Executor and Personal-Representative Bond Requirements in Missouri

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Bond is the default before the representative acts

Under § 473.157, every personal representative must execute and file an estate-paid bond with sufficient security before entering the office's duties, unless § 473.160 supplies an exception. The judge or clerk approves the bond and fixes its amount to protect interested parties. Missouri states no fixed multiplier for the ordinary amount.

The statutory bond condition reaches faithful administration, accounting for and delivering estate money and property, and every other act required by law or court order. Section 472.010(26) defines personal representative to include an executor, administrator, administrator with the will annexed, administrator de bonis non, and the other listed decedent-estate administrators.

A will waiver is subject to continuing court control

Under § 473.160.1, a will may express the testator's wish that no bond be required. The court may still require bond in its discretion at appointment or at any later time. Separately, § 473.160.4 permits no bond on good cause when the court finds bond unnecessary to protect interested parties.

The bond provisions do not create a distinct heir, devisee, legatee, or distributee waiver. Those persons may be interested persons, but their consent does not by itself displace the court's statutory protection finding.

Deposited assets reduce the amount proportionally

Section 473.160.2 permits estate assets to be deposited on court-ordered terms and lets the bond be reduced in proportion to their value. Withdrawal then requires another court order, and the court may require an approved additional bond before release.

§ 473.163 provides a related surety agreement. Estate money or assets may be placed with an authorized bank, safe-deposit or trust company, or other court-approved depositary so withdrawal needs the surety's written consent or a court order after whatever notice the court directs.

The court revisits both amount and surety quality

Under § 473.197, the court may require, increase, or decrease bond for good cause. The clerk must examine adequacy when an inventory, appraisement, or settlement is filed and when real estate is sold, mortgaged, leased, or taken under court order. The court then orders added bond or lowers the existing penalty to match the last-fixed amount.

Under § 473.190, a delayed final settlement and later annual settlements require proof of sufficiency. Under § 473.193, death, nonresidence, actual or likely insolvency, likely principal insolvency, waste, or an unlawfully taken bond can support a noticed hearing and another bond on the judge's own initiative or an interested party's motion, including a surety's motion.

Personal and corporate security follow different routes

Under § 473.177, a personal surety files an affidavit showing execution- subject property above liabilities equal to the bond and lists other official or statutory bond obligations. § 473.180 bars probate judges, sheriffs, marshals, court clerks and their deputies, and attorneys from serving as sureties. Under § 473.183, the judge or clerk examines solvency and sufficiency, endorses and records approval or rejection, and directs a satisfactory replacement when rejecting the bond.

Qualified state or national banks and trust companies are different. § 362.590 permits them to act as executor or administrator without an estate bond, and § 473.160.3 recognizes the director-of-finance certificate route. Under § 362.600.4(8), an out-of-state bank or trust company may face a separate regulator-required bond of at least $1 million for all Missouri fiduciary activities unless it establishes the stated capital or equivalent- bond condition. That regulatory security is not the estate's qualification bond.

Nonresidence changes service mechanics, not the estate formula

Before letters, § 473.117.3 requires a nonresident individual or foreign corporation to designate a Missouri resident or authorized Missouri trust corporation to receive process and notice. The designation appears in the letters and submits the nonresident to the court's jurisdiction. Missouri's ordinary bond chapter does not impose an additional nonresident estate-bond amount.

Failure to post required bond revokes letters

Section 473.157.1 makes filing the bond a prerequisite to performing office duties. For multiple executors or administrators, § 473.173 permits separate or joint bond and bars an unbonded cofiduciary from acting or intermeddling when bond is required. If the representative fails to give a court-required bond within the fixed time, § 473.200 directs that the letters be revoked.

What trips people up

• A will waiver does not prevent the court from requiring bond later.
• Court-controlled deposits reduce the bond proportionally; they do not automatically eliminate it.
• The amount review recurs when inventories, appraisements, settlements, or specified real-estate events change the protection picture.
• A foreign corporate fiduciary's regulatory bond under § 362.600 is distinct from the estate bond waived for a qualified institution.

Common questions

Can a creditor ask for stronger security?

Potentially. A creditor falls within the interested-person definition, and an interested party may seek the risk hearing described in § 473.193. The court may require or adjust bond for good cause under § 473.197.

Do all beneficiaries have to sign a waiver?

No beneficiary-waiver procedure appears in the controlling provisions. The recognized routes are the will, the qualifying corporate-fiduciary exemption, or a court good-cause finding that bond is unnecessary for protection.

Can one bonded co-executor act if another does not post bond?

Section 473.173 says no cofiduciary may act or intermeddle except those giving the bond required by the court.

Statutes and sources

• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 472.010(15), (26) — interested persons and personal representative definitions — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=472.010 — accessed 2026-08-29.
• Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.117.3 — nonresident or foreign-corporation service designation — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.117 — accessed 2026-08-29.
• Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 473.157-.183 — default, amount, exceptions, deposits, cofiduciaries, sureties, and approval — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.157 — accessed 2026-08-29.
• Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 473.190-.200 — continuing sufficiency, new bond, adjustment, and revocation — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.190 — accessed 2026-08-29.
• Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 362.590-.600 — qualified-bank exemption and foreign- institution reciprocity security — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=362.590 — accessed 2026-08-29.