Estate plan requirements

Missouri

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in Missouri: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

DocumentWitnessesNotary
Will2 requiredRecommended
Living trustNone requiredRecommended
Power of attorneyNone requiredRequired
Healthcare directive2 requiredRequired

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Missouri content last reviewed May 18, 2026.

News

Recent changes in Missouri

E-Will

Missouri authorizes electronic wills and estate planning documents

The Missouri Uniform Electronic Wills and Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act takes effect, authorizing electronic wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary deeds.

HB 754 / SB 221Source
1

Will

Mo. Rev. Stat. §474.310 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Two competent witnesses must sign in the presence of the testator

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Not valid

Missouri does not recognize handwritten wills without witnesses

Self-proving affidavit: Available

Allows the will to be admitted to probate without witness testimony

State-specific notes

•Missouri sets the will-making age at 18, with one statutory exception: a minor emancipated by adjudication, by marriage, or by entry into active military duty may also make a will (Mo. Rev. Stat. §474.310).
ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule
Mo. Rev. Stat. §474.330: a beneficiary may serve as an attesting witness without invalidating the will, but if the will is not otherwise attested by two disinterested witnesses, the interested witness forfeits the portion of any beneficial disposition that exceeds the value of what the witness would have taken by intestacy. Creditors and executors named in the will are not interested unless they take a personal beneficial disposition.
2

Living Trust

Witnesses: None required

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

3

Durable Power of Attorney

Witnesses: None required

No witnesses required for power of attorney

Notarization: Required

Notarization is required for a valid durable power of attorney

State-specific notes

•Signed by the principal, dated, and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for conveyances of real estate (i.e., before a notary public). Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.705
•Durability requires all three of the following (Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.705, subsection 1): (1) the instrument is denominated a 'Durable Power of Attorney'; (2) it states in substance one of the two statutory formulas, either 'THIS IS A DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY AND THE AUTHORITY OF MY ATTORNEY IN FACT SHALL NOT TERMINATE IF I BECOME DISABLED OR INCAPACITATED OR IN THE EVENT OF LATER UNCERTAINTY AS TO WHETHER I AM DEAD OR ALIVE' or 'THIS IS A DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY AND THE AUTHORITY OF MY ATTORNEY IN FACT, WHEN EFFECTIVE, SHALL NOT TERMINATE OR BE VOID OR VOIDABLE IF I AM OR BECOME DISABLED OR INCAPACITATED OR IN THE EVENT OF LATER UNCERTAINTY AS TO WHETHER I AM DEAD OR ALIVE'; and (3) it is subscribed by the principal, and dated and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for conveyances of real estate. Perfect magic words in an instrument titled only 'Power of Attorney' do not survive the principal's incapacity.
4

Healthcare Directive

Mo. Rev. Stat. §§404.800-404.872

Witnesses: 2 required (plus notary)

Missouri requires both 2 witnesses and notarization

Notarization: Required (with witnesses)

Missouri requires both witnesses and notarization for a valid healthcare directive

