Section 473.033

Title XXXI TRUSTS AND ESTATES OF DECEDENTS AND PERSONS UNDER DISABILITY

Chapter 473

Effective - 23 May 1996, see footnote   

  473.033.  Notice of letters — duty of clerk — publication — form. — The clerk, as soon as letters testamentary or of administration are issued, shall cause to be published in some newspaper a notice of the appointment of the personal representative, in which shall be included a notice to creditors of the decedent to file their claims in the court or be forever barred.  The notice shall be published once a week for four consecutive weeks.  The clerk shall send a copy of the notice by ordinary mail to each heir and devisee whose name and address are shown on the application for letters or other records of the court, but any heir or devisee may waive notice to such person by filing a waiver in writing.  The personal representative may, but is not required to, send a copy of the notice by ordinary mail or personal service to any creditor of the decedent whose claim has not been paid, allowed or disallowed as provided in section 473.403.  Proof of publication of notice under this section and proof of mailing of notice shall be filed not later than ten days after completion of the publication.  The notice shall be in substantially the following form:

To all persons interested in the estate of ______, decedent:
On the ______ day of ______, 20______, (the last will of the decedent having been admitted to probate) ______ was appointed the personal representative of the estate of ______, decedent, by the probate division of the circuit court of ______ County, Missouri. The business address of the personal representative is ______, and the personal representative's attorney is ______ of ______.
All creditors of the decedent are notified to file claims in court within six months from the date of first publication of this notice or if a copy of this notice was mailed to, or served upon, such creditor by the personal representative, then within two months from the date it was mailed or served, whichever is later, or be forever barred to the fullest extent permissible by law. Such six-month period and such two-month period do not extend the limitation period that would bar claims one year after the decedent's death, as provided in section 473.444, RSMo, or any other applicable limitation periods. Nothing in section 473.033, RSMo, shall be construed to bar any action against a decedent's liability insurance carrier through a defendant ad litem pursuant to section 537.021, RSMo.
Receipt of this notice by mail should not be construed by the recipient to indicate that the recipient necessarily has a beneficial interest in the estate. The nature and extent of any person's interest, if any, can be determined from the files and records of this estate in the probate division of the circuit court of ______ County, Missouri.
Date of the decedent's death was ______, 20______
Date of first publication is ______, 20______
	__________________
	Clerk of the Probate Division
	of the Circuit Court
	______ County, Missouri

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(L. 1955 p. 385 § 37, A.L. 1969 S.B. 86, A.L. 1978 H.B. 1634, A.L. 1980 S.B. 637, A.L. 1983 H.B. 369, A.L. 1989 H.B. 145, A.L. 1993 S.B. 88, A.L. 1996 S.B. 494)

Effective 5-23-96

(1962)  Weekly newspaper did not forfeit right theretofore vested in it to publish legal notices by suspending publication the last week in December of one year for vacation purposes and where it resumed continuous weekly publications after the procedure was questioned. State ex rel. Henderson v. Proctor (Mo.), 361 S.W.2d 802.

(1985)  Held, due process does not require any more than publication notice to a creditor that a decedent's estate is being administered and the notice provisions of sections 473.360 and 473.033, RSMo, are constitutional.  Estate of Busch v. Ferrell-Duncan Clinic (Mo. banc) 700 S.W.2d 87.