Missouri Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the Recorder of Deeds for the County Where the Land Is Located

A Missouri deed is recorded with the recorder of deeds for the county where the land is located, which need not be the county you live in. The City of St. Louis is not in any county and has its own recorder, under its own version of the formatting statute. The Missouri Veterans Commission publishes a directory of every recorder of deeds in the state, with each office's address and telephone number, and each recorder's own site says whether it takes documents by mail, at the counter, or through electronic recording.

Recording is what makes the deed count against the world. Until the deed is deposited with the recorder, the statute says it is not valid except between the parties themselves and anyone who actually knows about it. From the moment it is filed, it gives notice of its contents to everyone, and a later buyer or lender is treated as buying with that notice. So the deed protects the grantee only once it is on the recorder's books.

Step 2: Set Up the First Page So the Recorder Will Accept It

Missouri's formatting statute lists what a recorded document must look like, and a recorder may refuse a document that misses the list, or record it for an extra $25. Each page is printed on one side, on white or light-colored paper of at least 20-pound weight, in type no smaller than 8 point, in black or dark ink, legible enough to reproduce. The first page has a top margin of at least three inches, reserved for the recorder's stamp, and every other margin is at least ¾ inch. Nothing is stapled or taped over the text, though the pages may be stapled together. Every signature is in black or dark ink with the signer's name typed, printed, or stamped beneath it.

Below the three-inch margin, the first page carries seven items: the title of the document, its date, every grantor's name and marital status, every grantee's name, any address a statute requires (for a deed, a grantee's mailing address), the legal description, and, where the deed refers to an earlier recorded document, that document's book and page. If they do not all fit, the first page says which page each item is on. A recorder that rejects a document must return it with a written reason.

A separate statute adds two things a recorder cannot record a deed without: a legal description, and a mailing address for at least one grantee. Leaving either off does not affect the deed's validity or the notice it gives once recorded; it stops the deed at the counter.

Step 3: Fill In the Grantor, and State Whether the Grantor Is Married

The grantor is the party giving up whatever interest they hold: a person, a married couple, a trustee, or a company. Give the full legal name exactly as it appears on the deed the grantor received, because the recorder indexes by name and a title examiner has to match the two. Where the grantor is a trust, the trustee signs as trustee; where it is a company, an officer signs with their title.

Then state the grantor's marital status. Since 2022, every written instrument that conveys real estate or an interest in it must say whether each natural person signing it is married or unmarried. "John Doe, a single person" or "John Doe and Jane Doe, husband and wife" does it. The statement is also one of the seven first-page items, so a deed without it is one the recorder may refuse. The rule applies to people, not to a company or a trustee signing for a trust.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee, With a Mailing Address

The grantee is the party receiving the interest. Give the full legal name as it should appear on future deeds and tax bills, and a mailing address, because a recorder may not record a deed that does not carry the mailing address of at least one grantee. Label it, as in "Grantee's mailing address:", so the recorder can find it on the first page.

Where the grantee is a trust, name the trustee, as in "Jane Doe, Trustee of the Doe Family Trust". Where it is a company, use the name on its Secretary of State filing. A deed to two or more grantees should also say how they will hold title, which Step 6 covers, because without the right words Missouri gives them separate shares with no survivorship.

Step 5: State the Consideration, and Know That No Tax Follows It

Missouri charges no transfer tax, no deed tax, and no documentary stamp tax when a deed is recorded, and it requires no certificate of value or sale report to be filed with it. Since 2010 the state constitution has barred the state, the counties, and every other local government from imposing any new tax on the sale or transfer of real estate. The recorded deed costs the recorder's fee and nothing more, whatever the price.

Nothing in the conveyance statute requires the deed to state a price. A deed still recites a consideration, the thing given in exchange: the price, or "love and affection" for a gift, or "ten dollars and other good and valuable consideration" where the parties would rather not print the price on a public record. Whichever it is, no tax is measured by it.

Step 6: Add the Legal Description, and Say How Co-Owners Will Hold Title

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed. For a platted lot that is the lot number, the block, the name of the subdivision, and the plat book and page where it is recorded. For other land it is the metes and bounds or the government survey description. A street address is not a legal description, and a recorder may not record a deed without one.

