Mo. Rev. Stat. § 58.590

58.590. When costs to be paid by relatives. — Whenever any known person shall have died from any cause other than violence or casualty, and a certificate of the cause of death is necessary for the burial of the body of such person, the coroner shall, at the request of the relatives or friends of such person, hold a view or inquest on the body, and the person making such request shall pay all costs, fees and expenses of such inquest or view, nor shall the county be liable for any of them unless it shall appear to the county commission that in such a view or inquest there appeared reasonable cause to suspect that said dead person came to his death by violence or casualty, in which case the costs, fees and expenses of such view or inquest shall be paid as in ordinary cases; and although such person may have died from disease or natural cause, where, under this section, the county is not liable for the fees, costs and expenses of a view or inquest, and the same cannot be made out of the person requesting the same, or out of the estate of the deceased, the county commission may, in its discretion, allow and pay the fees of necessary witnesses at the view or inquest; but all services of the coroner, constable and other officers in or about the same shall be rendered gratuitously, as in the case of a suit by a plaintiff permitted to sue as a poor person.

(RSMo 1939 § 13253) Prior revisions: 1929 § 11634; 1919 § 5942; 1909 § 2947