---
type: Authority
title: RSMo §473.398 (Medicaid estate recovery)
description: Missouri's estate-recovery statute, authorizing the state to recover correctly paid public-assistance benefits from a deceased recipient's estate when authorized.
resource: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.398
tags: [medicaid, estate-recovery, probate, missouri]
timestamp: 2026-06-22
jurisdiction: Missouri
author: Patrick Nolan
authority_type: statute
citation: RSMo §473.398
---

# Summary

RSMo §473.398 is Missouri's estate-recovery statute. It authorizes the state to recover correctly paid public-assistance benefits, including MO HealthNet long-term-care benefits, from the estate of a deceased recipient in the circumstances the statute allows. It is the state-law counterpart to the federal estate-recovery mandate at 42 U.S.C. §1396p(b).

# Operative text

Paraphrased: §473.398 authorizes recovery of public assistance funds from a recipient's estate when authorized. Missouri pursues recovery against the probate estate. The statutory definitions that bear on what counts as the recoverable "estate" sit in the separate definitions section, §473.399; whether recovery reaches non-probate assets is a definitional question this node does not assert. Read the full section at the official source linked above.

# Decision rule

If a person received MO HealthNet long-term-care benefits, expect a possible claim against the probate estate after death; planning that keeps assets out of the probate estate, such as a properly structured irrevocable trust or deed done well in advance, limits or avoids recovery.

# Related

- [Medicaid Myths](/okf/elder-law-medicaid/medicaid-myths.md)
- [TOD Deeds and Medicaid Estate Recovery](/okf/elder-law-medicaid/tod-deeds-medicaid-estate-recovery.md)
- [Protecting Your Home from Medicaid Spend-Down](/okf/elder-law-medicaid/protecting-home-medicaid-spend-down.md)
- [42 U.S.C. §1396p](/okf/authorities/federal/42-usc-1396p-medicaid.md)
- Official source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.398