Missouri Injury Lawyers Blog

The Missouri Supreme Court recently decided the case of State ex. rel. Unnerstall v. Berkemeyer. This ruling upheld a statute that requires a will to be admitted to probate within one year o f death. A decedent's estate may be administered after one year if additional assets are found, however, the statutes would treat that decedent as having died intestate (without a will) in spite of what the decedent's will may have said, had it been presented for probate within one year of the decedent's death.

Normally this is not a problem, however, if a will is not discovered and admitted to probate within one year of the date of death, a decedent's wishes may not be carried out.

A recent decision by the Missouri Supreme Court in Karscig v. McConville and American Family Mutual Insurance Company, handed down on January 12, 2010, seems to have concluded that if the liable party is insured under more than one liability policy, that in addition to the coverage provided by the primary policy covering the motor vehicle involved, additional liability policies may be stacked up to the minimum limits required by Missouri's Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law. The Missouri MVFRL requires limits of liability of $25,000.00 per person and $50,000.00 per accident. Multiple policies should always be examined in each case to determine if the facts might provide for additional coverages available to a seriously injured party.