Your Missouri Courts Header Image


Clerk Handbooks
Supreme Court Rules
Section/Rule:8.05
Subject: Rule 8 - Rules Governing the Missouri Bar and the Judiciary - Admission to the Bar Publication / Adopted Date:February 1, 1972
Topic:Application for Character and Fitness ReportRevised / Effective Date:February 1, 2004

8.05 Application for Character and Fitness Report

(a) Every applicant for admission under Rule 8.07, Rule 8.10 or Rule 8.105 shall file with the clerk of this Court a written application for character and fitness report in the form prescribed by the board. Applicants shall pay to the clerk of this Court the prescribed non-refundable fee.

(b) Except as provided in Rule 8.05(c), the application for character and fitness report shall be filed concurrently with the application for bar examination, application for admission without examination, or application for limited admission as in-house counsel.

(c) Law students intending to apply to take the Missouri bar examination upon graduation from law school may file an application for character and fitness report upon commencing the study of law in a juris doctorate program at a law school accredited by the American Bar Association but prior to the student’s last year of law school. Law students in their last year of school must submit an application for character and fitness report, if not previously submitted, concurrently with an application for bar examination in accord with the filing deadlines set out in Rule 8.07.

(d) An applicant shall be required to file a new and complete application for character and fitness report, and pay the prescribed fee, if more than 36 months have expired since the date the application initially was filed and the applicant has not been continuously enrolled in law school.


(Adopted Feb. 1, 1972, eff. Sept. 1, 1972. Amended Jan. 15, 1991, eff. Aug. 1, 1991; Jan. 8, 1993; Oct. 16, 1995, eff. March 1, 1996; May 14, 1999, eff. Jan. 1, 2000; July 3, 2001, eff. Aug. 1, 2001. Amended and renamed Sept. 3, 2003, eff. Oct. 1, 2003. As amended Jan. 27, 2004, eff. Feb. 1, 2004.)