Mississippi
Death Laws & End-of-Life Guide

At a Glance

Mississippi death certificate rules.

Two different deadlines run at once here, and people mix them up. The certificate itself has to be filed with the Office of Vital Records within five days after death, and the funeral director handles that. The 72-hour clock is the doctor's: the attending physician certifies the cause of death within 72 hours after death, or the medical examiner does it within 72 hours of taking jurisdiction. The Mississippi State Department of Health processes copy requests, with records mailed within 7 to 10 business days of ordering.

Who can order copies.

Certified copies of death certificates can be ordered by eligible individuals, such as immediate family members or legal representatives. Requests can be made by mail, online, by phone, or in person at the Mississippi State Department of Health's Ridgeland Office.

• -Mississippi State Department of Health, Vital Records, P.O. Box 1700, Jackson, MS 39215-1700 (https://msdh.ms.gov/page/31,0,109,809.html)
• -Cost: approximately $17 per certified copy for the first copy, $6 for additional copies.
• -Online and phone orders are available through private vital records services, which may incur additional fees.

Who can order a death certificate in Mississippi?

A certified copy goes only to someone with a legitimate and tangible interest: a parent listed on the record, the spouse, a sibling, grandparent, child or grandchild with proof of relationship, the informant on the record, a legal guardian with the court papers, a legal representative of one of those people, someone with a court order, or the funeral home that took possession of the body. Genealogy requests get plain-paper copies. Certified copies come from Mississippi's Mississippi Vital Records, Mississippi State Department of Health, with a walk-in office in Ridgeland, by mail with a cashier's check or money order, in person in Ridgeland, or online or by phone through VitalChek for an added fee.

How do I get a death certificate in Mississippi?

Order certified copies from Mississippi's vital records office; this section's source link is the official process. The funeral home or cremation provider usually orders the first copies for you. Ask each bank, insurer, court, and agency whether it needs its own certified copy before you decide how many to order.

How much does a death certificate cost in Mississippi?

$17 per certified copy in Mississippi, as shown above. Additional-copy pricing varies; the official source linked in this section has the current fee schedule.

At a Glance

When probate is required.

In Mississippi, probate is generally required for estates where the deceased owned assets solely in their name that don't pass automatically to heirs. If the entire probate estate, wherever it sits, comes to $75,000 or less after liens and encumbrances, a successor can use a small estate affidavit instead of formal probate. Two conditions come with it: at least 30 days must have passed since the death, and the affidavit reaches only tangible personal property and instruments like debts, stock, and choses in action. It doesn't transfer real estate, so a house in the decedent's name alone puts you back in chancery court. (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-322)

If you die without a will.

If a person dies in Mississippi without a valid will (intestate), state law dictates how their assets are distributed. This process, known as intestate succession, prioritizes the closest relatives.

• -Spouse and children: The spouse inherits one-half (1/2) of the estate, and the children inherit the other one-half (1/2).
• -Spouse, no children: The spouse inherits the entire estate.
• -Children, no spouse: The children inherit the entire estate.
• -No spouse or children: The estate passes to parents, then siblings, and so on, according to a statutory order of priority. If no relatives are found, the estate escheats to the state.

Avoiding probate.

Mississippi residents can use various methods to avoid probate, such as establishing revocable living trusts, using beneficiary designations on financial accounts and life insurance policies, and holding property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship. These strategies allow assets to pass directly to beneficiaries outside of the probate court process.

Handwritten wills.

Mississippi accepts a will written entirely and signed by the person in their own hand with no witnesses (Miss. Code § 91-5-1). Any other will needs two or more credible witnesses. If nobody contests it, a handwritten will can be proved by the affidavits of at least two people with no stake in the estate who know the person's handwriting and signature (§ 91-7-10).

Source: Miss. Code §§ 91-5-1, 91-7-10 (unofficial copy of the 2018 official code, Public.Resource.Org) ↗

How long does probate take in Mississippi?

A straightforward Mississippi probate typically runs several months to over a year, as shown in this section. Contested wills, missing heirs, or real property in other states stretch it well past that.

What is the small-estate limit in Mississippi?

$75,000. Estates under that figure can use the simplified process or affidavit covered above instead of full probate.

Do I need a probate attorney in Mississippi?

Not always. If the estate qualifies for the simplified process covered above, many people handle it without a lawyer. Hire one for full probate, a contested will, or property in more than one state. Before you hire anyone, know the fee structures: hourly, flat, and (in a few states) statutory percentages. Our probate attorney cost guide covers what each should run you.

Does Mississippi allow transfer-on-death deeds?

