1. An operator may make available to any resident the service of holding in trust personal possessions and funds of the resident and shall, as authorized by the resident, expend the funds to meet the resident’s personal needs. In providing this service the operator shall:

(1) At the time of admission, provide each resident or such resident’s next of kin or legal guardian with a written statement explaining the resident’s rights regarding personal funds;

Attorney's Note

Under the Missouri Laws, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class A misdemeanorup to 1 yearup to $2,000
Class C misdemeanorup to 15 daysup to $750
For details, see Mo. Rev. Stat.§ 558.011

Terms Used In Missouri Laws 198.090

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Guardian: if used in a section in a context relating to property rights or obligations, means conservator of the estate as defined in chapter 475. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Incompetent: if used in a section in a context relating to actual occupational ability without reference to a court adjudication of incompetency, means the actual ability of a person to perform in that occupation. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020

(2) Accept funds and personal possessions from or for a resident for safekeeping and management, only upon written authorization by the resident or by such resident’s designee, or guardian in the case of an adjudged incompetent;

(3) Deposit any personal funds received from or on behalf of a resident in an account separate from the facility’s funds, except that an amount to be established by rule of the department of health and senior services may be kept in a petty cash fund for the resident’s personal needs;

(4) Keep a written account, available to a resident and such resident’s designee or guardian, maintained on a current basis for each resident, with written receipts, for all personal possessions and funds received by or deposited with the facility and for all disbursements made to or on behalf of the resident;

(5) Provide each resident or such resident’s designee or guardian with a quarterly accounting of all financial transactions made on behalf of the resident;

(6) Within five days of the discharge of a resident, provide the resident, or such resident’s designee or guardian, with an up-to-date accounting of the resident’s personal funds and return to the resident the balance of his or her funds and all his or her personal possessions;

(7) Upon the death of a resident who has been a recipient of aid, assistance, care, services, or who has had moneys expended on such resident’s behalf by the department of social services, provide the department a complete account of all the resident’s personal funds within sixty days from the date of death. The total amount paid to the decedent or expended upon such decedent’s behalf by the department shall be a debt due the state and recovered from the available funds upon the department’s claim on such funds. The department shall make a claim on the funds within sixty days from the date of the accounting of the funds by the facility. The nursing facility shall pay the claim made by the department of social services from the resident’s personal funds within sixty days. Where the name and address are reasonably ascertainable, the department of social services shall give notice of the debt due the state to the person whom the recipient had designated to receive the quarterly accounting of all financial transactions made under this section, or the resident’s guardian or conservator or the person or persons listed in nursing home records as a responsible party or the fiduciary of the resident’s estate. If any funds are available after the department’s claim, the remaining provisions of this section shall apply to the balance, unless the funds belonged to a person other than the resident, in which case the funds shall be paid to that person;

(8) Upon the death of a resident who has not been a recipient of aid, assistance, care, services, or who has not had moneys expended on such resident’s behalf by the department of social services or the department has not made a claim on the funds, provide the fiduciary of resident’s estate, at the fiduciary’s request, a complete account of all the resident’s personal funds and possessions and deliver to the fiduciary all possessions of the resident and the balance of the resident’s funds. If, after one year from the date of death, no fiduciary makes claim upon such funds or possessions, the operator shall notify the department that the funds remain unclaimed. Such unclaimed funds or possessions shall be disposed of as follows:

(a) If the unclaimed funds or possessions have a value totaling one hundred and fifty dollars or less, the funds or the proceeds of the sale of the possessions may be deposited in a fund to be used for the benefit of all residents of the facility by providing the residents social or educational activities. The facility shall keep an accounting of the acquisitions and expenditure of these funds; or

(b) If the unclaimed funds or possessions have a value greater than one hundred and fifty dollars, the funds or possessions shall be immediately presumed to be abandoned property under sections 447.500 to 447.585 and the procedures provided for in those sections shall apply notwithstanding any other provisions of those sections which require a period greater than two years for a presumption of abandonment;

(9) Upon ceasing to be the operator of a facility, all funds and property held in trust pursuant to this section shall be transferred to the new operator in accordance with sound accounting principles, and a closeout report signed by both the outgoing operator and the successor operator shall be prepared. The closeout report shall include a list of current balances of all funds held for residents respectively and an inventory of all property held for residents respectively. If the outgoing operator refuses to sign the closeout report, such operator shall state in writing the specific reasons for his or her failure to so sign, and the successor operator shall complete the report and attach an affidavit stating that the information contained therein is true to the best of his or her knowledge and belief. Such report shall be retained with all other records and accounts required to be maintained under this section;

(10) Not be required to invest any funds received from or on behalf of a resident, nor to increase the principal of any such funds.

2. Any owner, operator, manager, employee, or affiliate of an owner or operator who receives any personal property or anything else of value from a resident, shall, if the thing received has a value of ten dollars or more, make a written statement giving the date it was received, from whom it was received, and its estimated value. Statements required to be made pursuant to this subsection shall be retained by the operator and shall be made available for inspection by the department, or by the department of mental health when the resident has been placed by that department, and by the resident, and such resident’s designee or legal guardian. Any person who fails to make a statement required by this subsection is guilty of a class C misdemeanor.

3. No owner, operator, manager, employee, or affiliate of an owner or operator shall in one calendar year receive any personal property or anything else of value from the residents of any facility which have a total estimated value in excess of one hundred dollars.

4. Subsections 2 and 3 of this section shall not apply if the property or other thing of value is held in trust in accordance with subsection 1 of this section, is received in payment for services rendered or pursuant to the terms of a lawful contract, or is received from a resident who is related to the recipient within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity.

5. Any operator who fails to maintain records or who fails to maintain any resident’s personal funds in an account separate from the facility’s funds as required by this section shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor.

6. Any operator, or any affiliate or employee of an operator, who puts to his or her own use or the use of the facility or otherwise diverts from the resident’s use any personal funds of the resident shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

7. Any person having reasonable cause to believe that a misappropriation of a resident’s funds or property has occurred may report such information to the department.

8. For each report the division shall attempt to obtain the name and address of the facility, the name of the facility employee, the name of the resident, information regarding the nature of the misappropriation, the name of the complainant, and any other information which might be helpful in an investigation.

9. Upon receipt of a report, the department shall initiate an investigation.

10. If the investigation indicates probable misappropriation of property or funds of a resident, the investigator shall refer the complaint together with his or her report to the department director or the director’s designee for appropriate action.

11. Reports shall be confidential, as provided under section 192.2500.

12. Anyone, except any person participating in or benefitting from the misappropriation of funds, who makes a report pursuant to this section or who testifies in any administrative or judicial proceeding arising from the report shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability for making such a report or for testifying except for liability for perjury, unless such person acted negligently, recklessly, in bad faith, or with malicious purpose.

13. Within five working days after a report required to be made under this section is received, the person making the report shall be notified in writing of its receipt and of the initiation of the investigation.

14. No person who directs or exercises any authority in a facility shall evict, harass, dismiss or retaliate against a resident or employee because he or she or any member of his or her family has made a report of any violation or suspected violation of laws, ordinances or regulations applying to the facility which he or she has reasonable cause to believe has been committed or has occurred.

15. The department shall maintain the employee disqualification list and place on the employee disqualification list the names of any persons who have been finally determined by the department, pursuant to section 192.2490, to have misappropriated any property or funds of a resident while employed in any facility.