal representative is actually on the hook for.
“Executor” is the everyday word; Missouri calls the role a personal representative. Whatever it is called, accepting it means accepting a fiduciary duty — the highest standard the law imposes on one person handling another’s property. The duties run to the estate, its creditors, and its beneficiaries, and personal liability for breach is real.
Loyalty
Act solely in the interest of the estate and its beneficiaries. No self-dealing, no buying estate assets on favourable terms, no preferring one beneficiary — including yourself — over another.
Impartiality
Where there are multiple beneficiaries, treat them even-handedly. Being a beneficiary yourself does not entitle you to a better outcome than the others.
Prudence and care
Manage estate assets as a prudent person would manage another’s property. Preserve, insure, secure, and where appropriate invest — reasonably, not adventurously.
Segregation of assets
Estate money goes into an estate account under the estate’s tax identification number. Never commingled with your own. This single failure produces more removals and surcharges than any other.
Accounting and records
Every receipt and disbursement, documented. The inventory, any annual settlement, and the final settlement all have to reconcile. If you cannot prove where a dollar went, it is presumed to be your problem.
Notice and disclosure
Notify heirs, devisees and known creditors as the statute requires. Keep beneficiaries reasonably informed. Most litigation between families begins with silence rather than with theft.
Paying in the right order
Claims are paid by statutory class, and administration costs and funeral expenses rank ahead of general creditors. Paying a sympathetic creditor early, out of order, can leave you personally liable to a higher-priority one.
Statutory allowances
A surviving spouse and minor children have rights that come before general creditors and before the will — exempt property, a family allowance, and a homestead allowance. These are not optional courtesies.
Taxes
The decedent’s final income tax return, estate income tax returns where the estate earns income, and a federal estate tax return where the estate is large enough. Personal liability can attach to distributing before taxes are handled.
One duty deserves separating out, because it is where well-meaning family members most often go wrong: do not distribute early. Handing a grieving sibling their share before the claims period closes feels humane and can leave you personally answerable for a creditor claim you no longer have the money to pay.
Rights that override the will
What a will cannot do in Missouri.
A will directs the probate estate, but several rights sit above it. A personal representative who administers the will as written, without checking these, can be surcharged for it.
The spousal elective share. Under RSMo § 474.160, a surviving spouse may elect to take against the will and receive one-half of the estate where the decedent left no lineal descendants, or one-third where there are lineal descendants — subject to claims, and in addition to exempt property and the statutory allowance. Missouri does not permit a spouse to be disinherited by a will alone.
Statutory allowances. Exempt property, a family allowance for maintenance during administration, and a homestead allowance for the surviving spouse and minor children. These are paid ahead of general creditors.
Creditors. Valid claims filed within the six-month window are paid before beneficiaries receive anything. A will cannot direct otherwise.
Non-probate assets. As above — the will simply does not reach them. This is worth repeating because it is the single most common misunderstanding in estate settlement.
Meet Derek Haake
He settled estates before he drafted them.
Most estate lawyers learn probate from the drafting side and meet the failures only through a client’s account of them. Derek spent three years as a Vice President and Estate Settlement Officer at Bank of America Private Bank — the country’s largest provider of managed personal trust services — administering estates for ultra-high-net-worth families as the institutional fiduciary.
That work was the whole of this page in practice: interpreting wills and trusts, tracking down unknown assets, transferring real estate to heirs, researching and transferring mineral rights and oil and gas leases, coordinating with tax professionals to file accurately and on time, managing outside vendors from law firms to movers, and communicating with beneficiaries who were often grieving and occasionally in conflict.
Having worked on both the planning and the settlement sides of estate work is what shapes the documents he drafts now — he has seen exactly what happens when they are unclear, outdated, or sloppily drafted.
Before that, as a partner at Howard Haake from 2014 to 2022, he handled probate administrations and litigated challenges to wills and trusts. Both halves of the matter: he drafts the instrument, and he is the one in court when someone attacks it.
Common questions
Missouri probate, answered.
Do we even have to open probate?
Often not, and it is the first thing to establish rather than the last. Probate is required only where the decedent owned something in their sole name with no beneficiary, no survivorship co-owner, and no trust holding it. If the house was held by beneficiary deed, the accounts were payable on death, the retirement plan named a living beneficiary, and the car was titled transfer on death, there may be nothing to administer.
