State Unemployment Benefits in Missouri

Reporting a death

A claimant's death is reported to the Division of Employment Security so benefit payments stop.¹

Benefits at and after the death

Under 8 CSR 10-3.060, benefits due a deceased claimant are paid to the person issued letters testamentary or of administration on an application filed within 30 days of death.^{2, 3}

Who may claim a final payment

If no application for letters testamentary or of administration is filed within 30 days of death, 8 CSR 10-3.060 pays the benefits to the surviving spouse.²

If no spouse survives and the claimant left unmarried minor children, the director may direct payment to their guardian, a person or institution that assumed their support, a person who furnished necessities of equal or greater value, or a person who paid last-illness or burial expenses of equal or greater value.²

Deadline

A claim must be presented in writing within 60 days of death, and the director may extend the time for good cause. Benefits not claimed in time remain in the unemployment compensation fund.²

Claimant portal

Claims are filed and managed in UInteract at uinteract.labor.mo.gov.⁴

Governing law: Mo. Rev. Stat. 288.060.6; 8 CSR 10-3.060 (Benefits Due Deceased Claimants)

Application for letters testamentary or of administration, for the estate representative to receive the benefits

within 30 days of the claimant's death; the benefits are paid to the surviving spouse or, at the director's discretion, to another person the rule names²

Written claim for the benefits due a deceased claimant

within 60 days, extendable by the director for good cause of the claimant's death; the benefits are not paid and remain in the unemployment compensation fund²

1. 1.Division of Employment Security (Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations)
2. 2.8 CSR 10-3.060, Benefits Due Deceased Claimants
3. 3.Mo. Rev. Stat. 288.060
4. 4.UInteract (Missouri Division of Employment Security)