Missouri Intestate Succession: Who Inherits Without a Will? (2026)

Written by: Attorney Scott Stork

Dying without a will in Missouri, called dying "intestate," doesn't mean the state takes everything. Under RSMo 474.010, Missouri has a fixed, specific order for who inherits, and it's designed to reach almost any living relative before anything ever reverts to the state. The catch is that this order follows a formula, not your actual wishes, and for a lot of families, especially blended ones, that formula produces a result nobody would have chosen on purpose.

Key takeaways

If you’re married and leave no surviving descendants—children, grandchildren, or more remote descendants—your spouse inherits your entire intestate estate .
If all your surviving descendants entitled to inherit are also descendants of your spouse, your spouse receives the first $20,000 plus half the remaining intestate estate. Your descendants receive the balance under Missouri’s distribution rules.
If any surviving descendant entitled to inherit is not also your spouse’s descendant, your spouse receives half of your intestate estate. Your descendants receive the other half under Missouri’s distribution rules.
Stepchildren who were never legally adopted generally inherit nothing under Missouri intestate law, no matter how close the relationship was, barring very narrow exceptions.
These rules govern property passing through the probate estate without an effective will provision. Property that validly passes outside the estate through a trust, survivorship ownership, or a beneficiary designation generally avoids intestate succession.

The basic order, spouse and children first

Missouri's intestate succession law prioritizes your closest family first. If you’re survived by a spouse but no descendants, your spouse inherits the entire intestate estate. If descendants survive but no spouse does, the descendants inherit under Missouri’s distribution rules. Surviving children share equally, but descendants of a deceased child may also be entitled to inherit.

When both a spouse and children survive you

This is where the math gets specific, and it depends entirely on whose children they are.

If all your surviving descendants entitled to inherit are also descendants of your spouse, your spouse receives the first $20,000 of the intestate estate, plus half of whatever remains. Your descendants receive the balance under Missouri’s distribution rules

If any surviving descendant entitled to inherit is not also a descendant of your surviving spouse, the formula changes: your spouse receives half of the intestate estate, without the additional $20,000 share. Your descendants receive the remaining half under Missouri’s distribution rules.

When surviving children inherit alongside descendants of a deceased child, those descendants generally divide the share their deceased parent would have received.

This distinction catches blended families off guard more than almost anything else in Missouri intestate law. Two families that look similar on paper, married couple, kids in the household, can end up with meaningfully different outcomes depending on whether every child is biologically or legally shared between both spouses.

If there's no spouse and no surviving descendants, the law moves down a defined chain: parents, then siblings, then more distant relatives including grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins to a fairly remote degree. Missouri's list of potential heirs is genuinely long, which is exactly why the estate reverting to the state is rare in practice, even without a will.

Who's explicitly left out

Stepchildren. An unadopted stepchild generally does not inherit as your child under Missouri intestate succession. A narrow statutory exception can allow inheritance through a predeceased spouse when you leave no surviving spouse or relatives entitled to inherit. To provide for a stepchild intentionally, use a will, trust, beneficiary designation, or another appropriate transfer arrangement

Unmarried partners. Living together in Missouri does not create a common-law marriage or automatic spousal inheritance rights, regardless of how long the relationship lasts. However, Missouri generally recognizes a common-law marriage validly established in another state, which can give the surviving partner the inheritance rights of a spouse.

Anyone who doesn't survive you by 120 hours. An heir generally must outlive you by at least 120 hours—five days—to inherit under Missouri intestate succession. However, this rule is not applied if doing so would cause the estate to pass to the state

What this doesn't cover

Intestate succession governs probate property not disposed of by a valid will. That can include individually owned assets, your share of property owned without survivorship rights, and assets payable to your estate. Property held in a properly integrated trust, jointly owned assets with survivorship rights, and accounts with an effective beneficiary designation directing the transfer outside the estate all pass according to their own terms, completely bypassing intestate succession regardless of what the formula above would otherwise produce.

Frequently asked questions

Does everything go to the state if I die without a will in Missouri? No. Missouri's intestate succession law reaches an extremely wide range of relatives before an estate would ever escheat to the state, which is a rare outcome in practice.

Do stepchildren inherit if there's no will? Generally not as the deceased’s children unless adopted. However, a narrow Missouri rule can allow an unadopted stepchild to inherit through a predeceased spouse when the deceased leaves no surviving spouse or relatives entitled to inherit.

What happens to a joint account or a life insurance policy if there's no will? They generally pass outside probate if a surviving owner has survivorship rights or an effective beneficiary designation directs payment outside the estate. But an account or policy payable to the estate can be subject to intestate succession if no valid will provision controls it.

Is my spouse guaranteed to get everything if I die without a will? Not necessarily. Your spouse receives the entire intestate estate if you leave no surviving descendants. If descendants survive, the statutory sharing formula applies. When all those descendants are also your spouse’s descendants, the spouse’s first-$20,000 share can also consume the entire distributable estate if it is small enough.

If you'd rather decide who inherits your estate than let a formula decide for you, especially if your family includes stepchildren, a blended family, or an unmarried partner, call Polaris Estate Planning & Elder Law for a conversation.