Probate Costs in Missouri

Missouri is one of the few states, alongside California, where attorney and executor fees for probate are set by a statutory percentage schedule rather than negotiated hourly rates. That schedule applies to both the attorney and the personal representative, which means a typical Missouri estate pays it twice.

How Much Does Probate Cost in Missouri?

Missouri Revised Statutes section 473.153 sets a sliding-scale minimum fee: 5% of the first $5,000 of the estate, 4% of the next $20,000, 3% of the next $75,000, 2.75% of the next $300,000, 2.5% of the next $600,000, and 2% of anything above $1 million. The same schedule applies separately to the personal representative’s compensation, so a family typically pays the calculated amount twice — once to the attorney, once to the executor.

Estate Value	Attorney Fee (statutory minimum)	PR Fee (statutory minimum)	Combined Statutory Fees
$300,000	$8,800	$8,800	$17,600
$500,000	$14,050	$14,050	$28,100
$1,000,000	$26,550	$26,550	$53,100

Math basis: 5% of $5,000 ($250) + 4% of $20,000 ($800) + 3% of $75,000 ($2,250) = $3,300 through the first $100,000. For $300,000, add 2.75% of the remaining $200,000 ($5,500) for a total of $8,800. For $500,000, add the full 2.75% bracket ($8,250 on $300,000) plus 2.5% of the remaining $100,000 ($2,500), for $14,050. For $1,000,000, add the full 2.75% bracket ($8,250) plus the full 2.5% bracket on $600,000 ($15,000), for $26,550. These are statutory minimums for ordinary services — courts can approve more for extraordinary work like selling real estate or litigation, but generally cannot approve less.

Missouri’s Fee System

Unlike states that leave compensation to a “reasonable” standard, RSMo §473.153 makes the percentage schedule a floor for ordinary administration — the statute is explicit that if reasonable compensation would exceed the minimum, the court “shall allow such additional compensation as will make the compensation of the attorneys reasonable and adequate.” In practice, most straightforward estates end up paying close to the statutory minimum, since it already represents what Missouri considers baseline reasonable pay for administering an estate of that size.

A surviving spouse or personal representative can also negotiate a different fee arrangement with their attorney in some cases, but the personal representative’s own statutory compensation under the same schedule generally still applies unless waived.

Court and Filing Fees

Filing fees are set by circuit court and vary by county and case type. As examples, Jackson County charges roughly $190.50 to open a testate estate and $155.50 for an intestate estate, according to the 16th Circuit Court’s filing fee schedule, while St. Louis County’s full estate filing deposits run approximately $175-$225. Small estate affidavits carry separate, lower filing fees but many urban counties still require an attorney to file them. Add publication costs for the notice to creditors, and total court-related expenses commonly run a few hundred dollars beyond the statutory attorney and PR fees.

How Long Probate Takes in Missouri

Full administration in Missouri typically takes 6 to 12 months. RSMo §473.360 sets a six-month creditor claim period running from the date of first publication of the notice of letters, and claims not filed within that window (or within one year of death, whichever is shorter for late notice) are generally barred. That six-month floor is the main reason few Missouri estates close before the half-year mark, even when uncontested.

Small Estate Shortcuts

Missouri offers two main ways to skip full administration for smaller estates:

• Small estate affidavit (RSMo §473.097): Available when the entire estate, after subtracting liens and encumbrances, is worth $40,000 or less. At least 30 days must have passed since death, no application for letters can be pending, and the person filing the affidavit must post a bond.
• Refusal of letters (RSMo §473.090): A surviving spouse or certain heirs entitled to the whole estate can ask the court to formally refuse to issue letters, which is often a better fit than the small estate affidavit for a surviving spouse since it doesn’t carry the same debt-payment obligations.

Both routes bypass the §473.153 statutory percentage fees, since there’s no formal administration for the schedule to apply to.

Missouri Has No Estate or Inheritance Tax

Missouri’s state estate tax has been on the books but inactive since January 1, 2005, when the federal credit it was tied to was phased out under federal tax law, and the state has no separate inheritance tax. Missouri families owe no state-level death tax regardless of estate size. Only the federal estate tax can apply, and its exemption is high enough that it affects very few estates.

How to Reduce or Avoid Probate in Missouri

Because Missouri’s statutory fees apply twice — to the attorney and the personal representative — keeping assets out of probate has an outsized payoff here:

• Revocable living trust: Assets titled in a trust bypass both the attorney’s and the personal representative’s statutory fees entirely, since there’s no formal administration to bill against.
• Beneficiary deed: Missouri pioneered this tool — RSMo §461.025, in effect since 1989, was one of the first statutes in the country to let a property owner record a deed that transfers real estate directly to a named beneficiary at death, with no probate required and no rights for the beneficiary until the owner dies.
• Beneficiary designations: Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death bank accounts transfer automatically to named beneficiaries, bypassing the statutory fee schedule.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship: Property held this way passes to the surviving owner without probate, though it comes with its own tax and control tradeoffs.

Since Missouri’s statutory minimums apply to “the value of personal property administered,” locating and documenting assets efficiently doesn’t reduce the percentage fee itself, but disorganized records still add extraordinary-fee risk and delay to the process. Keeping account details, deeds, and digital access organized in one place, as with Eternal Vault’s document organization, helps an attorney or executor move through administration faster. For a broader state-by-state comparison, see the complete probate guide.

Costs vary by county and case; this is general information, not legal advice. Consult a licensed Missouri probate attorney for guidance on your specific situation.