5 Rules That Decide Who Inherits When a Parent Dies in Missouri Without a Will

If your brother died before your dad, your brother’s children get a share when your dad dies without a will.

It doesn’t matter how counterintuitive it seems.

Here are the rules that decide who inherits when a parent dies in Missouri without a will.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Probate rules and dollar amounts are subject to change, so confirm the current details with the probate division of your county’s circuit court.

1. Spouse and Children of Both Spouses

A parent who dies without a will doesn’t leave the whole estate to a surviving spouse when children are in the picture.

If every child is also the spouse’s child, the spouse takes the first $20,000 of the estate plus half of the balance.

The children split the rest in equal parts.

If you’re one of three children, you and your siblings each take a third of that rest, no matter who was born first.

The same split applies to a farm near Sedalia and a house in Kirkwood.

2. Spouse and Children From Another Relationship

Blended families run on a different formula when a parent dies without a will.

If even one of your parent’s children isn’t also the surviving spouse’s child, the spouse takes half of the estate and gets no $20,000 off the top.

Every child shares the other half in equal parts, including half-siblings from your parent’s other relationships.

Say your dad remarried and leaves a wife, you, and a half-sister from the second marriage.

His wife takes half.

You and your half-sister each take a quarter.

If you’re a child from the first marriage, this formula leaves you more than the first formula would.

3. A Child Who Dies First

If one of your parent’s children dies first and your parent leaves no will, that child’s kids still get a share.

Those kids take the share their parent would have received.

If your dad leaves no spouse, you, a sister and the two children of a brother who died years ago, the estate splits three ways.

On a $300,000 estate, that’s $100,000 for you, $100,000 for your sister, and $50,000 for each of your brother’s two children.

A living spouse doesn’t change this.

Your brother’s children still split his slice of the children’s share.

4. 120-Hour Survival Rule

An heir has to outlive a parent who dies without a will by 120 hours, or Missouri treats that heir as having died first.

That’s five days.

If your mom dies in Joplin and your brother, who has no children, dies two days later, he doesn’t make the 120 hours.

Under the 120-hour rule, he counts as having died first, so your mom’s estate goes to the other heirs.

If he had left children, they would take his place.

If nobody can tell who died first, Missouri treats the heir as not having outlived the parent by 120 hours.

Missouri skips the 120-hour rule only when applying it would send the estate to the state.

5. Adopted, Nonmarital and Posthumous Children

Missouri sets out who counts as a child when a parent dies without a will, and the answers cover adoption, birth outside marriage and late births.

If you were adopted, you count as your adopting parent's child, not your birth parents'.

A stepparent's adoption is the exception, and it leaves the child's tie to the birth parent intact.

A child born outside marriage is the mother's child.

The child also counts as the father's if the parents went through a marriage ceremony, even a void ceremony, or if a court established paternity before his death.

Paternity proven after his death can work too, but only with clear and convincing evidence.

If you were born after your parent died, you inherit the same way a child born earlier does.

Children of a marriage deemed null in law or ended by divorce count as legitimate.

Lifetime Gifts

A big gift from years ago doesn't automatically shrink your share when a parent dies without a will.

An advancement is a lifetime gift that comes off the heir's share of the estate.

A gift qualifies only if your parent declared it an advancement in a writing made at the time of the gift.

It also qualifies if the heir who received it acknowledged in writing that it was an advancement.

The advancement statute values the gift on the day the heir received it or the day your parent died, whichever comes first.

A parent who gives your brother $30,000 toward a house in Springfield and never writes it down hasn't made an advancement.

Your brother still takes a full share.

Homestead Allowance and Exempt Property

A surviving spouse or unmarried minor children can ask the court for a homestead allowance of up to $15,000 even when a parent dies without a will.

If you're the surviving spouse, you have to apply for it.

The court treats the allowance as waived when no one applies in time.

If there's no surviving spouse, the allowance goes to the unmarried minor children.

On a small estate, the allowance can't exceed half of the estate's value, not counting exempt property or the one-year support allowance.

Exempt property covers items such as clothing, household furnishings and one car or pickup, without regard to their value.

If your parent's spouse is alive, exempt property belongs to the spouse; otherwise it goes to the unmarried minor children.

The 120-hour survival rule applies to both of these set-asides too.

Property Outside the Estate

A parent who dies without a will can still pass a house to one person through a transfer on death deed, which Missouri's statute calls a beneficiary deed.

If your parent named you in the deed, the property passes to you at your parent's death.

A transfer on death deed only works if the owner executed and recorded it before dying.