Probate Notice to Creditors and Claim Deadlines in Missouri

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Let the clerk publish the four-week notice

Missouri Revised Statutes § 473.033 assigns publication to the probate clerk as soon as letters issue. The notice runs once a week for four consecutive weeks. Its statutory form identifies the court, representative and attorney, business addresses, death date, first-publication date, filing clocks, one-year cap, and liability-insurance warning. Publication and mailing proof are filed within 10 days after publication is complete.

Treat creditor mailing as optional but clock-changing

The representative may, but need not, mail by ordinary mail or personally serve the notice on an unpaid creditor whose claim has not been allowed or disallowed. Sections 473.033 and 473.360 state no general search duty or separate reasonably-ascertainable-creditor standard.

If no representative notice is sent, the ordinary filing period is six months after first publication. If the representative actually mails or serves the notice, the creditor receives the later of that six-month date or two months after mailing or service. Neither period extends another applicable limitation.

File a signed written claim in the probate division

Missouri Revised Statutes § 473.380 requires a writing stating the nature and ascertainable amount of the claim. The claimant or a knowledgeable signer states that all payments and offsets have been credited and the balance is justly due. A written instrument claim includes the original or a copy with all endorsements; loss or destruction must be stated. The probate clerk immediately sends the claim copy to the representative or attorney.

The filed statement is not itself evidence. The claimant must establish the claim with competent evidence before payment or adjustment.

Apply the independent one-year outside bar

Missouri Revised Statutes § 473.444 bars the ordinary listed claim one year after death regardless of whether administration began and regardless of actual or constructive notice. The six-month and two-month clocks cannot extend that one-year deadline.

Use the express action, lien, insurance, and government routes

Sections 473.360, 473.363, 473.367, and 473.370 preserve specified ways to treat pending actions, new actions against the representative, and judgments as filed claims when the required probate notice or copy is timely filed. Mortgage, pledge, and other lien enforcement is preserved.

The ordinary bars exclude administration costs, exempt property and statutory allowances, United States claims, and claims of a U.S. taxing authority. The notice form also preserves liability-insurance actions through a defendant ad litem, and both bars exclude contingent claims based on a warranty made with a real-estate conveyance.

What trips people up

Direct creditor notice is optional in the statute, but sending it can create a later two-month deadline.

The one-year bar runs from death even if no estate is opened and no notice is received.

Filing the written claim does not prove it. Section 473.380 requires competent evidence before payment or adjustment.

A civil action alone does not automatically protect estate recovery. The action and written probate-division notice requirements must be followed within the nonclaim period.

Common questions

Must the representative search for known creditors?

Sections 473.033 and 473.360 do not prescribe a search duty. They make direct creditor notice optional.

Is a verified affidavit required?

The claim must be signed by the claimant or a knowledgeable person and include the statutory knowledge-and-belief statement about credits and the just balance.

Can a mortgage still be enforced?

Yes. Both §§ 473.360 and 473.444 preserve appropriate mortgage, pledge, and other lien proceedings.

Statutes and sources

• Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 473.033, 473.360, 473.380, and 473.444 — notice, filing, short clocks, form, and one-year bar. Current Missouri Revisor pages: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.033 (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 473.363, 473.367, and 473.370 — pending, new-action, and judgment routes: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.363 (accessed 2026-08-12).