Omitted or Pretermitted Children Under Wills in Missouri

Short answer Missouri generally gives a child born or adopted after a will an intestate-equivalent share if the will fails to provide for the child. Intentional omission, a substantially-all devise to the child's other parent, or an intended outside-will substitute can defeat it. A child omitted because the testator thought the child dead has a separate share rule. Missouri also has a distinct afterborn-child rule for certain nonprobate beneficiary designations. (Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 474.240, 461.059.)

State

Missouri

Statute checked

October 5, 2026

Sources

6 statutes

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At a glance

Will and child covered	Will; later-born/adopted or mistakenly-dead child; male-testator recognition clause (§ 474.240(1)–(3)).
Birth or adoption timing	Born or adopted after will execution; separate mistaken-death route (§ 474.240(1)–(2)).
Naming and provision test	Will must fail to provide for child; mistaken-death omission has separate cause test (§ 474.240(1)–(2)).
Intentional omission	Later-child intent to omit must appear from will; mistaken-death branch has no separate intent exception (§ 474.240(1)(1), (2)).
Other-parent gifts	If substantially all devised to omitted child's other parent, later-child share is barred; section adds no survival condition (§ 474.240(1)(2)).
Outside gifts and advancements	Outside transfer substitutes only with in-lieu intent shown by statements, amount, or other evidence (§ 474.240(1)(3)).
Baseline statutory share	Value of intestate share for qualifying later or mistakenly omitted child (§ 474.240(1)–(2)).
Effect of gifts to existing children	No separate pool of gifts to then-living children; other-parent devise and outside-transfer exceptions control (§ 474.240(1)).
Property source and abatement	Will devises abate under § 473.620: intestate, residuary, general, specific; proportional within class, subject to will intent (§§ 474.240(4), 473.620).
Trust and nonprobate reach	Will-omission rule excludes nonprobate transfers; beneficiary-designation child-class and named-child shares have separate rules (§ 461.059(1)–(4)).

Requirements one by one

Share and exceptions

Section 474.240(1) starts with the value of the later-born or later-adopted child's intestate share. It removes that share if intentional omission appears from the will, if the testator had a child when signing and devised substantially all to the omitted child's other parent, or if an outside-will transfer was intended in lieu of will provision. The statute names statements, the transfer amount, or other evidence for the last issue.

Child believed dead

Under § 474.240(2), a child living when the will was signed receives the same intestate-equivalent value if the testator omitted the child solely because the testator believed the child dead. Subsection (2) does not repeat subsection (1)'s three exceptions.

§ 474.240(3) also contains a recognition condition for a male testator's child born outside marriage. The quoted text below uses the statute's older terminology. Whether a particular child meets that condition is outside this page's scope.

Paying the share

§ 474.240(4) sends will devises to § 473.620(1). That section generally uses property not disposed of by the will, then residuary devises, general legacies, and specific devises. Gifts in a class abate proportionately, subject to the will and a different order needed to carry out the testamentary plan.

What trips people up

The other-parent exception in § 474.240(1)(2) does not add a requirement that the other parent survive and take. Separately, § 461.059(1) says the will's unintentional-disinheritance protection does not apply to a nonprobate transfer. Subsections (2)–(4) create a distinct beneficiary-designation rule: a children-class designation includes later-born or later-adopted children; a designation naming a child can give a later child a fractional share of property designated for named children, unless the instrument or transferring-entity rules turn that rule off.

Common questions

Does a lifetime gift automatically replace the will share? No. Section 474.240(1)(3) requires intent to substitute the transfer for a testamentary provision.

Does the will rule by itself reach a nonprobate account? No. Section 461.059(1) excludes it; the beneficiary designation may instead be governed by that section's own child rules.

Statutes and sources

Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 474.240, 473.620, and 461.059. Verbatim current text, official section URLs, and access dates appear in the source fields above.

Source links

Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 474.240(1) · accessed 2026-10-05

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 474.240(2) · accessed 2026-10-05

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 474.240(3) · accessed 2026-10-05

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 474.240(4) · accessed 2026-10-05

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.620(1)–(3) · accessed 2026-10-05

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 461.059(1)–(4) · accessed 2026-10-05

This page gives general information about omitted-child statutes, not advice about a particular child, will, or estate. The will's words, other law, and the facts can change the result. Check current official law and consult a licensed adviser before acting.

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