636-698-1331If you die without a will in Missouri, you are dying without written instructions that say who should receive your probate assets. Those written instructions are what most people mean when they say “a will.” If you die without one, Missouri law supplies a default plan for who receives your assets. That default plan plus the related court process is what most people are talking about when they refer to probate or probate court.
Now, when I talk to people about this topic, it seems they usually really want the following two general pieces of information.
- Who is going to receive my assets, or
- What needs to happen for those people to actually receive the assets
Who is going to receive my assets
The first thing to understand is that not every asset follows these default rules. Some assets pass automatically because of a beneficiary form or the way the asset is titled. But if an asset is a probate asset, meaning it is in your name alone with no automatic transfer setup, then Missouri’s default plan controls who receives it.
So, for probate assets, here are the common real life scenarios.
If you have a spouse and no children
If you are married and you die with no children, grandchildren, or other direct line below you, your spouse receives the entire intestate estate.
If you have a spouse and children with that spouse only
If you are married and you have children, and every one of your children is also your spouse’s child, then Missouri law gives your spouse the $20,000.00 (as of April 2026) in value of the intestate estate, plus one half of what is left after that. Your children share the other half of what is left after that.
Here is what that looks like with simple numbers. If the intestate estate is worth $100,000.00, your spouse receives $20,000.00. That leaves $80,000.00. Your spouse then receives 50% of that $80,000.00, which is $40,000.00. In total, your spouse receives $60,000.00. Your children share the remaining $40,000.00.
If you have a spouse and at least one child from a different relationship
If you are married and you have at least one child who is not also your spouse’s child, Missouri law changes the spouse’s share. In that situation, your spouse receives one half of the intestate estate. Your children share the other half.
This is the blended family situation that surprises people the most. A lot of people assume the surviving spouse automatically receives everything. Sometimes that is true. In this situation, it is not.
If you do not have a spouse and you have children
If you are not married when you die and you have children, your children receive the intestate estate. If a child is not living, that child’s children can generally take that child’s share.
If you do not have a spouse and you do not have children
If you are not married when you die and you do not have children, the next layer is your parents, brothers, and sisters, or their children, in equal parts. If there is nobody in that group, Missouri law keeps moving outward to more remote relatives, but collateral relatives have to be within the ninth degree of kinship to inherit.
What needs to happen for those people to actually receive the assets
Even if the inheritance rule is clear, someone still has to have legal authority to deal with probate assets. A bank is not going to hand over an account just because a family member says they are the spouse. A title company is not going to sell a house just because everyone agrees on who should get it. Most of the time, paperwork and court authority are required.
That is the job of the probate process. In many cases, someone applies to the probate court to be appointed as the personal representative of the estate. Once appointed, the personal representative has legal authority to do the practical work that has to be done.
In most cases, that work looks like this.
- Identify and gather the probate assets
- Deal with valid debts and expenses
- Distribute what is left to the people who inherit under Missouri’s default plan
One more point that matters in real life
These intestate rules mainly control probate assets. A lot of major assets pass automatically based on beneficiary designations or title, like many retirement accounts and life insurance policies. When an asset passes that way, the beneficiary form or the title controls where it goes, even if the intestate rules would have sent the asset somewhere else.
General information only. Not legal advice. The right answer depends on the specific assets, how they are titled, and the family structure.
If you want help getting this set up correctly and live my office in Chesterfield, Missouri, please feel free to schedule a consultation below.
