"Missouri Deed of Release: How Do You Get a Paid-Off Loan Off Your Title, and What Starts the Forty-Five-Day Clock?"

The title commitment for your refinance comes back from a title company in Springfield, and the second page lists a deed of trust from a loan you paid off six years ago. You have the letter from the old servicer that says "paid in full." You have the bank statement that shows the last payment. The county recorder's office is still missing the one document that tells the rest of the world the loan is gone.

In Missouri, the lender you paid off owes you a recorded deed of release. Under RSMo 443.130, once the loan has been paid in full and you or someone acting for you sends a proper written request with the recording cost, the lender has forty-five days to submit a sufficient release for recording. A lender that misses that deadline can be liable to you under the statute.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, licensed in fifteen states, including Missouri, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation. An old lien like this one can turn up on title work for a refinance or a purchase, and I want you to see how Missouri handles it.

Nothing in this article is legal advice, and the demand letter itself belongs with a Missouri attorney or the title company handling your file. I can walk you through what the statute says and the order I would check things in.

What is a deed of release in Missouri?

Borrowing against a Missouri home means you sign a deed of trust, which is the document that pledges the home as security for the loan. It gets recorded with the county recorder of deeds, and from that moment it shows up on every title search of the property.

Paying the loan off does not erase that recording. The lender provides a deed of release, the document that says the debt is satisfied and the home is no longer security for it, and that release gets recorded too. Until it is, the public record still shows the old deed of trust as open.

My article on who records your deed after a Missouri closing covers the deed that puts you on title and the deed of trust that goes on right behind it. This article is about the other end of that loan: the release that takes a satisfied lender off.

How long does a Missouri lender have to release a paid-off deed of trust?

Forty-five days, counted from the right starting point. The Missouri Revisor of Statutes' text of RSMo 443.130 covers a secured party that has received full satisfaction of the debt. If it does not submit a sufficient deed of release for recording within forty-five days after request and tender of costs, it is liable to the mortgagor. The secured party is the lender or whoever holds the loan when it is paid off. The mortgagor is the statute's word for you, the person who signed the deed of trust.

The forty-five days start from a request that meets the statute's requirements and comes with the cost of recording the release. If the lender records a release on its own after payoff, you never need the statute.

If the lender misses the deadline, the same section makes it liable to the mortgagor for the lesser of two amounts, plus court costs and attorney fees. One amount is $300 for each day beyond the forty-fifth day. The other is ten percent of the amount of the security instrument, which here is your deed of trust. That is what the law provides. Whether anything is actually owed on your file is a question for a court, and an attorney is the one who can tell you how it applies to you.

The written request that starts the forty-five days

The second part of RSMo 443.130 is specific about the request, and the details are what make it count. The revisor's text sets out three things.

1. How it is sent. The request is a demand letter sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by another method that gives you evidence of the date it was received.
2. What comes with it. The letter includes good and sufficient evidence that the debt was satisfied with good funds, along with the cost of recording the release.
3. Who carries the proof. If the dispute ends up in court, the person bringing the case has to prove at trial that the lender received notice by one of those methods.

A phone call or an email to the servicer may well get the release moving, and it is a sensible first step. The statute counts a letter that meets these requirements, and it asks for proof of the date the lender received it. That date is the one your attorney will want to see.

This is where I hand you to a professional. A Missouri attorney can prepare the demand and decide what evidence of payment to include. On a sale or refinance, the title company that ran the payoff often holds the payoff statement and the wire confirmation, and those are the documents that show the debt was satisfied with good funds.

A release the recorder rejects

Sometimes the lender does send a release and the recorder of deeds rejects it. RSMo 443.130 covers that case too. If a release is rejected for recording, the secured party has sixty days from receiving notice of the rejection to submit a release that can be recorded.

A rejected release gives the lender a defined window to fix the document and send it back, and that window is a good thing to mention to your attorney.

Selling, refinancing or buying: whose release it is

The statute gives the claim to the mortgagor, so who does what depends on whose loan it was.

If it was your loan and you still own the home, the old deed of trust is on your title, and the request is yours to make. This is the refinance case in the opening scene. Refinancing in Missouri explains how recording works on a Missouri refinance: the new deed of trust goes on, the old one comes off, and both are flat recording and release charges rather than a tax scaled to your loan.

If you are selling, the title company running your closing pays off your loan from the sale proceeds, and the buyer's title policy depends on that old deed of trust being cleared. The release is prepared after the payoff clears, and the request under the statute is still yours as the person who signed the deed of trust.

If you are buying, an open deed of trust from the seller's old loan is the seller's to clear. It typically shows up in the Schedule B, Part I requirements of your title commitment, the list of things that have to happen before the title company will issue the policy. What to do when a title issue comes up before closing walks through that list and who clears each item. The statute's remedy belongs to the seller, so your question for the title company is how the release will be handled before closing.

How to check whether your Missouri deed of release was recorded

You can look this up yourself, and it is the first thing I would do.

