How to get excused from jury duty in St. Louis County, Missouri
The excusal routes St. Louis County, Missouri actually recognizes — what each one needs, who decides, and where it goes.
Answered by the Jury Assembly Room on 22 September 2026 — and St. Louis County is the first county in this project to say that both routes are real. Asked whether a financial hardship request is decided on paper or raised in person, the office answered: “before if submitted in a timely manner. Otherwise in person during jury selection.” So the split here is not about which county you are in. It is about whether you act in time. File early and it is decided before your report date; leave it and you are making the case to a judge at jury selection. The office did not define timely — your summons does, and the request goes through the online juror qualification form the summons names. Two more worth having. 75 is the age, and the office puts it as a grant rather than a request the court weighs: “if a person over 75 requests to be excused, the court will grant it.” And nothing here is permanent — an excusal covers “only for that summons”, and no excusal removes your name from the list.
Your routes in St. Louis County, Missouri
PostponementIncluded — one, up to six months
One postponement, up to six months out — and this office confirms it sends you notification rather than leaving you to check.
Jury Assembly Room, St. Louis County Circuit Court — by email, 22 September 2026. “1 up to 6 months out. Yes we send notification.”
Six months is generous by this project’s standards — many counties measure a postponement in weeks, and several allow no more than a move to the next term. It is also the only relief here that does not require you to argue anything.
Nothing here is permanent. The office states that an excusal runs “only for that summons”, and that no excusal takes a name off the list — “anyone with a drivers license, state ID, or registered voter can be randomly selected to receive a summons at any time.” A postponement is therefore not a smaller version of an excusal; it is a different thing. The excusal ends this summons, the postponement moves it, and neither stops the next one arriving.
See the full detail →Six months is generous by this project’s standards — many counties measure a postponement in weeks, and several allow no more than a move to the next term. It is also the only relief here that does not require you to argue anything.
Nothing here is permanent. The office states that an excusal runs “only for that summons”, and that no excusal takes a name off the list — “anyone with a drivers license, state ID, or registered voter can be randomly selected to receive a summons at any time.” A postponement is therefore not a smaller version of an excusal; it is a different thing. The excusal ends this summons, the postponement moves it, and neither stops the next one arriving.
Age 75 or olderIncluded — 75+, and the court grants it
The office states the position as a grant rather than a request the court weighs: over 75, on request, the court will excuse you. It is not permanent, and it does not remove you from the list.
Jury Assembly Room, St. Louis County Circuit Court — by email, 22 September 2026. “The law in the state of MO is that if a person over 75 requests to be excused, the court will grant it.”
Note the shape of that sentence. Most counties in this project describe age as a ground the court may accept. This office describes it as something the court will grant on request. That is the office’s own characterisation of the law it works under, and it is reproduced here as such rather than as a guarantee of your outcome.
The age is 75, not 70. Several counties in this project use 70, and five years is the kind of difference people get wrong in both directions — turning up when they need not have, or assuming an exemption they do not yet hold.
Nothing here is permanent. The office states that an excusal runs “only for that summons”, and that no excusal takes a name off the list — “anyone with a drivers license, state ID, or registered voter can be randomly selected to receive a summons at any time.” Cape Girardeau County, asked the same question on the same day, said the opposite — that an age excusal there is permanent. Two Missouri counties, one question, two answers. That is exactly why this project asks county by county instead of reasoning from the statute, and why nothing on this page is carried across from anywhere else.
See the full detail →Note the shape of that sentence. Most counties in this project describe age as a ground the court may accept. This office describes it as something the court will grant on request. That is the office’s own characterisation of the law it works under, and it is reproduced here as such rather than as a guarantee of your outcome.
The age is 75, not 70. Several counties in this project use 70, and five years is the kind of difference people get wrong in both directions — turning up when they need not have, or assuming an exemption they do not yet hold.
Nothing here is permanent. The office states that an excusal runs “only for that summons”, and that no excusal takes a name off the list — “anyone with a drivers license, state ID, or registered voter can be randomly selected to receive a summons at any time.” Cape Girardeau County, asked the same question on the same day, said the opposite — that an age excusal there is permanent. Two Missouri counties, one question, two answers. That is exactly why this project asks county by county instead of reasoning from the statute, and why nothing on this page is carried across from anywhere else.
Financial hardship, filed in timeIn time, and it is decided before your date
You write the request. Submitted in a timely manner it is decided before your report date, on what you sent. The office did not say what timely means — your summons does.
Jury Assembly Room, St. Louis County Circuit Court — by email, 22 September 2026. Asked who writes a financial hardship request: “the Juror.” Asked whether it is decided from what is sent in or raised in person: “before if submitted in a timely manner. Otherwise in person during jury selection.” Asked about a form: “the juror qualification form is completed online per instructions provided on the jury summons.”
This county does not make you guess which process you are in. It makes the process depend on you. Both routes are open, and which one you end up in is decided by when you file, not by anything about your circumstances.
The office did not define “timely”. Your summons does, and the difference is the whole of it: in time and it is decided on what you sent, late and you are making the case to a judge on the day.
The office named no requirement about contents or figures. Some courts in this project ask for the arithmetic and will not act without it; at least one has said in terms that it does not want financial information. St. Louis County said neither. Work the numbers out for your own sake — knowing what the time actually costs you is worth having — and ask before you send them.