Where there is a modest amount left over, Missouri offers lighter routes. Under RSMo § 473.097, a small estate affidavit is available where the entire estate less liens, debts and encumbrances does not exceed $40,000, beginning thirty days after death, with a bond and filing fee, and with published notice to creditors where the property exceeds $15,000.
Bring the death certificate, the deed to any real estate, and recent statements for each account showing whether a beneficiary is named. An hour of sorting assets into probate and non-probate columns answers the question, and frequently answers it in your favour.
What is the difference between an executor, an administrator, and a personal representative?
They describe the same job at different starting points. An executor is named in a will. An administrator is appointed where there is no will, or where the named executor cannot or will not serve. Missouri’s statutes use personal representative to cover both, and the court issues letters testamentary or letters of administration as the case may be.
Those letters are the operative document. Until they issue, no one has authority to sell a car, close an account, or sign for the estate, however clearly the will names them. Banks are correct to refuse someone holding only a will.
The duties are identical whichever label applies, and so is the personal exposure for getting them wrong.
Can I be held personally liable as personal representative?
Yes, and it is the part of the job most people accept without understanding. A fiduciary who breaches a duty can be surcharged — ordered to repay the estate from their own funds — removed, and in serious cases prosecuted.
The recurring failures are mundane rather than dramatic: commingling estate funds with personal funds; distributing to beneficiaries before the claims period closes and then lacking money for a valid claim; paying creditors out of statutory order; selling an asset to yourself or a relative below market; failing to insure or secure property that is then damaged or stolen; and simply failing to keep records adequate to account for what came in and went out.
Note that good intentions are not a defence to most of these. Paying a sibling early because they were struggling is a breach even though it was kind.
Two protections matter. Follow the process and document everything — a representative who can account cleanly is rarely in trouble. And where the estate is contentious or insolvent, supervised administration puts the court between you and the decisions, which is slower but considerably safer.
My spouse’s will leaves me almost nothing. Is that enforceable?
Generally no, not in Missouri. Under RSMo § 474.160 a surviving spouse may elect to take against the will and receive one-half of the estate where the decedent left no lineal descendants, or one-third where there are lineal descendants — subject to the payment of claims, and in addition to exempt property and the statutory allowance.
The election is in addition to, not instead of, the statutory allowances: exempt property, a family allowance for maintenance during administration, and a homestead allowance. Those are paid ahead of general creditors.
Two qualifications. The election reaches the probate estate, so a decedent who moved assets into non-probate form during life can reduce what it captures — which is its own area of dispute. And the election is a formal step with a deadline tied to the administration, not something that happens automatically. If you are a surviving spouse who has been left out, get advice quickly rather than after the estate is distributed.
How long does probate take, and why so long?
A straightforward solvent estate with a valid will and cooperative heirs generally runs nine to twelve months. The floor is set by the six-month creditor claims period under RSMo § 473.360, which runs from first publication of notice of letters. You cannot safely close before it expires, because claims filed inside it must be paid.
What extends it: real estate that has to be sold, a closely held business to value or wind down, a federal estate tax return, mineral interests or assets in another state requiring ancillary administration, a will contest, or beneficiaries in conflict. Any of these can push an estate past two years.
What shortens it: independent administration rather than supervised, an organised set of records, and a representative who responds promptly. The single biggest controllable variable is how quickly the family produces documents.
What does probate cost?
Court filing fees, publication costs, the bond premium where a bond is required, appraisal fees for assets of uncertain value, and the fees of the personal representative and the attorney. Missouri sets a statutory schedule for personal representative and attorney compensation based on the value of the personal property administered, with the court able to allow additional compensation for extraordinary services.
Two points people find useful. The percentage applies to the probate estate — not to assets that passed by beneficiary designation, survivorship or trust, which is one more reason the probate/non-probate sort matters financially and not just procedurally. And a family member serving as personal representative may waive their fee, which is often sensible where they are also a beneficiary, since a fee is taxable income and an inheritance generally is not.
We will tell you at the consultation which route your estate fits and what it should cost, before you engage anyone.
Someone died years ago and nothing was ever probated. Is it too late?
For the will, very likely yes. RSMo § 473.050 bars a will not presented within one year of death from admission to probate — “forever barred” is the statutory language. The estate then passes under the intestacy statutes as though there were no will, which frequently produces a distribution the decedent plainly did not intend.
That does not mean nothing can be done. Where the practical problem is clouded title to real estate — a house nobody can sell because it is still in a deceased parent’s name — a determination of heirship can establish who owns it without a full administration. Assets with named beneficiaries were never affected by the missed deadline and can still be claimed.