Yes. Mississippi authorizes the transfer-on-death deed under Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-27-1 to 91-27-37 (Mississippi Real Property Transfer-on-Death Act, eff. July 1, 2020). Record it while you’re alive and the property passes to your named beneficiary at death, outside probate, revocable any time before then. Mississippi adopted a TOD deed act in 2020 (SB 2851); the deed must be recorded before death and property passing under it remains reachable by the decedent's creditors.

Source: Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-27-1 to 91-27-37 (Mississippi Real Property Transfer-on-Death Act, eff. July 1, 2020) ↗

Time off work after a death in Mississippi

Mississippi doesn't require a private employer to give bereavement leave, paid or unpaid. Whatever you get is your employer's policy, and it can be changed or refused.

Who it covers. No private-sector coverage at all. The three-day rule quoted above reaches only state government employees, under the Mississippi State Personnel Board's handbook.

How much. None for private employees. Up to 3 days of the employee's own accrued Major Medical Leave per death in the immediate family, state employees only.

Paid or unpaid. Not applicable for private employees. State employees are drawing their own accrued paid leave, so this is a permitted use rather than a separate grant of days.

Mississippi requires nothing of private employers here, and there's no state sick leave or vacation mandate to borrow from either. The only bereavement rule found in Mississippi's official documents is for state government workers: the State Personnel Board's handbook, sourced to Miss. Code Ann. § 25-3-95, lets them use up to three days of their own accrued Major Medical Leave per death in the immediate family, with no requirement to burn personal or compensatory leave first. The handbook defines immediate family as 'only a spouse, parent, stepparent, sibling, child, stepchild, grandchild, grandparent, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law', and says 'Child means a biological, adopted or foster child, or a child for whom the individual stands or stood in loco parentis.' For everyone else in Mississippi, time off after a death is whatever the handbook or contract says, and once an employer has a written policy the state holds it to those terms. Nothing found in Mississippi law covers pregnancy loss leave.

Source: Mississippi State Employee Handbook, effective July 1, 2026, Mississippi State Personnel Board, published in the Secretary of State's administrative code repository. The handbook attributes its Major Medical Leave rules to Miss. Code Ann. § 25-3-95. State employees only; no Mississippi statute covers private employers. ↗

Can I leave money to care for my pet in Mississippi?

Yes. Mississippi enforces pet trusts under Miss. Code Ann. § 91-8-408, so money you set aside for an animal is legally binding on whoever you put in charge of it. The trust ends when your animal dies, or when the last of them dies if you covered more than one, and Mississippi sets no year limit on it. Whoever you name in the trust enforces it, and if you name nobody a court appoints someone. Mississippi is stricter than most states about who else can step in: a person has to show the court a demonstrated interest in your animal's welfare before asking it to appoint an enforcer or remove one who isn't doing the job. A judge can cut the amount back if it holds more than your animal's care requires. Unless your trust says where the extra should go, it comes back to you if you're living, and otherwise to whoever inherits from you. Name your enforcer and a backup in the trust itself. Mississippi's demonstrated-interest test makes it harder for a friend or a rescue to volunteer for the job later. The 21-year limit you may read about sits in the next section over, § 91-8-409, and covers other purpose trusts; it doesn't touch your pet trust.

Source: Miss. Code Ann. § 91-8-408

How to set one up, and what it costs →

Die without a will in Mississippi and this law picks your heirs.

If you die intestate (without a valid will) in Mississippi, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-1-1 to 91-1-31 (esp. 91-1-3, 91-1-5, 91-1-7, 91-1-11); escheat: § 89-11-1 decides who inherits everything a will would have covered. The shares depend on exactly who survives you: spouse, children, parents, siblings. What you told people you wanted doesn't matter. Only a signed will changes these defaults.

What your spouse gets.

What your spouse inherits depends on who else survives you. The four common family shapes:

• -Spouse only (no descendants or parents): the entire estate in fee simple
• -Spouse + parents (no descendants): the entire estate, parents get nothing
• -Spouse + joint descendants: a child's share, equal split between spouse and each child
• -Spouse + blended family: same child's share, no distinction for stepfamilies
• -Source: Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-1-1 to 91-1-31; § 89-11-1

Children's shares.

The children take everything in equal parts, and a dead child's descendants split that child's share.

No spouse, no children: the line of succession.

With no spouse or descendants, the parents and the siblings (and dead siblings' descendants) all inherit together in equal parts as one class; after that, grandparents and uncles and aunts share equally, then the next of kin by civil-law degree, and with no kin the property escheats to the state (§ 89-11-1).

At a Glance

What Mississippi requires.

