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Missouri Intestate Succession
Pillar GuideMissouri11 min read

Missouri Intestate Succession

Who inherits under Missouri intestate succession: the spouse takes all with no children, or $20,000 plus half the balance when all are the spouse's.

By Settled Editorial

When a Missouri resident dies without a will, RSMo chapter 474 decides who inherits. A surviving spouse takes the whole estate when there are no children. When every child is also the spouse's child, the spouse takes the first $20,000 plus half the balance. When a child is not the spouse's, the spouse takes half.

This guide answers one question: who gets what when there is no will. For how to open the estate, qualify to serve, and work through the deadlines, read the companion Missouri probate guide. This page maps the shares. That one maps the process. To see how these rules divide a specific estate, use the Missouri inheritance calculator and model who inherits what when there is no will. For the wider picture, start at Missouri probate help.

What Dying Without a Will Means in Missouri

Dying without a valid will is called dying intestate. When that happens, no document names the heirs, so Missouri statute does. RSMo 474.010 sets the rules of descent, and they run in a fixed order of family classes.

Intestate succession reaches only probate property, meaning assets that pass through the estate. Property with a named beneficiary, a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death tag, or joint ownership with survivorship passes outside the estate and skips these rules. A life insurance policy that names a person, or a bank account held jointly with survivorship, goes to that person no matter what the descent rules say. Missouri also lets an owner record a beneficiary deed on real estate, and land that passes that way never enters intestacy. Check the title and the beneficiary form on each asset before you apply anything below. To see which assets skip the estate, read how to avoid probate in Missouri.

When the Surviving Spouse Inherits Everything

RSMo 474.010(1) gives the surviving spouse the entire intestate estate when the decedent left no surviving issue. Issue means descendants, so children, grandchildren, and the lines below them all count. With no children and no more distant descendants, the spouse takes everything that passes through the estate.

So if a married person dies without a will and without children, the surviving spouse inherits the whole intestate estate. Nothing passes to the decedent's parents or siblings while the spouse is alive.

When Every Child Is Also the Spouse's Child

When the decedent left issue and every one of them is also the surviving spouse's issue, the spouse still comes first, but not for the entire estate. Under RSMo 474.010(1), the spouse takes the first $20,000 in value of the intestate estate, plus one-half of the balance. The decedent's children and their descendants divide the other half.

Take a couple with two children together and no children from any other relationship. If one spouse dies without a will, the surviving spouse receives the first $20,000 of the estate and half of what remains. The two children split the remaining half between them. The $20,000 comes off the top before the halves are figured, so the spouse's share is always larger than a straight one-half in this situation.

When a Child Is Not the Spouse's Child

The $20,000 preference disappears when the decedent left at least one child who is not the surviving spouse's child, such as a child from an earlier relationship. Under RSMo 474.010(1), the spouse then takes one-half of the intestate estate, with no $20,000 added on top. The decedent's children and their descendants divide the other half.

Take a decedent survived by a spouse, one child of that marriage, and one child from a prior relationship. Because not every child is the spouse's child, the spouse takes one-half. The two children divide the other half equally, each taking one-quarter of the estate. A surviving spouse can also claim protections that sit apart from the intestate share, which the Missouri surviving spouse rights guide works through.

Family situationSurviving spouse receives
No surviving children or other descendantsThe entire intestate estate
Every child is also the spouse's childThe first $20,000 plus one-half of the balance
At least one child is not the spouse's childOne-half of the intestate estate, with no $20,000 preference

(Source: RSMo 474.010(1).)

When There Is No Surviving Spouse

Any part of the estate that does not pass to a spouse, or the whole estate when there is no spouse, moves down the classes in RSMo 474.010(2). Each class must be empty before the next one inherits.

  1. Children and their descendants. The decedent's children, or the descendants of a child who died first, take the whole share in equal parts.
  2. Parents, brothers, and sisters together. With no children or their descendants, the estate passes in equal parts to the decedent's father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and to the descendants of a brother or sister who died first. Missouri places a surviving parent and the decedent's siblings in one class, so they share alike rather than the parents taking ahead of the siblings.
  3. Grandparents, uncles, and aunts. With none of the above, the estate passes in equal parts to the grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, and aunts, and their descendants.
  4. More distant ancestors and their descendants. With none of the above, the estate passes to the great-grandparents and their descendants, and on to the nearest lineal ancestors and their children in equal parts.

Missouri caps how far the search runs. A collateral relative, meaning a relative who is neither an ancestor nor a descendant, cannot inherit unless related to the decedent within the ninth degree. The degree is counted under the civil-law method, up from the decedent to the nearest common ancestor and back down to the relative.

