Missouri Conservator Annual Report Requirements

The Appointment Was the Easy Part

Getting Letters of Guardianship or Conservatorship issued feels like the finish line. It isn't. From the anniversary date of your appointment forward, Missouri probate law requires ongoing reporting that documents how you're managing the ward's personal welfare and financial affairs. Miss a deadline or file an incomplete report, and the court can cite you, suspend your authority, or hold you personally liable.

There are two separate reporting obligations, and they apply to different roles.

Guardian's Annual Status Report

If you're the guardian of the person — responsible for medical consent, housing, and personal welfare — you must file a Guardian's Annual Status Report every year on the anniversary date of your Letters of Guardianship.

The report must detail:

• Current address: Where the ward is living and whether that's changed since the last report
• Physical and mental condition: A summary of the ward's health, including any hospitalizations, medication changes, or new diagnoses
• Personal visits: A synopsis of how often you visited the ward and the nature of those visits
• Participation in decision-making: How you encouraged the ward to participate in decisions about their own life — this isn't a formality; courts take the self-determination mandate seriously
• Services and supports: What programs, therapies, or community services the ward is receiving

St. Louis City uses a standardized Form 15 for this report, available through the 22nd Circuit's online portal. Other counties may accept narrative reports or have their own templates — check with your local probate clerk for the accepted format.

Conservator's Annual Settlement

The Annual Settlement is substantially more demanding than the status report. If you're the conservator — managing the ward's finances and assets — you must file within 60 days of the anniversary of your appointment.

This filing requires a complete accounting of:

• All assets under management: Bank account balances, investment values, real estate, personal property
• All income received: SSI, SSDI, pension payments, trust distributions, employment income, interest, dividends
• All expenditures: Every dollar spent on behalf of the protectee, organized by category
• Supporting documentation: Bank statements, receipts, and vouchers backing every transaction

The probate court reviews these settlements against the supporting records. Discrepancies can trigger follow-up questions, and unexplained gaps can lead to further court action.

What It Actually Costs to Stay Compliant

The ongoing financial burden of conservatorship reporting catches many families off guard:

• Annual administrative fee: Many counties charge $30 per year to keep the case open (St. Louis County, Greene County, and Barry County all assess this fee)
• Surety bond premium: Renewed annually, typically $100 per $10,000 of estate assets
• Professional preparation: Many families hire an attorney or CPA to prepare the annual settlement, especially when the ward has multiple income sources or investments — costs vary by estate and provider
• Attorney fees under statutory schedule: RSMo § 473.153 establishes a sliding scale for probate attorney compensation based on the value of assets administered

Over a multi-decade guardianship (common when the ward is an 18-year-old with a lifelong disability), these annual costs compound significantly. Bond premiums, professional fees, and court charges depend on the assets, county, and complexity of the case.

Consequences of Not Filing

Failing to file the annual settlement or status report on time is not a minor administrative oversight in Missouri probate law. The court can:

• Issue a citation: A formal order requiring you to appear and explain the delay
• Suspend your authority: The court can temporarily revoke your guardianship or conservatorship powers
• Impose personal liability: If the ward's assets are mismanaged or unaccounted for during the lapse, you can be held personally responsible for losses
• Remove you as fiduciary: Persistent non-compliance is grounds for the court to replace you with another guardian or conservator

If you're struggling to meet the deadline — because of illness, a complex accounting situation, or difficulty gathering records — contact the probate clerk before the due date to ask about the local extension process.

Practical Tips for Annual Compliance

Keep a dedicated bank account. The single most effective compliance step is maintaining a separate bank account exclusively for the ward's funds. Commingling the ward's money with your personal finances makes the annual settlement exponentially harder to prepare and is a red flag for court examiners.

Track expenses in real time. Waiting until the settlement is due to reconstruct a year's worth of transactions from bank statements is a common mistake. A simple spreadsheet with date, amount, payee, and category — updated weekly — turns the annual filing from a multi-day project into a few hours of formatting.

Keep supporting records. Retain bank statements, receipts, and vouchers for all transactions, organized by month.

Calendar the deadline. Your filing is due 60 days after your appointment anniversary (for the settlement) or on the anniversary itself (for the status report). Set reminders at 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days before the due date.

When a Conservatorship Might Not Be Necessary

If the reporting burden sounds disproportionate to your situation, it might be. For many adults with disabilities whose only income is SSI, a representative payee designation through the Social Security Administration handles benefit management with simpler federal reporting — no surety bond, no court-supervised accounting, no annual probate fees.

An ABLE account can hold additional savings without triggering SSI resource limits. A durable power of attorney, if your child has the capacity to execute one, provides financial management authority without court oversight.

The Missouri Adult Guardianship & Alternatives Guide includes fillable tracker templates for both the annual status report and the annual settlement, along with a side-by-side comparison of ongoing costs for every guardianship alternative.

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