Missouri End of Life Guide

Advance Directives 

Advance Directives are legal documents that allow you to make known your end-of-life care ahead of time. The state of Missouri recognizes your right to decide the terms of your own medical treatment and to assign a person to make those decisions when you are not able to do so. 

Here are some important questions to consider before beginning this process:

• Is this document(s) state specific? No

• Does this document(s) need to be notarized? Yes

• Does this document(s) require witnesses? If so, how many? Yes / 2

• Can you legally use Aging With Dignity's 5 Wishes Doc? No

There is an Advance Directive packet for Missouri that includes a "Health Care Choices Directive" (Living Will) and a Health Care Proxy form. You can download this packet by clicking below:

MISSOURI ADVANCE DIRECTIVE PACKET

(Source: The Missouri State Bar)

Death with Dignity

Death with Dignity laws allow the dying more control of their death and end-of-life decisions. These laws allow terminally-ill, able-minded state residents to request and receive prescription medication to hasten their death.

Missouri State Representative Brandon Ellington (D) introduced an assisted dying bill, HB 524, the Missouri Death with Dignity Act, on January 9, 2017. See Death with Dignity's Missouri page to follow news on Missouri Death with Dignity legislation

Designated Funeral Agent

Missouri law supports the appointment of a designated funeral agent to follow through on your written personal preferences (see below) or make funeral arrangements on your behalf if no written preferences are indicated.

Missouri law Section 194.119 obligates, "An attorney in fact designated in a durable power of attorney wherein the deceased specifically granted the right of sepulcher over his or her body to such attorney in fact.."

The appointment of a designated funeral agent will override the next-of-kin's usual authority and let the citizen designate whom he/she wants to control the disposition of his body.

Financial Assistance

There is no state offered burial assistance in Missouri. The Indigent Burial and Funeral Fund, split between three community foundations in the state, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Greater St. Louis Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, serves a geographical area of the state.

See our Financial Assistance Chart for more details.

Home Funeral

Home funerals, or family led funerals, are 100% legal in Missouri. Your family or appointed agent may care for the deceased and handle all your funeral arrangements and necessary paperwork (permits and certificates) without a funeral director.

Check with the National Home Funeral Alliance for up-to-date details on how to navigate home funerals in Missouri.

Personal Preference Law

Personal preference laws for body disposition obligate your survivors to follow your written [or verbal] personal preferences. This often goes hand-in-hand with designating a funeral agent to follow through with your funeral or body disposition preferences.

In Missouri, there is not a law obligating your survivors to follow your personal preferences. However, we always recommend outlining your funeral preference in writing and sharing them with your designated funeral agent, next-of-kin, or spouse, giving you the best chance of having them seen through or upheld in the courts.