Document sections

Separate living will

State-specific notes

•The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care must be signed by the principal and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for conveyances of real estate, that is, before a notary public (Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.705, incorporated into the DPOA-HC act by §404.810).
•The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care alone needs no attesting witnesses, because the health care act incorporates only the subscription, dating and acknowledgment rule (Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.810, incorporating §404.705). The document Will.com generates is not that bare instrument: it also contains a Living Will Declaration, and a declaration that is not wholly in the declarant's handwriting must be signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least eighteen years of age, neither of whom may be the person who signed the declaration on the declarant's behalf (Mo. Rev. Stat. §459.015). Sign before both witnesses and a notary at one sitting.
•Authority to direct a health care provider to withhold or withdraw artificially supplied nutrition and hydration must be granted to the attorney in fact specifically, not by a general grant of health care authority (Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.820). No attorney in fact may authorize withdrawal of nutrition or hydration the patient can take by natural means with the intent of causing death, and before withdrawal of artificially supplied nutrition or hydration the physician must either explain the intention to the patient and offer the chance to refuse, or certify in the file that the patient cannot understand it.
•Missouri disqualifies the attending physician, the physician's employee, and an owner, operator, or employee of the patient's health care facility from serving as agent unless related within the second degree by blood or marriage, or unless both the patient and the agent are members of the same religious community that conducts religious, charitable, or health care ministry (Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.815).
ViewWitness disqualification recital
Missouri's health care power of attorney and its living will declaration have different execution rules. Mo. Rev. Stat. §404.810 applies §404.705 to the durable power of attorney for health care, and §404.705.1(3) requires that instrument to be subscribed by the principal and dated and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for conveyances of real estate, which means notarial acknowledgment rather than witnesses. Mo. Rev. Stat. §459.015 governs the living will declaration, and §459.015.1(4) provides that unless it is wholly in the declarant's handwriting it must be signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least eighteen years of age, and the only person the statute disqualifies is the individual who signed the declaration on behalf of and at the direction of the declarant. Missouri does not bar a relative, an heir, a devisee, the attending physician, or an employee of a health care provider from witnessing; the §404.815 restriction on the attending physician, an employee of the attending physician, and an owner, operator, or employee of a health care facility in which the patient resides limits who may serve as attorney in fact, not who may witness. Two adults who are not the agent and who take nothing under the estate remain sound practice, but Missouri does not require it.
5

Living Will Declaration

Mo. Rev. Stat. §§459.015, 459.016

Missouri's living-will declaration is a separate statutory instrument from the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. The declaration directs the withholding or withdrawal of death-prolonging procedures. It must be in writing, signed by the declarant (or by another person in the declarant's presence and at the declarant's express direction), dated, and, unless it is wholly in the declarant's handwriting, signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least eighteen years old, neither of whom may be the person who signed on the declarant's behalf (Mo. Rev. Stat. §459.015.1). The statute sets out a sample form but does not require its use (§459.015.3). The Department of Health and Senior Services publishes an advance health care directive form and directions on its website (§459.016).

Both this document and the primary healthcare directive are generated for you. You can sign both in the same session.

Subscription

6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive.

Nomination of Conservator

Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

Free vs. paid

FreePaid
All 4 state-specific documentsIncluded in freeIncluded in paid tier
State-specific signing guideIncluded in freeIncluded in paid tier
Download as PDF, print foreverIncluded in freeIncluded in paid tier
Secure online storageNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishesNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorizationNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorizationNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Nomination of conservatorNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Business succession declarationNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklistNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Special needs trust provisionsNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editableNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Edit anytimeNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
Annual review reminderNot in freeIncluded in paid tier
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Electronic will status

Missouri has adopted electronic will legislation (2025). You may be able to create, sign, and witness a will electronically using approved methods.

Digital assets access

Missouri has adopted RUFADAA (2018). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

Missouri authorized RON in 2020.

Will

Allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

Missouri allows remote online witnessing for some estate planning documents. Witnesses can observe your signing over a live video call instead of being physically present. Not available for a Missouri will signed on paper. Mo. Rev. Stat. §474.320 requires the will be 'attested by two or more competent witnesses subscribing their names to the will in the presence of the testator,' and carries no electronic-presence provision. Missouri's electronic-presence authority is Mo. Rev. Stat. §474.548 (H.B. 754, 2025), titled 'Electronic will requirements,' which reaches only a will that is a record readable as text at the time of signing. Missouri's other estate planning documents run on a different rule: any written estate planning document other than a will that requires a witness to the principal's signature may be witnessed in the electronic presence of the principal (Mo. Rev. Stat. §474.560), and that section names the power of attorney, the durable power of attorney for health care, the health care declaration, the advance directive, the revocable trust, and the beneficiary deed.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

HC Directive

Allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in Missouri for guidance specific to your situation.

Also for Missouri

Make a Missouri will

Free last will and testament, valid in Missouri.

Missouri healthcare directive

Name your medical decision-maker and treatment wishes.

Missouri power of attorney

Name someone to handle finances if you can't.

Missouri living trust

Skip probate and keep your estate private.

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