1. Please find your payoff paperwork. That means the paid-in-full letter from the servicer, the final payoff statement, and, if the loan was paid at a closing, the settlement statement showing the payoff line.
2. Please search the recorder of deeds index for the county the home is in. Missouri records land documents by county, and the City of St. Louis has its own Recorder of Deeds because it is not part of any county. The St. Louis page covers the difference between the city and St. Louis County. You can search by your name as it appears on the old deed of trust, and look for a release recorded after your payoff date.
3. Please ask the servicer, or the title company that handled the payoff, whether the release was sent for recording. A direct question is the simplest way to find out where the release is.
4. If nothing has been recorded and the informal route has stalled, that is the point to talk with a Missouri attorney or your title company about a demand under RSMo 443.130.
5. Please keep the proof of receipt with your payoff paperwork. The certified mail return receipt, or other evidence of the date the lender received the letter, is the proof the statute asks for.

Mistakes that keep an old loan on a Missouri title

Treating "paid in full" as the release. The payoff letter tells you the debt is gone, but only the recorded deed of release tells the county, and the county record is what a title company searches.

Assuming a phone call started the clock. An informal request can get things moving, and I would start there. The forty-five days in RSMo 443.130 run from a request that meets the statute's requirements, including the evidence of payment and the recording cost.

Reading the dollar figure as a promise. The statute sets out what a lender that misses the deadline is liable for. It does not guarantee a check, and a court decides whether anything is owed.

Finding it during closing week. An old open deed of trust often surfaces when the title commitment comes back. Searching the recorder's index yourself before you list the home or apply for a refinance gives the release time to catch up.

An illustration of the forty-five-day count

The dates below are made up to show the mechanism. They are not anyone's real file.

Say you paid off a loan on a home in Greene County a year ago, no release was ever recorded, and the servicer has not answered two emails. A Missouri attorney sends a demand on your behalf by certified mail, return receipt requested, with your payoff statement and the recording cost enclosed. The green return card comes back showing the lender received it on March 3.

March 3        Lender receives the demand. Day 0 in this example.
March 31       Day 28
April 17       Day 45 in this example's count.

In this example the lender's release reaches the Greene County Recorder of Deeds on April 9, inside the window. The recorder rejects it on April 14 because a page is missing the notary's signed statement. The sixty-day window for a rejected release now applies, counted from the day the lender receives notice of the rejection. The corrected release is recorded in May, and the next time you search the index, it is there with its recording date.

The section says forty-five days rather than business days, so this example counts calendar days and treats the receipt date as day zero. Your attorney will confirm how the days are counted and the actual deadline on your own file.

Your next step in Missouri

If the old lien turned up because you are refinancing or buying, the release and the loan move on the same calendar. If you would like to see your numbers, Rate & Best Fit on the homepage shows pricing for your own Missouri scenario without a credit pull or an account. Once you see the options, you can choose a rate option that works best for you, and that selection can change as the file comes together.

The Missouri mortgage page covers who closes a Missouri loan and how title and closing fees are set. If you are buying, Missouri's notice of availability of owner's title insurance explains the owner's policy, which protects you rather than the lender. If you would rather talk it through first, you are welcome to call me.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal advice. The demand under RSMo 443.130 belongs with a Missouri attorney or your title company, and the county recorder of deeds decides whether a document is ready to record.

Common questions

How long does a lender have to release a paid-off mortgage in Missouri?

Forty-five days after a proper written request that comes with the recording cost, under RSMo 443.130. The request is a demand letter sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, or another method that gives evidence of the date it was received. It includes good and sufficient evidence the debt was satisfied with good funds, along with the cost of recording the release.

What happens if my Missouri lender does not record the deed of release?

Under RSMo 443.130, a secured party that misses the forty-five-day deadline is liable to the mortgagor for the lesser of two amounts, plus court costs and attorney fees. One is a set amount for each day past the forty-fifth, and the other is ten percent of the amount of the deed of trust. The daily figure is in the section on the deadline, near the top of this page. Whether anything is owed on a particular file is decided by a court, so a Missouri attorney is the right person to ask.

Does paying off my loan automatically remove it from my Missouri title?

No. The deed of trust stays on the county record until a deed of release is recorded. The lender provides the release and it goes to the recorder of deeds for the county where the home is, or to the City of St. Louis Recorder of Deeds for a home inside the city. You can search the recorder's index by your name to see whether a release was recorded after your payoff date.

I am buying a Missouri home and the title search shows the seller's old loan. Whose problem is that?

The seller's. An open deed of trust from the seller's old loan appears as a requirement on your title commitment, and the title company will want it released or paid off before it issues the policy. The claim under RSMo 443.130 belongs to the person who signed that deed of trust, which is the seller. Your part is to ask the title company how and when the release will be handled.

Do I need an attorney to send a deed of release demand in Missouri?

The statute lets the mortgagor, or an agent acting for them, make the request. Its requirements are specific, though, and the person bringing a case has to prove the lender received notice by one of the methods it lists. A Missouri attorney, or the title company handling your sale or refinance, is the right place to have the demand prepared.