Mississippi law allows individuals to make advance healthcare decisions through an Advance Health-Care Directive, which can include a Living Will and a Healthcare Power of Attorney. You sign it, and then you pick one of two routes: two qualified adult witnesses, or acknowledgment before a Mississippi notary. One or the other is enough; you don't need both. If you use witnesses, neither can be the agent you named and neither can be a healthcare provider or an employee of a healthcare provider or facility. At least one of the two also has to be someone who isn't related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption and who wouldn't inherit any part of your estate. (Miss. Code Ann. § 41-41-205)

Healthcare power of attorney.

In Mississippi, a Healthcare Power of Attorney (HCPOA) allows you to designate an agent to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. This can be a standalone document or combined within an Advance Health-Care Directive. The agent's authority typically begins when a physician determines you lack the capacity to make your own decisions.

POLST / MOLST forms.

Mississippi doesn't formally recognize Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) or Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) forms as distinct from advance directives. However, the intent and medical orders typically found in POLST/MOLST forms can be incorporated into a comprehensive Advance Health-Care Directive, ensuring that specific end-of-life wishes are documented and legally binding.

Where do I get Mississippi's advance directive form?

Start with Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-41-205, 41-41-209 (advance health-care directive), linked as this section's source. Use the current form or sample that the official source provides or identifies. Form authority and execution requirements vary by state, so confirm the source before signing and get legal help if your situation or the instructions are unclear.

Does Mississippi require a notary or witnesses for an advance directive?

Mississippi requires 2 adult witnesses; notarization isn’t required. Anyone 18 or older of sound mind can make one.

At a Glance

Cremation rules in Mississippi.

Mississippi has no statutory waiting period before cremation. Authorization for cremation must be provided in writing by the legally authorized person, typically the next of kin, under Miss. Code Ann. § 73-11-58. Crematories must be licensed by the Mississippi State Board of Funeral Service (§ 73-11-69).

Green burial and alternatives.

Mississippi law permits green burial practices, which involve natural decomposition without embalming, concrete vaults, or non-biodegradable materials. While human composting and alkaline hydrolysis aren't explicitly addressed in Mississippi statutes, green burial is allowed in designated natural burial grounds or cemeteries that permit such practices. Home burial is also generally permitted outside of municipal limits, subject to local zoning and health regulations.

• -Green burial: Allowed in Mississippi, typically in natural burial grounds or hybrid cemeteries.
• -Human composting: Not explicitly addressed by Mississippi law, generally not available.
• -Alkaline hydrolysis (aquamation): Not explicitly addressed by Mississippi law, generally not available.

Funeral home regulations.

Funeral homes in Mississippi are regulated by the Mississippi State Board of Funeral Service, which handles licensing and oversight. Funeral establishments must disclose pricing information to consumers, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Funeral Rule applies, requiring itemized price lists and other consumer protections.

Who decides what happens to the body in Mississippi

Mississippi sets this order by statute. The first person on the list who is available and willing decides, and a funeral home takes its instructions from them.

1. the decedent's own written authorization, executed through the Self-Directed Disposition Authorization document, which supersedes the next of kin entirely (the list below applies only if the decedent left none)
2. DD Form 93 designee, if the decedent died during military service
3. surviving spouse
4. surviving child 18 or older
5. grandchild 18 or older
6. either surviving parent
7. surviving sibling 18 or older
8. a person acting as a representative of the decedent under a signed authorization of the decedent
9. guardian of the person at the time of death
10. next degree of kinship who would inherit intestate, 18 or older
11. a person who exhibited special care and concern for the decedent and is willing and able to decide
12. representative of the institution, where the body was donated to science or death occurred in a nursing home or private institution charged with arrangements
13. any person willing to assume responsibility
14. public administrator, medical examiner, coroner, state-appointed guardian, or other public official, for indigents and others whose disposition is the state's responsibility

Naming someone in advance. The Self-Directed Disposition Authorization document, § 73-11-58(1). It is the decedent's own advance authorization of disposition and it overrides the next of kin outright. Mississippi does not put a named agent at the top of the survivor list: a person acting under a signed authorization of the decedent ranks seventh, at (1)(g), below spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings.

When the same tier disagrees. § 73-11-58(4): if the funeral director, funeral service practitioner, or establishment receives contrary written consents from members of the same highest-priority class, it acts on the directive backed by the greatest number of consents. If the numbers are equal, it acts on the earlier consent, unless whoever gave the later consent obtains a court order from a court of competent jurisdiction where the establishment sits, filed and paid for by the family within twenty days of the death.

Anyone finally adjudicated at fault for the decedent's death, criminally or civilly, is barred from deciding the disposition no matter their priority, and the chancery court of the county of the decedent's residence designates the next available person (a $5,000 bond may be required while a criminal prosecution is ongoing). Two deadlines matter: a person who does not act within five days of the death waives the right, and if nobody consents within ten days the coroner for the county where the funeral establishment is located, or another person that county designates, can sign the authorization.

