How Often Can You Be Summoned for Jury Duty in Missouri?

In Missouri, you cannot be required to serve on a jury more than once every two years. State law entitles anyone who served on a state or federal jury within the preceding two years to be excused from a new summons, so the practical answer to how often you can be summoned for jury duty in Missouri is: no more than once in any two-year period.¹ Once those two years pass, your name returns to the eligible pool and you can be called again. No Missouri statute puts a lifetime cap on the number of times you can be summoned.

When the Two-Year Clock Starts and Stops

The two years run from the date you actually served, not from the date the summons arrived. Reporting to the courthouse and sitting through jury selection counts as service even if you were never seated on a trial. If you sat through a multi-day trial, the clock starts on your last day.¹

The exemption is broad in one useful way: it covers petit jury and grand jury service, and it applies whether that service happened in a Missouri state court or in a federal court sitting in Missouri. So a federal grand jury term counts, a state petit jury day counts, and any of them starts a fresh two-year window.¹

One boundary worth noting. Grand jury terms in Missouri can be long. A state grand jury sits for up to six months, with a possible 60-day extension. A federal grand jury in Missouri sits for 18 months, though jurors typically appear only two or three days a month in the Western District.² Your two-year exemption still runs from your last day of service on that term, which can push your next possible summons well past the two-year mark on a calendar counted from when you started.

The Excusal Is Not Automatic

The two-year rule does not shield you if you simply throw the new summons in a drawer. Missouri law frames prior service as a ground to be excused on request, not as an automatic disqualification. You have to submit a timely excusal request to the court, usually through the online juror portal or by contacting the circuit clerk’s office named on your summons.¹

Include the facts the clerk needs to verify your prior service: the court where you served, the case number if you have it, and your dates of service. Keep any paperwork or portal confirmations from your earlier service so you can point to a specific date. If the court grants the excusal, you are done for this summons. If it does not, you are expected to report.

One thing the statute does not do is convert the two-year exemption into a permanent excusal. Once the window passes, you are eligible again unless the court previously granted you a permanent excusal on other grounds.¹

Other Reasons a New Summons Can Be Set Aside

If for some reason the two-year exemption does not apply to you, or you are looking at a summons that arrives just after the window closes, Missouri Section 494.430 lists several other grounds to be excused from a specific summons. Each requires a timely application to the court.

You are a nursing mother, supported by a physician’s written statement.
Your absence from work would, in the court’s judgment, materially harm public safety, health, welfare, or interest.
Service would impose an undue or extreme physical or financial hardship. Being inconvenienced by missing work is not, on its own, enough; the statute points to abandoning a dependent with no substitute caregiver, costs that threaten basic living expenses, or a physical condition that could result in illness.
You are a licensed healthcare provider actively treating patients whose care would suffer in your absence, supported by a written statement.
You work for a religious institution and your religious obligations prohibit jury service, certified by your religious supervisor.
You are 75 or older and choose to be excused. Age 75 is optional; you can still serve if you want to.

Hardship applications may need to be backed by documents the judge specifies, which can include tax returns, medical statements, or proof of dependency or guardianship. Those documents are filed under seal. A ruling on a hardship request has to come no later than the date you were scheduled to report.¹

What to Do If You Get Summoned Again

Read the summons the day it arrives. It will include a juror qualification questionnaire, and Missouri law gives you 10 days to complete and return it. Most courts route this through the Missouri Courts juror portal, though the circuit clerk can provide a paper version.³

If you served on a jury within the past two years, note that on your questionnaire and submit the excusal request through the same channel. Do not skip your reporting date on the assumption the request will be granted. If you have not received a ruling by the day you are told to appear, show up.

After the two-year period ends, there is no schedule that tells you when you will be called next. Selection is essentially random from the eligible pool, so you might be summoned soon after you become eligible again or years later.

What Happens If You Just Ignore It

Willfully failing to appear for jury service, or failing to return the qualification questionnaire, is treated as civil contempt of court. The court issues a show-cause order requiring you to explain the absence. After the hearing, a judge can impose a fine of up to $500, order community service for at least as long as your jury service would have lasted, or both.⁴

The court has discretion to waive the penalty for good cause or in the interests of justice, but relying on that is a poor plan when the alternative, requesting an excusal on the ground you actually have, is straightforward. If you served within the last two years, say so in writing, on time, and let the court apply the exemption the statute already gives you.

1
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Revised Statutes Section 494-430 – Persons Entitled to Be Excused From Jury Service
2
U.S. District Court Western District of Missouri. Grand Jury Service
3
7th Judicial Circuit Court, Clay County, Missouri. Jury Service
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 494.450 – Willful Failure to Appear for Jury Service, Penalties