"After You Sign in Missouri, Who Records Your Deed, and How Soon Does It Have to Happen?"

The closer at a title office in Lee's Summit gathers up the stack you just signed, slides the deed and the deed of trust into a folder with the company's name on it, and hands you the keys. You walk out the owner of a home in Missouri. The piece of paper that says so stays behind on the closer's desk, and for the next few days it is on a clock the state wrote down.

In Missouri, the settlement agent who handled your closing takes your deed and your deed of trust to the recorder of deeds. RSMo 381.026 requires them to present both for recording within five business days after every condition of the closing has been met, unless all of the parties to the transaction instruct otherwise. You do not carry anything to the courthouse. Your part is to know who holds that duty and to ask for the confirmation when it comes back.

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.

I want to walk you through what happens to those two documents after you leave the table, the way I would if we were sitting at yours.

The two documents that leave the table without you

Two documents from your closing get recorded, and they do different jobs.

The deed is the seller's document. It transfers the home from the seller to you, and the seller signs it in front of a notary so it can be recorded.

The deed of trust is yours. It is the document that pledges the home as security for your loan, and in Missouri the security document is usually called a deed of trust rather than a mortgage.

The promissory note, the document where you promise to repay the loan, does not get recorded. It stays with the lender.

If the seller had a loan on the home, there is usually a third document: a release of the seller's deed of trust, prepared after the payoff clears. Recording that release is what takes the seller's lender off your title.

Under RSMo 59.330, it is the recorder's duty to record deeds, deeds of trust and other documents concerning land that have been acknowledged according to law. The notary at your closing table is what makes each document acknowledged.

Who records the deed after closing in Missouri?

The settlement agent does. Missouri closings run through title companies rather than attorneys. RSMo 381.022 authorizes a title insurer, a title agency or an unaffiliated title agent to act as the settlement or closing agent, and the Missouri mortgage page covers who closes in Missouri. The closer across the table from you works for the title company, which holds the recording duty.

The statute that sets the clock is short enough to read in full. RSMo 381.026 says:

The settlement agent shall present for recording all deeds and security instruments for real estate closings handled by it within five business days after completion of all conditions precedent thereto unless otherwise instructed by all of the parties to the transaction.

The clock starts when the conditions are complete. In plain words, that means everything that had to happen for the closing to count as done has happened: every document is signed and notarized, the lender's funds have arrived, and your cash to close is in. If you sign on a Tuesday and the lender's wire reaches the title company on Wednesday, the five days are counted from Wednesday, because that is when the last condition was met.

The days are business days rather than calendar days, so a weekend in the middle pushes the deadline into the following week.

The deadline moves only if everybody agrees. The statute says "unless otherwise instructed by all of the parties to the transaction," so no single party can decide to hold your deed.

A second sentence in the same section allows recording before the money is available to disburse, when everyone who will be paid on recording consents in writing, so in some files the recording happens even earlier.

The five days are the outer edge. A closer can present the documents well before that, and it is a fair question at the table: "How do you record, and when do you expect my deed to be on record?"

The office your deed goes to

Missouri records land documents by county. RSMo 442.380 says a document that transfers real estate "shall be recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which such real estate is situated." Chapter 59 of the Missouri statutes governs the county recorders of deeds and the standards a document has to meet to be accepted.

So the county the land is in decides the office, whatever city your mailing address shows. Kansas City's land reaches across Jackson, Clay and Platte counties, and the far south of the city reaches into Cass County, so two homes with a Kansas City address can record in two different counties. The Kansas City page walks through them. Your closer knows which one applies, and the recording stamp on your deed will name it.

The City of St. Louis works differently from everywhere else in the state. It is an independent city and it does not belong to any county. It runs its own Recorder of Deeds at City Hall, 1200 Market Street, which receives and keeps every deed, deed of trust and lien on land inside the city limits. A home in St. Louis County, which borders the city, records with the county's own recorder instead. The St. Louis page covers both. If you are buying near the line between the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, please confirm which side the home is on before you go looking for your deed.

The reason the recording date matters to you

Between you and the seller, the deed works the moment it is delivered to you. RSMo 442.400 says a deed is not valid, "except between the parties thereto, and such as have actual notice thereof," until it is deposited with the recorder. Against everyone else in the world, the recording is what makes your ownership stick.

The companion section, RSMo 442.390, says what the recording does for you. Once the deed is filed with the recorder, the law treats everyone as knowing what it says, and anyone who later buys the home or lends against it is treated as having known you owned it. Under RSMo 59.400, the recorder records documents in the order they arrive, notes the day and the time of day, and treats each one as recorded from the moment it was delivered.