Bring what you have. These situations are more common than people think, usually because the family assumed a will alone transferred everything, and they are frequently fixable even when the will itself is not.
Do I need to probate to sell the house?
It depends entirely on how the house was titled at the moment of death. Held jointly with right of survivorship, it belongs to the survivor already. Covered by a recorded beneficiary deed under RSMo § 461.025, it belongs to the named grantee beneficiary. Titled in a funded trust, the trustee can sell it.
Titled in the decedent’s sole name with none of the above, a probate administration is generally required before clear title can be conveyed — and a title company will insist on it.
Pull the deed before you do anything else. It is a public record at the county recorder, it costs almost nothing to obtain, and it answers the most expensive question in the estate.
A creditor is demanding payment. Do I have to pay it?
Not personally, and not automatically. You are not liable for the decedent’s debts simply because you are a relative or the personal representative. Debts are paid from estate assets, in the order the statute sets, and only if properly presented.
A creditor who does not file within six months after first publication of notice of letters — or within two months after actual notice was mailed to them, whichever gives that creditor longer — is “forever barred against the estate, the personal representative, the heirs, devisees and legatees” under RSMo § 473.360.
So the answer to a collector on the telephone is not payment. It is: the estate has been opened, notice has been published, and you may file your claim. Paying a barred or out-of-order claim with estate money is a breach you may have to make good yourself.
Where the estate is insolvent — more claims than assets — the priority rules do real work and supervised administration is usually the right choice.
What if the family is fighting, or I think the will is wrong?
A will can be contested on grounds including lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, improper execution, or the existence of a later will. The deadline is firm: RSMo § 473.083 gives six months from the probate or rejection of the will, or from first publication of notice of letters, whichever is later, after which the probate is binding. A contestant must also serve the defendants diligently, with dismissal available if service is not completed within ninety days.
Separately from a contest, beneficiaries can petition to compel an accounting, to remove a personal representative who is not performing, or to surcharge one who has caused loss. Those remedies do not require attacking the will at all, and they are often the appropriate response to a fiduciary who has simply gone quiet.
Being candid about the economics: contests are expensive and most fail. The ones that succeed usually have documentary support — medical records around the signing, a suspicious change late in life, an isolated testator, a beneficiary who arranged the lawyer. We will tell you honestly which kind you have.
Is a trust really better than a will?
For avoiding probate, a funded trust works and a will does not — a will is the instrument that governs probate, not an alternative to it. A revocable trust also keeps the disposition private, where a probate file is public, and it handles incapacity during life in a way a will cannot.
The critical word is funded. A signed trust document with the house still titled personally and the accounts still in the decedent’s own name avoids nothing, and the family gets both a probate and the cost of the trust. Unfunded trusts are among the most common failures we see from the settlement side.
A trust is not always the answer either. For a modest estate, beneficiary deeds, transfer-on-death registrations and current beneficiary designations can achieve the same result at a fraction of the cost. What matters is that some deliberate mechanism covers every significant asset — not which brochure it came from.
What should I bring to the first meeting?
The death certificate, the original will if you have it, and the deed to any real estate. Then recent statements for every account, with attention to whether a beneficiary is named — that single detail sorts each asset into the probate or non-probate column.
Also useful: life insurance policies, retirement and IRA statements, vehicle titles, any trust documents, the last two years of tax returns, a list of known debts and any bills that have arrived, and the names and addresses of the spouse, children and anyone named in the will.
If you do not have all of it, come anyway. Locating assets is part of the work, and it is work we have done at institutional scale.
You will leave knowing whether a probate is required at all, which procedure fits, what it will cost, roughly how long it will take, and what you should and should not do in the meantime.
Ready to start?
Find out whether you need probate at all.
Twenty minutes, no commitment. Bring the death certificate, the deed, and the account statements. We will sort the assets into probate and non-probate, tell you which procedure fits, and what it should cost — including when the answer is that no administration is needed.
Schedule a Free Consultation(314) 732-1547
Email derek@haakelawgroup.com · Offices in Wildwood, MO & St. Louis, MO (by appointment)
This page is general information about Missouri law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines, procedures and allowances depend on the particular facts, the county, and the form each asset was held in. Statutory amounts and thresholds change. Do not rely on this page in place of advice about your own estate. Consult a licensed attorney about your situation.