Section 3.4 Jurisdiction and Venue

• Library: Estate Administration 2014 Supp

C. (§3.4) Jurisdiction and Venue

Probate business is conducted in the probate division of the circuit court, which holds exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters pertaining to:

probate business, to granting letters testamentary and of administration, the appointment of guardians and conservators of minors and incapacitated and disabled persons, settling the accounts of personal representatives and conservators, and the sale or leasing of lands by personal representatives and conservators, including jurisdiction of the construction of wills as an incident to the administration of estates, of the determination of heirship, of the administration of testamentary and inter vivos trusts, of disability and incapacity proceedings as provided by law and of such other probate business as may be prescribed by law.

Section 472.020, RSMo 2000.

The construction of the phrase “all matters pertaining to probate business” is an evolving one. In Moore v. Campbell, 904 S.W.2d 378 (Mo. App. W.D. 1995), the court held that an award of attorney fees for professional services rendered in a discovery of assets proceeding on behalf of a decedent’s estate during the course of administration was a probate matter and that the appellants’ argument that the probate division was without jurisdiction to dismiss the administrator ad litem because the underlying cause was not a probate matter was meritless.

The court’s jurisdiction over probate matters includes jurisdiction to enforce its orders by contempt proceedings. Estate of Johnson v. Kranitz, 168 S.W.3d 84 (Mo. App. W.D. 2005).

Some courts have concluded that the probate and circuit divisions hold concurrent jurisdiction with regard to some types of actions. In Hughes v. Wilson, 733 S.W.2d 36 (Mo. App. W.D. 1987), the court held that a circuit division had concurrent jurisdiction with the probate division to order partition of land that was subject to probate administration when the judgment noted the pendency of the estate and of the claims asserted in it.

In Brady v. Ansehl, 787 S.W.2d 823 (Mo. App. E.D. 1990), the court held that a circuit division had concurrent jurisdiction with the probate division to hear an interpleader in the nature of a discovery of assets petition.

In Meyer v. Meyer, 21 S.W.3d 886 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000), the Eastern District held that, even though the probate division and the circuit court had concurrent jurisdiction, the probate court had exclusive jurisdiction over a determination of...