How a Deceased Heir's Descendants Take a Share

Missouri divides each class in equal parts among its living members. When a member who would have inherited died before the decedent but left descendants, those descendants step into that member's place and split the single share the member would have taken. The statute states this with the phrase "or their descendants, in equal parts" in RSMo 474.010(2).

Say a decedent with no spouse had three children, and one of them died first, leaving two children of their own. The estate divides into three equal shares. The two surviving children each take one-third. The share of the child who died passes to that child's two children, who split it, so each grandchild takes one-sixth. They do not each take a full one-third. They divide the one branch their parent would have received.

Half-Blood Relatives Take Half

When the heirs are collateral relatives, such as brothers, sisters, aunts, or uncles, the half blood changes the math. A half-blood relative shares only one parent with the decedent, such as a half-sibling. Under RSMo 474.040, when part of the collateral kin are of the whole blood and part are of the half blood, those of the half blood inherit only half as much as those of the whole blood. If every collateral relative is of the half blood, they take full portions instead, and any surviving ancestor in that class takes a double portion. This rule reaches collateral kin. It does not cut a surviving spouse's or a child's share.

So if a decedent with no spouse, no children, and no parents is survived by one whole-blood sibling and one half-blood sibling, the whole-blood sibling takes twice the share of the half-blood sibling. The estate splits into three parts: two parts to the whole-blood sibling and one part to the half-blood sibling.

Posthumous Children Still Inherit

RSMo 474.050 protects a child or descendant conceived before the decedent's death but born afterward. That child inherits as if born during the decedent's lifetime. For anyone other than the decedent's own children or descendants, the person must be born and legally able to take as an heir at the moment of death. Apart from the posthumous-child rule, Missouri fixes each family relationship as it stood on the date of death.

A Spouse's Protections Reach Past the Intestate Share

The intestate share is not the only thing a surviving spouse can claim. Missouri also lets a spouse reach back at gifts the decedent made to defeat marital rights. Under RSMo 474.150, a gift made in fraud of the marital rights of the surviving spouse can be treated, at the spouse's election, as a testamentary disposition, so it counts as if it were still part of the estate when the spouse's share is figured. A conveyance of real estate made without the written consent of the other spouse is presumed to be in fraud of marital rights when that spouse outlives the maker, unless the contrary is shown. A surviving spouse also has support allowances, exempt property, and, against a will, an elective share. The Missouri surviving spouse rights guide walks through each protection and how it stacks with or replaces the intestate share.

When No Heir Can Be Found

Missouri's rules of descent reach a wide circle of relatives, so an estate rarely runs out of heirs. When there is no surviving spouse and no kindred of the decedent entitled to inherit, RSMo 474.010(3) sends the estate to the kindred of a predeceased spouse, as if that spouse had outlived the decedent and then died intestate. Only when no one in any of these groups exists does the estate escheat to the state as provided by law. Dying without a will does not hand the estate to the state in the ordinary case. It sends the estate down the family tree first.

Read a Missouri Intestate Estate in Order

Use this sequence when you map who inherits:

  1. Separate probate property from assets that pass by beneficiary, survivorship, or beneficiary deed. Only probate property follows these rules.
  2. Apply the spouse's share under RSMo 474.010(1), and account for valid debts and claims against the estate.
  3. Send any part that does not pass to the spouse down the class order in RSMo 474.010(2).
  4. Split a deceased heir's branch among that heir's descendants, and adjust for half-blood collaterals and posthumous children.
  5. Confirm the family tree, the asset titles, and the county file with the Probate Division of the Circuit Court before anyone distributes property.

Whoever serves the estate still files through the Probate Division and follows the steps in the first steps after a death in Missouri guide. Making a valid will is the way to replace these defaults with your own plan, and the Missouri will requirements guide shows what the state asks for.

When to Bring in a Missouri Attorney

Some intestate estates are simple to map from the statute. Others need a licensed Missouri attorney, above all when:

  • a child from a prior relationship shifts the spouse's share
  • the $20,000 preference changes how much the spouse keeps
  • an heir died before the decedent and their branch raises a question about who steps in
  • half-blood and whole-blood relatives inherit together
  • an heir cannot be found, or the family tree is unclear
  • real estate must be sold to pay the estate's debts

This guide helps you organize the source-backed shares and the questions to ask. A licensed Missouri attorney can advise on rights, disputes, and signing decisions for a specific estate. This is general information about Missouri estates, not advice for your situation.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of July 17, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Missouri can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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