Missouri timeline
Missouri probate timeline: the 30-day wait and when creditor claims close
The simplified route starts 30 days after death. Source: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.097.
Creditor-claim deadline in a full Missouri administration, counted from publication of the notice to creditors: Claims are barred unless filed in the probate division within six months after the date of the first published notice of letters testamentary or of administration (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.360.1). Source: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.360.1. The clocks running from actual notice to a known creditor and the date of death are set out below.
The 30-day wait is the earliest the simplified route can be used; the creditor deadline is when claims not yet presented are barred. They belong to different proceedings, so they are not added together. No overall duration is published here: court scheduling, accountings and disputes add time these clocks do not measure.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Sources rechecked October 3, 2026. This page last revised .
The one date this page can source
The small estate affidavit route requires 30 days to elapse from the date of death. This is a precondition: the affidavit or petition cannot be presented before it runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.
Source: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.097, Revised Statutes of Missouri, Small Estate Affidavit(Missouri Revisor of Statutes; Effective 28 Aug 2002). Rule taken from it: Small-estate limit: $40,000; Waiting period: 30 days; How the estate is valued: net of liens and encumbrances; Eligibility rules also name the $15,000 creditor-notice line.
The section’s own words
(1) The value of the entire estate, less liens, debt, and encumbrances, does not exceed forty thousand dollars; (2) Thirty days have elapsed since the death of the decedent
Creditor deadlines
- From publication of notice to creditors
- Claims are barred unless filed in the probate division within six months after the date of the first published notice of letters testamentary or of administration (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.360.1).
- From actual notice to a known creditor
- If notice was actually mailed to or served upon a creditor, that creditor has until two months after the date the notice was mailed or served, when that is later than the six-month publication period (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.360.1).
- Outer limit, running from death
- In any event, all claims are forever barred one year following the date of death, whether or not administration is commenced and whether or not the creditor received any notice (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.444.1).
How these combine. The ordinary bar is six months from first published notice of letters (§ 473.360.1). A creditor who is actually mailed or served notice gets the LATER of that six-month date or two months from the date the notice was sent. Independently of any administration or notice, § 473.444.1 forever bars every claim one year after death, so the one-year repose limit caps the publication and actual-notice periods whenever no letters are published within the year.
Source: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.360.1, Revised Statutes of Missouri, Limitations on Filing of Claims(Missouri Revisor of Statutes; Effective 23 May 1996). Rule taken from it: Creditor deadline after published notice: six months after first published notice of letters; Creditor deadline after actual notice: two months after actual notice, whichever later.
The section’s own words
which are not filed in the probate division of the circuit court within six months after the date of the first published notice of letters testamentary or of administration or, if notice was actually mailed to, or served upon, such creditor, within two months after the date such notice was mailed, or served, whichever later occurs
Source: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.444.1, Revised Statutes of Missouri, Absolute One-Year Claim Bar(Missouri Revisor of Statutes; Effective 13 Jul 1989). Rule taken from it: Outer limit on creditor claims: one year after death, regardless of notice or administration.
The section’s own words
shall become unenforceable and shall be forever barred against the estate, the personal representative, the heirs, devisees and legatees of the decedent one year following the date of the decedent's death, whether or not administration of the decedent's estate is had or commenced within such one-year period
Missouri runs two clocks at once and takes whichever ends later, then bars the claim outright
RSMo 473.360.1 sets the bar by reference to a pair of dates rather than one. A claim is barred unless it is filed in the probate division of the circuit court “within six months after the date of the first published notice of letters testamentary or of administration or, if notice was actually mailed to, or served upon, such creditor, within two months after the date such notice was mailed, or served, whichever later occurs.” A creditor who was served personally therefore gets the longer of the two windows, not the shorter.
The consequence is stated without qualification: claims not filed in time, or not paid by the personal representative within six months after the first published notice, “are forever barred against the estate, the personal representative, the heirs, devisees and legatees of the decedent.” The bar reaches the people who inherited, not only the estate itself.
The section carries its own exclusions, and the list is long enough to matter when reading the six-month figure. It does not apply to costs and expenses of administration, exempt property, family allowance, homestead allowance, claims of the United States, or claims of any taxing authority within the United States. It also provides that “no contingent claim based on any warranty made in connection with the conveyance of real estate is barred under this section.”
Two limits on how far the rule reaches are worth separating. The statute opens “Except as provided in section 473.370,” so that section governs before this one. And it states expressly that “this six-month period does not extend any other applicable limitation periods” — a claim already dead under an ordinary statute of limitations is not revived by being inside the probate window.
Subsection 2 adds a filing duty that is easy to overlook: unless written notice of actions instituted or revived under RSMo 473.363 or 473.367 is filed in the probate division within six months after the first published notice of letters, no recovery may be had in those actions.
Source: RSMo § 473.360 (limitations on filing of claims), eff. May 23, 1996, read from the enacting state’s own official publication on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Sources rechecked October 3, 2026: Missouri source list · how sources are checked · report a correction