---
type: Authority
title: RSMo §§456.5-501 to 456.5-508 (Missouri Spendthrift and Asset Protection Trusts)
description: Missouri's spendthrift-trust provisions, the basis since 2004 for a Missouri asset protection trust; meaningful but narrower than the self-settled DAPTs some other states offer.
resource: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=456.5-505
tags: [asset-protection, spendthrift-trust, self-settled, missouri, creditor]
timestamp: 2026-06-22
jurisdiction: Missouri
author: Patrick Nolan
authority_type: statute
citation: RSMo §§456.5-501 to 456.5-508
---

# Summary

RSMo §§456.5-501 to 456.5-508 are Missouri's spendthrift-trust provisions. Missouri has authorized asset protection trusts since 2004, built on these spendthrift rules rather than as the broad self-settled domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs) that states like Nevada or South Dakota offer. A Missouri asset protection trust is a discretionary spendthrift trust that gives real but limited protection, with strict requirements and several ways for a creditor to defeat it.

# Operative text

Paraphrased from key sections, verified against the official source:

- §456.5-502: a spendthrift provision is valid if it restrains voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary's interest.
- §456.5-503: exceptions to the spendthrift provision (for example, a child-support judgment).
- §456.5-504: a beneficiary's interest in a discretionary trust is generally not enforceable by a creditor.
- §456.5-505(3): an irrevocable trust with a spendthrift provision prevents the settlor's own creditors from reaching the trust assets, except where the conveyance was fraudulent under Chapter 428, or to the extent the settlor was the sole beneficiary or retained the power to amend the trust.

The firm's statement of the Missouri requirements: the trustee must be a Missouri resident or a commercial trustee with its principal place of business in Missouri; all or part of the trust's administration must occur in Missouri; the trust must be discretionary with no mandatory distributions; and creditors have four years to challenge the trust's establishment. Missouri does not provide the broad protection some other states give DAPTs, and there are numerous ways to reach the assets.

# Decision rule

If you want Missouri asset-protection-trust treatment, use an irrevocable, discretionary spendthrift trust under §§456.5-501 to 456.5-508 with a Missouri-qualified trustee and Missouri administration, do not keep sole-beneficiary status or the power to amend, and fund it well before any claim; a transfer that is fraudulent under Chapter 428 is never protected, and the four-year challenge window and the fraudulent-transfer act both turn on timing.

# Related

- [Asset Protection Trusts in Missouri](/okf/asset-protection/asset-protection-trusts.md)
- [Protecting What You Have Built](/okf/asset-protection/protect-against-lawsuits.md)
- [RSMo Chapter 456 (Trust Code)](/okf/authorities/missouri/rsmo-456-trust-code.md)
- [RSMo Chapter 428 (Fraudulent Transfer Act)](/okf/authorities/missouri/rsmo-428-fraudulent-transfer.md)
- Official source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=456.5-505