Draw On Legal Missouri Probate Forms For Free

File at the Probate Court Fill out the affidavit, and file it along with the supporting documents at the probate court for the county in which the decedent resided. To find where this is, use the system's Court Locator. Note that some counties in Missouri require that the petition be filed by an attorney.

In Missouri, if a decedent's estate is small enough, the law allows you to skip probate altogether and use a simplified process. Otherwise, you'll need to go through a formal probate process in court, either "independent" or "supervised" depending on the circumstances.

Thus, if timely probate was not filed, the property will pass to the true heirs at law, not to the parties named in the Will. Additionally, when a family member dies, each individual asset must be examined to determine whether it automatically passed to another person upon death or whether it must be probated.

A will does not avoid the necessity of probate and must be ?probated? to have legal effect. You may title your property in other ways so that probate is not necessary.

In Missouri, you can make a living trust to avoid probate for virtually any asset you own?real estate, bank accounts, vehicles, and so on. You need to create a trust document (it's similar to a will), naming someone to take over as trustee after your death (called a successor trustee).

Children in Missouri Inheritance Law Intestate Succession: Spouses and ChildrenChildren, but no spouseChildren inherit everythingSpouse and children with that spouseSpouse gets first $20,000 of intestate estate value, plus 50% of the balance. Descendants inherit everything else3 more rows ?