Die Without a Will in Missouri and Your Spouse Does Not Get Everything: What a Will or Trust Costs

Revised October 21, 2026

Die married in Missouri without a will, and your spouse does not inherit everything. Not the whole house. Not the whole checking account. The kitchen goes quiet after the funeral luncheon: casseroles stacked in foil by the sink, the refrigerator humming, his reading glasses still folded on the counter next to a folder of bank statements nobody wants to open. The house still smells like him. And under Missouri law, part of it now belongs to the kids.

Here is the rule nobody tells you at the funeral home. When there are children and all of them are also the surviving spouse’s children, Missouri’s intestacy law gives the spouse the first $20,000 of the estate plus one-half of the balance, and the children split the rest in equal parts. If even one child is from an earlier relationship, the spouse’s share is one-half of the estate. On a $220,000 estate with shared children, that comes to $120,000 for the spouse and $100,000 for the kids, and some of the kids’ share may be sitting inside the house their mother still sleeps in.

Then comes the bill nobody quoted you. Without other planning, that property moves through probate, and the lawyer’s fee comes with a floor written into state law. Section 473.153 of the Missouri statutes sets the attorney’s minimum compensation as a percentage of the personal property administered and the proceeds of real estate sold under the court’s order: 5 percent of the first $5,000, sliding down to 2 percent on the largest estates. The personal representative is allowed a minimum on the same schedule. Say the probate base is $300,000 in accounts and sale proceeds: by that schedule, the floor works out to $8,800 for the attorney and another $8,800 for the personal representative.

The fix for the house is one recorded page. A Missouri beneficiary deed, part of what the statutes call the Nonprobate Transfers Law of Missouri, names who gets the house at your death, as long as it is filed with the recorder of deeds before you die. For a city house, the Recorder of Deeds takes land records at City Hall, Room 126, 1200 Market St., (314) 622-3260, and a standard deed records for $25 for the first page plus $5 for each additional page. Set $25 next to $8,800 and you can feel the floor shift under the whole conversation.

For the rest of the plan, here is a price tag you can actually read. TuckerAllen, a St. Louis-area estate planning firm that posts its prices, lists a will package at $1,649 for an individual and a trust package at $2,795. If a death has already happened, the estate goes to the probate division where the person lived: in St. Louis County, the 5th Floor of the Courts Building at 105 South Central in Clayton (general information 314-615-2629); in the city, the 10th floor of the Civil Courts Building at 10 North Tucker Boulevard (314-622-4238). Estates of $40,000 or less after debts may qualify for a small estate affidavit instead. This is cost information, not legal advice.

Is it cheaper to do a will or a trust?

A will is cheaper to write and can cost more later. One St. Louis-area firm, TuckerAllen, lists its will package at $1,649 for an individual and its trust package at $2,795. A will still goes through probate, where Missouri law sets a minimum attorney fee as a percentage of the estate.

Read what’s in each box before you compare the numbers, ideally at a table with the quotes spread out flat and a pen in your hand, because the names sound alike and the contents don’t. TuckerAllen’s will package includes a last will and testament, a healthcare directive (living will), a medical power of attorney, a HIPAA release, a financial power of attorney and a deed. Couples pay $2,499. The trust package adds a revocable living trust and a pour-over will to the same health and financial documents. Its list ends with “Trust Funding Instructions,” and couples pay $3,995. Its power of attorney package on its own is $650 for an individual, and the firm lists a one-hour appointment as free.

Notice those last three words of the trust list. Instructions. A trust only skips probate for what you actually move into it, and the deed signing and the trips to the bank are often yours to finish. When one office quotes you a number and another quotes you twice that, ask each one for its document list in writing and ask, out loud, who does the funding. That one question explains most of the gap between two quotes that sound like the same thing.

Do I need a lawyer for a will in Missouri, though? Start with what the statute itself asks for. Missouri’s will law asks for a will in writing, signed by you or by someone at your direction and in your presence, and attested by two or more competent witnesses who sign in your presence. What the fee buys is the drafting judgment and a signing done right, which you only notice the day someone challenges the paper.

What Missouri’s probate fee schedule charges your family

Here is the full ladder from section 473.153. On the first $5,000, 5 percent. On the next $20,000, 4 percent. On the next $75,000, 3 percent. On the next $300,000, 2.75 percent. On the next $600,000, 2.5 percent. On everything over $1,000,000, 2 percent. It is a floor, not a cap: when reasonable compensation runs higher, the statute tells the court to allow the additional amount.

Do the math once and it stops being abstract. On $100,000 in the probate base, the attorney’s minimum is $250 plus $800 plus $2,250, or $3,300. The personal representative is allowed a minimum on the same schedule, though a family member serving in that role may choose to waive it. That’s why the trust pitch exists, and on those numbers it isn’t a crazy pitch.

But read the base, because this is where marketing gets sloppy. The percentages apply to the personal property administered and the proceeds of real estate sold under the probate court’s order. Property that never enters probate isn’t in that number at all. And in Missouri, keeping the house out of probate can cost a lot less than a trust.

Random, but: Bridgeton’s dinner options are worth a look.

The deed that keeps a Missouri house out of court

It’s called a beneficiary deed, and the statute covering it is titled “Deeds effective on death of owner.” A deed that expressly states it is not to take effect until the death of the owner transfers the property to the beneficiary you named, effective at your death, as long as it is signed and filed with the recorder of deeds in the city or county where the property sits before the owner dies. It doesn’t have to be delivered to the beneficiary, and it can even point the house into a trust.

