The Volkonskys had four children; two died at early age. The eldest one, Nikolay (2 January 1826 – 17 January 1828) was born before the exile and died in St Petersburg after his mother's departure for Siberia. The second child named Sophia died on her birth day (1 July 1830), while Mikhail (1832–1909) and Yelena Princess Kotchoubey-Rakhmanoff (1835–1916) survived into the 20th century.

In 1922, it was proved that Volkonskaya was the subject of six poems by Pushkin (written in 1820, 1822, 1824, 1825, 1828 and 1829). Pushkin also dedicated a few lines to the sudden passing of Volkonskaya's little son, Nikolai. However, Pushkinist Mikhail Gershenzon rebutted the view that Pushkin was in love with Mariya. Volkonskaya herself died of heart problems on the estate of her son-in-law Nikolay Arkadievich Kotchoubey (the Ukrainian village Voronki).

In September 2001 photos of the Decembrist Volkonsky family, their relatives and other Decembrists were ceremonially handed over to the Russian State Historical Museum by Signora Elena Cicognani of Rome, née Princess Elena Vadimovna Volkonskaya, great-granddaughter of Mikhail (1832–1909), in the presence of her cousin Andrew (Andrey Sergeievich) Kotchoubey of New York, great-grandson of Yelena Molchanov-Kotchoubey-Rakhmanoff (1835–1916).