If you are single and have never signed a will, you still have an estate plan. Missouri wrote it for you. You probably would not like it.
I hear the same thing from single clients every week. "I'm not married, I don't have much, who would I even leave it to?" That is the wrong question. The right one is this: if something happens to you tomorrow, who gets your things, and who gets to make decisions for you?
Without paperwork, the law answers both.
Who inherits
Missouri's intestacy law, Section 474.010, sets the order. With no spouse, your children inherit first in equal shares. No children, and it goes to your parents, brothers and sisters. After that it moves out to grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. If no relative can be found, Section 470.010 sends it to the state.
Notice who is missing from that list. The partner you have lived with for 15 years gets nothing. So does the friend who drove you to every appointment, and the church or charity you have supported your whole life. The statute follows blood and marriage, and nothing else.
It also splits things evenly, whether that makes sense or not. The brother you have not spoken to in a decade takes the same share as the sister who checked on you every Sunday.
Who decides
This is the bigger risk, and most single people never think about it.
When a married person lands in the hospital and can't speak for themselves, the doctors and the bank usually turn to the spouse. When you are single, there is no automatic person. Your parents, your siblings and your partner may all have opinions. None of them has authority.
The fix, without paperwork, is a guardianship or conservatorship in probate court. That means a petition, a hearing and a judge, often with lawyers on both sides, while the bills pile up and the doctors wait for answers.
When a judge does pick, Section 475.050 tells the court whom to consider first. Near the top of that list is the person you named in a durable power of attorney. Family comes after.
Four documents fix it
A will. It says who gets what and who handles the estate. For a single person, it is the only way to leave anything to a partner, a friend or a cause. If you have young children, it is where you name their guardian.
A durable power of attorney for finances. It names someone to pay your bills and deal with your bank if you can't. The word "durable" matters. Under Section 404.705, the document has to say your agent's authority survives your incapacity. A form off the internet that misses that line fails at the exact moment you need it.
A health care power of attorney and directive. It names who talks to your doctors and says what you want at the end of life. For an unmarried couple, this is the difference between your partner at your bedside and your partner in the waiting room.
Current beneficiary forms. Retirement accounts and life insurance go to whoever is named on the form, not whoever is named in your will. Pull every one and read it. An ex-spouse or a parent who has died on one of those forms is more common than you would think. Real estate can pass the same way through a beneficiary deed under Section 461.025.
None of this is complicated or expensive compared with what it prevents. Pick people you trust, name a backup for each job, tell them they have been named, and look at it again after any big change in your life.
If you don't write your plan, Missouri already has one. Make sure it is yours.
Patrick Nolan is an attorney with Nolan Law Firm in Kirksville. This column is general information about Missouri law, not legal advice.
Learn why you need a plan that works
https://nemolegal.com/missouri-estate-planning-for-single-adults/