This county does not make you guess which process you are in. It makes the process depend on you. Both routes are open, and which one you end up in is decided by when you file, not by anything about your circumstances.
The office did not define “timely”. Your summons does, and the difference is the whole of it: in time and it is decided on what you sent, late and you are making the case to a judge on the day.
The office named no requirement about contents or figures. Some courts in this project ask for the arithmetic and will not act without it; at least one has said in terms that it does not want financial information. St. Louis County said neither. Work the numbers out for your own sake — knowing what the time actually costs you is worth having — and ask before you send them.
$19.97 · prepared for you, reviewed before you send it.
Prepare your Hardship Letter →Financial hardship, raised in personToo late to file — you argue it on the day
The fallback, not the rule. If the written request did not go in on time, the office says the hardship is raised in person during jury selection.
Jury Assembly Room, St. Louis County Circuit Court — by email, 22 September 2026. “Before if submitted in a timely manner. Otherwise in person during jury selection.”
Read the word “otherwise” carefully, because it is doing all the work. This is not a county that hears hardship in person as a matter of policy. It is a county that hears it in person when the paperwork did not arrive in time. Fourteen counties in this project genuinely have no advance written path at all; St. Louis County is not one of them.
The office did not define “timely”. Your summons does, and the difference is the whole of it: in time and it is decided on what you sent, late and you are making the case to a judge on the day.
So the honest advice about this page is that most people reading it should be on the option above instead. This one is for the people for whom that is no longer possible.
Read the word “otherwise” carefully, because it is doing all the work. This is not a county that hears hardship in person as a matter of policy. It is a county that hears it in person when the paperwork did not arrive in time. Fourteen counties in this project genuinely have no advance written path at all; St. Louis County is not one of them.
The office did not define “timely”. Your summons does, and the difference is the whole of it: in time and it is decided on what you sent, late and you are making the case to a judge on the day.
So the honest advice about this page is that most people reading it should be on the option above instead. This one is for the people for whom that is no longer possible.
$14.97 · prepared for you, reviewed before you send it.
Prepare your Talking Points for Judge →Medical conditionYour request, plus your doctor’s note
The office says “both” — you submit your own request for excuse, and a doctor’s note goes with it. Not the note on its own.
Jury Assembly Room, St. Louis County Circuit Court — by email, 22 September 2026. “Both. The juror submits requests for excuse along with a doctor’s note.”
That is a different answer from most counties in this project, and it costs people appointments. Some courts want the note alone and nothing from the juror. Some want the juror’s account and treat the note as optional. St. Louis County wants both, and a note arriving on its own is half a request.
The office named nothing the note has to contain — no letterhead rule, no template, no required phrases, no deadline of its own. There is nothing here to get wrong on a technicality and nothing to aim at either.
Nothing here is permanent. The office states that an excusal runs “only for that summons”, and that no excusal takes a name off the list — “anyone with a drivers license, state ID, or registered voter can be randomly selected to receive a summons at any time.” So there is no point asking a doctor to certify a condition as permanent: this county grants nothing permanent, whatever the note says.
One caution, and it is ours rather than the county’s: counties differ sharply on how much clinical detail they want, and several in this project have said in terms that they want none. St. Louis County asked for nothing either way, which is not the same as asking for everything. A note that volunteers your medical history cannot be un-sent.
That is a different answer from most counties in this project, and it costs people appointments. Some courts want the note alone and nothing from the juror. Some want the juror’s account and treat the note as optional. St. Louis County wants both, and a note arriving on its own is half a request.
The office named nothing the note has to contain — no letterhead rule, no template, no required phrases, no deadline of its own. There is nothing here to get wrong on a technicality and nothing to aim at either.
Nothing here is permanent. The office states that an excusal runs “only for that summons”, and that no excusal takes a name off the list — “anyone with a drivers license, state ID, or registered voter can be randomly selected to receive a summons at any time.” So there is no point asking a doctor to certify a condition as permanent: this county grants nothing permanent, whatever the note says.
One caution, and it is ours rather than the county’s: counties differ sharply on how much clinical detail they want, and several in this project have said in terms that they want none. St. Louis County asked for nothing either way, which is not the same as asking for everything. A note that volunteers your medical history cannot be un-sent.
$9.97 · prepared for you, reviewed before you send it.
Prepare your What Your Doctor Needs to Write →Contact the court
Jury Assembly Room, St. Louis County Circuit Court — 105 South Central Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63105Jury line: (314) 615-2669
Fax (314) 615-7650. The office replied from [email protected] and named the court’s own website, stlcountycourts.com. Asked which address a request should be sent to, it answered with the online juror qualification form completed per the instructions on your summons — so follow the summons rather than emailing a request the office did not invite. Confirmed 22 September 2026.
Fax (314) 615-7650. The office replied from [email protected] and named the court’s own website, stlcountycourts.com. Asked which address a request should be sent to, it answered with the online juror qualification form completed per the instructions on your summons — so follow the summons rather than emailing a request the office did not invite. Confirmed 22 September 2026.
Other counties
JuryFree prepares documents and guidance from the facts you provide. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice or guarantee any outcome. Court rules and deadlines vary by county and change over time — confirm with the court before you rely on anything here. Questions: [email protected].