If two or more people will own the property, the wording decides what happens when one of them dies. A deed to two or more people creates a tenancy in common, separate shares that each pass by will or inheritance, unless the deed "expressly declares" a joint tenancy. So the deed says it: "as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and not as tenants in common". The statute leaves a husband and wife out of that rule, and Missouri treats a deed to a married couple as creating a tenancy by the entirety: each spouse owns the whole, the survivor keeps it, and neither can convey it alone. A married couple who want separate shares instead say so in the deed. An owner may create any of these by a deed naming themselves and another person as grantees, in one step; the statute gives that deed the same effect as if a stranger had made it.

One alternative belongs here. Where the purpose of the deed is to pass a house to a child at the owner's death, Missouri offers the beneficiary deed: a deed that states on its face that it takes effect only when the owner dies, recorded before the owner's death. It needs no consideration and no delivery to the beneficiary, and the owner keeps the property in the meantime. It is a different document from a quitclaim deed, and a Missouri attorney can say whether it fits.

Step 7: If You Are Married, Decide Whether Your Spouse Signs

Missouri abolished dower and curtesy, the old survivor's shares, in 1955, so there is no dower to release. Two rules took their place, and they work differently.

The first is the homestead rule, for the dwelling and the land used with it that the owner lives in. Either spouse alone is "debarred from and incapable of" selling or conveying the homestead in any manner, and a deed by one spouse alone is declared null and void. A deed of the homestead by both spouses together is fine. So if the property is the home you and your spouse live in, both of you sign. The statute speaks of either spouse alone, not of whose name is on the title.

The second rule reaches everything else a married person owns. A conveyance of real estate by a married person without the spouse's joinder, or the spouse's other written express assent, is "deemed to be in fraud of the marital rights" of that spouse if the spouse outlives the owner, unless the contrary is shown. The deed itself stands. What the statute gives the surviving spouse is the right to have the transfer treated as though it had been made by will, and to recover from whoever received it without paying adequately for it, whatever is needed to make up the spouse's share of the estate. For a rental house or a piece of land deeded to a child, the practical answer is the same as for the homestead: the spouse either signs the deed or signs a written consent to it. Where the spouse is under a conservatorship, the probate court can authorize the conservator to join or consent.

Property the couple holds by the entirety needs both signatures for a different reason: each spouse owns all of it, so one cannot convey it alone. A deed both spouses sign raises none of these questions. The homestead statute makes no exception for a deed from one spouse to the other, so for the home you live in, both spouses should sign that deed too.

Step 8: Sign the Deed Before a Notary, in Person or Online

A deed must be signed by the grantor and acknowledged, or proved, before it can be recorded. Acknowledgment is the usual route: the grantor appears before a notary public, the notary confirms who the grantor is, and the grantor indicates that the signature is voluntary. The notary then completes and signs the certificate of acknowledgment, whose form is set out in the statute. Missouri requires no witnesses to a deed. Sign in black or dark ink, with your name printed beneath the signature.

Two cautions about the notary. A notary may not act on a document the notary is a party to or named in, and may not notarize for a spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, or sibling, including in-law, step, and half relatives. So a relative who happens to be a notary cannot take a family deed. And a Missouri notary may charge no more than $5 for each signature acknowledged. A deed signed in another state may be acknowledged before any notary public of that state.

Missouri has allowed remote online notarization since 2020. A Missouri notary who has registered with the Secretary of State as a remote online notary, and who is physically in Missouri, may take your acknowledgment over a live audio-video connection while you are anywhere, after confirming your identity through the credential checks the Secretary's rules require. The result is an electronic deed, which is recorded through a recorder that accepts electronic documents. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page compares the states.

Step 9: Record the Deed With the Recorder of Deeds

Take or mail the signed and acknowledged deed to the recorder of deeds for the county where the land lies, with the fee. The statute sets the recorder's fee per page, $5 for the first page and $3 for each page after it, and then stacks flat charges on every recorded deed: a $6 user fee, a further $3 on deeds and other instruments affecting land, a $5 fee shared among the recorder's technology fund, the county, and a state recorders' fund, and $1 plus a separate $6 for the county employees' retirement fund. Added up, that is $26 for the first page and $3 for each page after it. The statute does not apply the second $6 in a first-class county with a charter form of government or in the City of St. Louis, so the price posted there may differ. Confirm your county's posted price before you write the check, because the flat charges changed as recently as August 2026.