The word that matters is “before.” A beneficiary deed signed at the kitchen table and slid into a desk drawer, under the takeout menus and the old checkbook, is the classic way this goes wrong. Record it. For a city house that means the walk up the steps of City Hall to Room 126 with the original in a folder, and a fee that starts at $25 for a standard deed. City records require the legal description to include the City Block Number and Lot Number, so copy it straight off your current deed. Then make a copy and tell the person you named where the original is.

One more trap undoes more plans than any other. In Missouri, a beneficiary designation may not be revoked or changed by a will unless the designation itself expressly gives you that right. So if an old life insurance policy, a payable-on-death account or a beneficiary deed still names an ex-spouse, the new will you sign next month doesn’t fix it. The designation wins. Pull every one of them out and read the names before you pay anyone to draft anything.

Does a will in Missouri need to be notarized?

Not to be valid. Missouri’s will statute asks for two or more competent witnesses. A self-proving affidavit is the extra step. Under Missouri’s self-proved will statute, a written will can be made self-proved by the acknowledgment of the testator and the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths, at the signing or any time after. That short affidavit means your family isn’t hunting down two witnesses years later to testify about an afternoon they barely remember.

It’s also the reason a handwritten page in a drawer worries lawyers. Missouri’s will statute requires two or more competent witnesses who sign in the testator’s presence, and a page written alone at a desk has none. If that page is all there is, assume the intestacy split in the opening is what your family will be living with.

Signing day is where a lot of people meet a notary for the first time, so it helps to know where to get a document notarized in St. Louis before you need one.

How long probate holds the money

Cost is half of it. Time is the other half, and the floor is set by statute. Under section 473.360, creditor claims not filed in the probate division within six months after the first published notice of letters testamentary or of administration are forever barred. That window is the practical minimum for an estate that goes through full administration, however simple it is.

Picture what six months means in a real house. The thermostat set low to keep the gas bill down. The mail piling on the mat. A lawn somebody has to mow every other week. The estate still pays the insurance and the utilities while everyone waits.

When a small estate can skip full probate

Missouri has a short path for modest estates. Under section 473.097, a small estate affidavit can work when the value of the entire estate, less liens, debt and encumbrances, does not exceed $40,000, and thirty days have passed since the death with no application for letters pending. That covers a car and a checking account. A paid-off house usually blows through it.

That’s one more reason the cheap documents matter most. A recorded beneficiary deed and a payable-on-death designation on each account keep those assets out of the estate count altogether, which can be the difference between a short affidavit and a six-month case.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

Take these to the first meeting. The answers will tell you more than the price does.

• Is this a flat fee, and what exactly is in it? Ask for the document list in writing.
• Does the trust fee include funding: preparing and recording the deed and changing the accounts over, or only instructions?
• What falls outside the flat fee, and how is that billed?
• Given what I own, would a beneficiary deed and payable-on-death designations do most of this for less?
• Will you check my existing beneficiary designations against the new plan?
• Who will be at the signing, and will the will be self-proved?

The fourth question separates a counselor from a salesperson. A good answer works through your facts. A bad one changes the subject. Hearing that a deed and a few beneficiary forms may cover most of what you own is not a lesser plan. For a lot of St. Louis families with one house and a few accounts, it is the plan.

More guides for the paperwork side of life:

• How to find the right lawyer in St. Louis
• Finding legal services for seniors near me
• How to choose a financial advisor in St. Louis
• Power of attorney in Missouri
• What to do when a parent dies in Missouri

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a lawyer for a will in Missouri?

Start with the statute. A valid Missouri will must be in writing, signed by you or by someone at your direction in your presence, and attested by two or more competent witnesses who sign in your presence. A lawyer’s fee buys drafting judgment, a proper signing and a check of your beneficiary designations.

Does a will in Missouri need to be notarized?

No. Missouri requires two witnesses for a valid will. A will can also be made self-proved by the testator and the witnesses acknowledging it before an officer authorized to administer oaths, which spares your family from tracking down the witnesses later.

What happens to a bank account when someone dies without a will in Missouri?

If the account has a payable-on-death beneficiary, a will couldn’t have changed that designation anyway unless the designation allowed it. If it has no beneficiary, it becomes part of the estate and Missouri’s intestacy law divides it: with a spouse and shared children, the spouse gets the first $20,000 plus half the balance and the children share the rest. Estates of $40,000 or less after debts may use a small estate affidavit after thirty days.

Do you have to go to probate if you have a will in Missouri?

Often, yes. Under Missouri law, a will, to be effective as a will, must be presented for and admitted to probate. What stays out of probate is property that passes another way, such as a house with a beneficiary deed recorded before death or an account with a named beneficiary.

How much does a living trust cost in Missouri?

Prices vary by firm and complexity. As one published St. Louis-area benchmark, TuckerAllen lists its trust package at $2,795 for an individual and $3,995 for a couple, including a pour-over will, health care and financial powers of attorney, and trust funding instructions. Ask any firm whether funding the trust is included or left to you.

What is the downside of having a living trust?

It costs more up front than a will, and it only works for what you actually move into it. A trust package that ends with funding instructions leaves you to retitle the house and the accounts.

What is the biggest mistake with wills?

Assuming the will controls everything. In Missouri, a will can’t revoke or change a beneficiary designation unless the designation expressly allows it, so an old policy or account naming an ex-spouse still pays the ex-spouse. The second mistake is a handwritten page with no witnesses, when Missouri’s will statute requires two or more competent witnesses.

About the Author: The St Louis Near Me Directory Team
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.

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