Section 25.2 Generally—Constitutional Aspects

• Library: Estate Administration 2014 Supp

A. (§25.2) Generally—Constitutional Aspects

Most probate estates are administered without controversy, with the assets being inventoried, the bills paid, and, in due course, the estate distributed. But disputes may develop regarding claims, which the Missouri Probate Code (Probate Code), Chapters 472–475, RSMo, defines as including “liabilities of the decedent which survive whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise, funeral expenses, the expense of a tombstone, and costs and expenses of administration.” Section 472.010(3), RSMo 2000.

Sections 473.360–473.444, RSMo 2000 and Supp. 2008, set forth the procedures for filing, classifying, and paying claims, including contingent claims. Significantly, and among other legislative changes resulting from Tulsa Professional Collection Services, Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 478 (1988), subsection 3 of § 473.360, RSMo 1986, was repealed effective July 13, 1989. This subsection had provided that “[a]ll claims barrable under the provisions of subsection 1 [those not filed or paid within six months after first publication], in any event, are barred if administration of the estate is not commenced within three years after the death of the decedent.”

Section 473.360.3, RSMo 1986, was replaced in 1989 by § 473.444, RSMo 2000. This self-executing statute provides, in part, that, unless otherwise barred, all claims against a decedent’s estate—“other than costs and expenses of administration, exempt property, family allowance, homestead allowance, claims of the United States and claims of any taxing authority within the United States”—are forever barred:

[O]ne year following the date of the decedent’s death, whether or not administration of the decedent’s estate is had or commenced within such one-year period and whether or not during such period a claimant has been given any notice, actual or constructive, of the decedent’s death or of the need to file a

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