A deed that meets the statutory requirements but not the formatting standards is recorded for $25 more, and a deed the recorder rejects comes back with a written reason. There is no transfer tax to pay and no separate form to file with the deed. Include a stamped envelope or the return address for the recorded deed.

Step 10: Know What Changes After Recording, and What Does Not

From the moment the deed is filed it gives notice to everyone, and anyone who later buys or lends against the property is treated as knowing what it says. Keep the recorded deed, or the recorder's copy with the book and page stamped on it, with the property's papers; it is the document a future buyer, lender, or heir will ask for.

Property tax does not move with the deed mid-year. Missouri taxes whoever owns the property on January 1 for that whole calendar year, so a deed recorded in March leaves the current year's bill with the grantor and moves next year's to the grantee, unless the parties agree otherwise between themselves.

Where do I record a Missouri quitclaim deed?

With the recorder of deeds for the county where the land is located, whether or not you live there. The City of St. Louis has its own recorder because it is not part of any county. The Missouri Veterans Commission publishes a directory of every recorder with addresses and telephone numbers. Until the deed is deposited with the recorder it is valid only between the parties and people who actually know about it; once filed, it gives notice to everyone.

Does a Missouri deed have to say whether I am married?

Yes. Since 2022, every written instrument conveying real estate must state whether each individual signing it as grantor is married or unmarried, and the formatting statute lists the grantors' marital status among the items that belong on the first page. A recorder may refuse a deed that leaves it off. Write it next to the name: "John Doe, a single person", or "John Doe and Jane Doe, husband and wife".

Does my spouse have to sign a Missouri quitclaim deed?

For the home you live in, yes: a deed of the homestead by one spouse alone is null and void, and only a deed both spouses sign conveys it. For other real estate a married person owns alone, a deed made without the spouse's joinder or written consent is presumed to be in fraud of the spouse's marital rights if the spouse survives the owner, and the surviving spouse can then recover a share from whoever received the property without paying adequately for it. A spouse's signature or written consent avoids that. Property held by the entirety needs both signatures in any case. For the home you live in, the homestead statute makes no exception for a deed from one spouse to the other, so both spouses should sign.

Is there a transfer tax on a Missouri quitclaim deed?

No. Missouri charges no state or county tax on recording a deed, and a 2010 amendment to the state constitution forbids the state and every local government from imposing any new tax on the sale or transfer of real estate. No certificate of value or sale report is filed. A gift to a relative and a sale for full price both cost the recorder's fee and nothing more.

Does a deed to my spouse or my child give them survivorship rights in Missouri?

A deed to a husband and wife does: Missouri treats it as a tenancy by the entirety, and the survivor keeps the whole property, unless the deed says otherwise. A deed to anyone else, including a parent and a child, creates a tenancy in common with no survivorship unless the deed expressly declares a joint tenancy, so write "as joint tenants with right of survivorship" if that is what you want. You may create either form by a deed naming yourself and the other person as grantees. If the goal is only to pass the house at death, Missouri's beneficiary deed is another route: it takes effect only when the owner dies, so the owner keeps the property in the meantime. Step 6 describes it, and a Missouri attorney can say whether it fits.

Can I get a Missouri quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. Missouri has permitted remote online notarization since 2020. The notary must be a Missouri notary registered with the Secretary of State to perform it, must be physically in Missouri during the session, and confirms your identity through the credential and identity checks the Secretary's rules require, over a live audio-video connection. You may be anywhere. The deed comes out as an electronic document, so check that the recorder accepts electronic recording before you book the session.

Where do I get a Missouri quitclaim deed form?

Missouri has no official quitclaim deed form; the statute says how a deed is signed, acknowledged, and recorded, and leaves the words to the parties. A form written for no particular state can fail a Missouri recorder in three places. It has no place for each grantor's marital status, no labeled line for the grantee's mailing address, and no three-inch top margin on the first page. Check for all three. If you would rather start from something built for this state, our Quitclaim Deed Help page lists prepared forms and deed preparation services.