Missouri probate leads and inheritance data, by county.
If you are researching Missouri probate leads, the public court file is only one part of the inherited-property market. USLeadList starts with death and property records, typically about five weeks after death, and generates an average of 2129 records a month across Missouri.
Missouri counties
Browse 115 counties.Every Missouri county has its own page. Highlighted counties currently generate the largest monthly record volume.
How inherited property moves in Missouri
Verified state rules behind the county data.Probate rules matter because they determine when a public court record appears and which inherited properties never appear in an ordinary probate case.
What changes for an heir
Missouri's beneficiary deed transfers real property to a named grantee at the owner's death without probate, so long as it is recorded before the owner dies (RSMo 461.025, in force since 1989). Property passing that way never generates a probate filing. The small estate affidavit reaches real property too: at $40,000 or less and 30 days after death, the distributee records the affidavit and the clerk's certificate with the recorder of deeds and takes title without administration (RSMo 473.097). Missouri imposes no estate tax on deaths on or after January 1, 2005, because RSMo 145.011 measures the tax by the federal state death tax credit that the Internal Revenue Service no longer allows, and there is no inheritance tax. Nothing is reassessed on transfer, so no recurring cost pushes an heir to sell.
Where probate records appear
Probate Division of the Circuit Court Case.net, the statewide public case search run by the Office of State Courts Administrator
Ways property can avoid ordinary probate
Beneficiary deed (RSMo 461.025), and for estates of $40,000 or less the small estate affidavit under RSMo 473.097, which passes real property as well as personal property
Small-estate route
Small estate affidavit where the entire estate, less liens, debt and encumbrances, does not exceed $40,000 and 30 days have elapsed since death; it covers real property as well as personal property, and the distributee perfects title by filing the affidavit and the clerk's certificate with the recorder of deeds in each county where the land sits (RSMo 473.097; the $40,000 figure dates from 2002 and is unchanged as of 2026)
Timing investors should understand
The clerk publishes notice of letters once a week for four consecutive weeks (RSMo 473.033). Claims are forever barred unless filed in the probate division within six months after the date of the first published notice of letters, or within two months after that notice was mailed to or served on the creditor, whichever is later (RSMo 473.360). An outer bar runs one year from the date of death whether or not administration was ever opened (RSMo 473.444). A will must be presented within one year of death where no notice of letters was published (RSMo 473.050). A small estate affidavit requires 30 days since death, and publication for two consecutive weeks if the property listed exceeds $15,000 (RSMo 473.097).
Missouri inheritance volume
Updated monthly · September 2026 edition.Newly inherited residential properties recorded in Missouri, from the same database that builds the lists. Published nationally in the Inheritance Property Index.
Biggest Missouri counties by volume
- Saint Louis 3,938
- Jackson 2,441
- Saint Charles 1,666
- Greene 1,166
- Clay 976
- Jefferson 909
- Saint Louis City 715
- Jasper 617
Free to cite with attribution: USLeadList Inheritance Property Index, September 2026 edition. See every state and download the data.
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