Source: Miss. Code Ann. § 73-11-58 (repealed effective July 1, 2029; last amended by Laws 2023, ch. 450, § 5, eff. July 1, 2023; reenacted without change, Laws 2025, ch. 331, § 14; brought forward without change, Laws 2025, ch. 347, § 13) ↗

If you can't afford the funeral in Mississippi

Three separate pots of money, on three different agencies' websites, collected nowhere. A family that qualifies for all three usually claims none of them.

1. When nobody can pay. County indigent burial ("pauper burial"). There is no state program and no state money. Miss. Code Ann. 43-31-29 requires that "The board shall establish an indigent burial policy which shall be spread upon the minutes of the board. The policy shall establish standards and eligibility criteria for the administration of indigent burials." A family finds their program by calling the county board of supervisors' office or the chancery clerk in the county where the person died and asking for the county's indigent burial policy as adopted in the board minutes. The county board of supervisors, in the county where the person died. Municipalities have a parallel duty under 43-31-31 for strangers found dead within town, city, or village limits, with the charges billed back to the county.

What it pays. Not published. The statute sets no figure and leaves it fully to the board: "The board, in its discretion, may then pay the full cost of burial or may contribute funds to assist in the cost of the burial." For municipal burials of strangers, 43-31-31 adds "but the board of supervisors may fix maximum charges for such burials." Individual county policies carry dollar amounts, but we found no Mississippi county publishing one on an official county page.

What disqualifies you. Adjudication as a pauper by the board of supervisors: "The board may be able to establish the status of someone as a pauper, either before or after his death, based upon available records of recent public assistance and any other available evidence. After review of the records, the board may adjudicate a person as a pauper and shall spread upon its minutes the adjudication." The duty covers paupers found or being in the county even without a settlement there, plus "all strangers dying in the county."

The official page ↗

2. If the death was caused by a crime. "Funeral expenses, up to $6,500 and transportation costs to make arrangements and attend funeral, up to $800 per claim." Other published limits on the same official form: medical expenses up to $15,000 per claim, counseling for family members up to $3,500 per claim, lost wages up to $600 per week for 52 weeks not to exceed $20,000 per claim, and "Overall maximum award for expenses incurred is $20,000."

Mississippi crime victim compensation ↗

3. Money the person was already owed. Search Mississippi's unclaimed property before you borrow anything. Searching and claiming are free.

Mississippi unclaimed property ↗

In Mississippi the answer lives in one county's board minutes and nowhere else, which makes it hard for a family to navigate. Two counties an hour apart can pay full cremation or nothing. The crime victim fund is run by the Attorney General's Division of Victim Compensation and is described on its own site as 100% offender-funded rather than tax-funded.

At a Glance

Mississippi doesn't have an estate tax.

Mississippi doesn't impose a state-level estate tax. The Department of Revenue puts a date on it: no Mississippi estate tax return has been required for anyone dying on or after January 1, 2005, after the federal state death tax credit was replaced with a deduction. Your estate won't be taxed by the state whatever it's worth. Federal estate tax laws may still apply to very large estates.

Mississippi doesn't have an inheritance tax.

Mississippi doesn't levy an inheritance tax, and it has no gift tax either. Beneficiaries who inherit property or assets from someone in Mississippi pay no state tax on the inheritance.

Federal estate tax.

The federal estate tax applies to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for married couples. This is separate from any state estate or inheritance tax. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent, so the drop to roughly $7 million once scheduled under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act never took effect.

Does Mississippi have an estate tax?

No. Mississippi has no state estate tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for a married couple.

Does Mississippi have an inheritance tax?

No. Mississippi doesn’t tax inheritances. Heirs owe no state tax on what they receive.

What is the federal estate tax exemption for 2026?

$15 million per person, $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent. Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax.

At a Glance

Registering as a donor in Mississippi.

In Mississippi, you can register to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor through several convenient methods. The decision to donate can be made when obtaining or renewing your driver's license or state ID, or by registering online with the Mississippi Donor Registry.

• -Mississippi Donor Registry: Register online at MORA (Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency) website (http://msora.org/become-a-donor/register/).
• -Department of Public Safety (DMV): Indicate your donor status when applying for or renewing your driver's license or state ID.
• -Advance Directive: You can also express your wishes for organ donation within your Advance Health-Care Directive.

Your family can't override an adult donor's decision.

Under the Revised Mississippi Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, a registered donor's decision is legally binding. Nobody else can make, amend, or revoke the gift after your death (Miss. Code Ann. § 41-39-115(a)). One exception: if the donor is an unemancipated minor, a parent who is reasonably available can revoke or amend the gift (Miss. Code Ann. § 41-39-115(g)). Organ procurement organizations still consult families in practice, so tell yours what you decided.