Rule 41: General · Last amended January 1, 2018 · Last verified July 22, 2026
Adopted Feb. 1, 1972, eff. Sept. 1, 1972; Amended May 18, 1973, eff. Jan. 1, 1974; Amended Sept. 21, 1979, eff. March 1, 1980; Amended Jan. 25, 1984, eff. Aug. 1, 1984; Amended Jan. 15, 1987, eff. Aug. 1, 1987; Amended June 1, 1993, eff. Jan. 1, 1994; Amended June 21, 2002, eff. Jan. 1, 2003; Amended January 27, 2011; Sept. 1, 2011; Amended Jan. 1, 2018.
Rule 41.01 is the on-ramp for the entire body of Missouri civil procedure. It tells you where Rules 41 through 101 apply: civil actions pending in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, civil actions before a circuit judge (other than those governed by the probate code), and civil actions before an associate circuit judge sitting as a circuit judge. If your case does not fit one of those descriptions, this set of rules is not the starting point for your research.
Probate cases get their own carve-out. Only a short list of rules — among them Rule 41 itself, Rule 54.18, Rule 55.03, and the rule groups covering 56 through 62 and Rule 67.03 — apply automatically in the probate division. A probate judge can order additional rules into play for a particular case, but that order has to spell out exactly which rules or subdivisions apply and set a deadline for compliance, and it has to be served on every party. The same care-in-drafting requirement follows a case if it moves from probate to the circuit division: the subdivisions of Rule 55 (other than 55.03) do not automatically come along for the ride unless the circuit division enters its own order saying so.
Associate circuit division cases are governed by Rules 41 through 101 unless some other law says otherwise, with one guardrail: no other law can override Rule 55.03 or Rule 55.22 in that setting. And if a case starts in the associate circuit division and later transfers to the circuit division, any parts of Rule 55 that did not apply before the transfer still do not apply afterward unless the circuit division orders it, again with a specific list of rules and a compliance deadline.
Finally, the rule folds in electronic filing. Rule 103 and Court Operating Rule 27 govern any matter subject to e-filing, and if Rule 103 ever conflicts with anything in Rules 41 through 101, Rule 103 wins.
No. It governs civil actions in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, before a circuit judge outside the probate code, and before an associate circuit judge acting as a circuit judge. Other case types, including most probate matters, follow a different set of rules unless a judge orders otherwise.
Only a short, named list applies automatically. A probate judge can extend other rules to a case, but must do so by an order that names the specific rules and sets a deadline, and that order must be served on the parties.
Not automatically. Subdivisions of Rule 55 other than Rule 55.03 stay out of the case unless the circuit division enters an order bringing them in, and that order has to identify which subdivisions apply and when compliance is due.
They follow the same Rules 41 through 101 except where another law provides a different procedure. Whatever that other law says, it cannot override Rule 55.03 or Rule 55.22.
Rule 103, along with Court Operating Rule 27, controls any matter involving electronic filing. If Rule 103 conflicts with any rule between 41 and 101, Rule 103 governs.
Start with the rules named directly in Rule 41.01(b): Rule 41, Rule 54.18, Rule 55.03, Rules 56 through 62, and Rule 67.03. Anything beyond that list needs a judge’s order to apply.