Insolvent Probate Estate Claim-Payment Priority in Missouri
At a glance
| Statutory payment order | Ten classes in § 473.397; pay earlier classes first or reserve enough for them (§ 473.430). |
|---|---|
| Administration costs | Class 1 costs; class 2 expenses of administration (§ 473.397(1)–(2)). |
| Funeral and last illness | Class 4 funeral expenses; class 7 last sickness, medicines, medical attendance and reasonable tombstone (§ 473.397(4),(7)). |
| Family and homestead allowances | Class 3 exempt property, family and homestead allowances; within class: that listed order (§§ 473.397(3), 473.430). |
| Taxes and public claims | Class 5 U.S. debts/taxes; class 6 medical assistance owed to Missouri; class 8 other Missouri, county and political-subdivision debts/taxes (§§ 473.397(5)–(6),(8), 473.398(2)). |
| Secured claims | For specified predeath judgment/attachment/execution liens, insolvent-estate sale proceeds pay lien subject to § 473.440's classes 1–7 precedence; equal-rank liens share proportionately (§ 473.440). |
| Support and special debts | Class 7 servants' wages; class 9 lifetime judgments and judgments on lifetime attachments (§ 473.397(7),(9)). |
| General claims | Class 10 all other claims not barred by § 473.360 (§ 473.397(10)). |
| Underfunded class | Underfunded class: payment in proportion to claim amounts; class-3 allowances have internal order (§ 473.430). |
Requirements one by one
Family allowances within one class
Section 473.397(3) places exempt property, the family allowance, and the homestead allowance together in class 3. Section 473.430 gives those three an internal payment order: exempt property first, then the family allowance, then the homestead allowance. Under § 473.430, a class is paid only when earlier classes are satisfied or enough remains to satisfy them.
Public and last-sickness claims
Section 473.397(6) places medical-assistance debts owed to Missouri in class 6, ahead of last-sickness expenses, servants' wages, medicine, medical attendance, and a reasonable tombstone in class 7. Under § 473.398(2), public-assistance recovery claims fall in class 6 or 8. Under § 473.398(3), such a claim is not filed or allowed if collection would cost more than the claim or harm a surviving spouse's or dependent's reasonable care and support.
What trips people up
Under § 473.440, judgment, attachment, and execution liens attached before death have a separate rule when the estate is insolvent. Sale proceeds satisfy those liens outside their ordinary claim class, but the section gives claims in classes one through seven precedence. Its current official page notes that a 2018 amendment renumbered former class seven to eight; the operative cross-reference still reads “one through seven.”
Common questions
Does the funeral class have a statutory dollar cap? Section 473.397(4) places funeral expenses in class 4 without stating a preferred dollar limit.
What happens when multiple specified liens have equal rank? Section 473.440 directs the proceeds to those liens in proportion to their amounts if the estate cannot pay them all.
Statutes and sources
- Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 473.397, 473.398, 473.430, and 473.440. Verbatim current official text, URLs, and access dates appear in the source fields above.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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