Put those together and you can see why the order matters. Your deed goes on first, so the record shows you own the home. Your lender's deed of trust goes on right behind it, so the record shows your lender holds the first claim against it. The release of the seller's old loan clears the prior claim off. The lender's title policy is built on that order, which is why the closer, rather than you, makes the trip. The title commitment you received before closing listed each of those items on its Schedule B, the part of the commitment that lists what has to be cleared and what stays. How to read a title commitment's Schedule B covers what had to be recorded or released.

How do I confirm my Missouri deed was recorded?

You can check it yourself in a few minutes. The list below starts at the closing table.

1. Please ask the closer at the table how they record. Some title companies record electronically and some deliver the originals to the recorder's office. Either way, please ask when they expect the deed to be on record and how they will let you know.
2. Please ask for the recording information when it comes back. Under RSMo 59.430, the recorder certifies on the document the day and time it was received and the place in the record where it was filed. That stamped copy is what you want in your closing folder.
3. You can look it up in the recorder's index. Many county recorders in Missouri, and the City of St. Louis Recorder of Deeds, offer an online search of their land records. You can search by your name as it appears on the deed, and both the deed and the deed of trust should show up with their recording date.
4. The original deed comes back to you. After the recorder has scanned and indexed it, the original deed is returned, either to you or to the closer to forward to you. The original deed of trust goes back to your lender.
5. The tax records take time to catch up. The county assessor and collector update their listings on their own schedule, so seeing the seller's name on a tax lookup for a while after closing is normal.
6. The closer is the first call if something looks off. If the five business days have passed and your search turns up nothing, the closer holds the documents and the duty.

Mistakes that cost time at this stage

Treating the keys as the finish line. The keys mean you have possession, which your purchase contract controls. The recording puts your ownership on the public record a few days later.

Assuming you have to take the deed to the courthouse yourself. Clients who have bought in an attorney-closing state sometimes expect to see the original leave with them. In Missouri the settlement agent carries the duty under RSMo 381.026.

Searching the wrong index. A home in the City of St. Louis records with the city's Recorder of Deeds, and a home in St. Louis County records with the county. A Kansas City address can be in Jackson, Clay, Platte or Cass County. The closer can tell you which office before the stamp does.

Forgetting the seller's old loan. The seller's deed of trust stays on the record until the release is recorded, and the release is prepared after the payoff clears, which can be days after your closing. The title search on a later refinance will look for that release, so it is worth confirming it was recorded.

Expecting the recording date to change your payment schedule. The recording date has no effect on your payments. Your first payment date runs from the closing and funding date, and why the first payment lands two months out covers that calendar. The weeks before closing are in what runs between contract and closing, and this article picks up where that one stops.

An illustration, so the clock is visible

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

Say you close on a Tuesday on a home in Clay County, in the part of Kansas City north of the river. Every document is signed by 11 a.m., and the lender's wire reaches the title company at 2 p.m. At that point the conditions of the closing are complete and the five business days begin.

Tuesday        Signed, funded, conditions complete. Clock starts.
Wednesday      Business day 1
Thursday       Business day 2
Friday         Business day 3
Saturday       Not a business day
Sunday         Not a business day
Monday         Business day 4
Tuesday        Business day 5. Last day to present for recording.

In this example the closer presents the deed and the deed of trust to the Clay County Recorder of Deeds on Wednesday morning. The deed is received first and the deed of trust a minute later, and the recorder notes that time on each one. On Thursday you search the recorder's online index by your last name and find both documents with Wednesday's date. The release of the seller's old deed of trust shows up the following week.

Your next step in Missouri

If you are buying in Missouri, the useful first step is seeing the numbers for your own scenario. Run your numbers and you will see rates for your scenario, your debt ratio, and closing costs priced for Missouri rather than a national average. No credit pull, no account, nobody calls you.

If you want a letter behind you, get pre-approved for a Missouri mortgage and we can look at the whole picture together, from the offer through the recording. No pre-approval from anybody is a loan commitment. Final approval depends on the property, the appraisal and underwriting the complete file.

Common questions

Who records the deed after closing in Missouri?

The settlement agent who handled the closing, which in Missouri is usually a title company. RSMo 381.022 authorizes a title insurer, title agency or unaffiliated title agent to act as the settlement agent, and RSMo 381.026 requires that agent to present the deed and the deed of trust from the closing for recording. You do not take anything to the recorder's office yourself.

How long does a title company have to record my deed in Missouri?

Five business days after all conditions of the closing are complete, under RSMo 381.026, unless all of the parties to the transaction instruct otherwise. The clock starts when every document is signed and the funds have arrived, and it counts business days rather than calendar days, so a weekend in the middle pushes the deadline into the following week. A closer can present the documents sooner.

Where is my deed recorded if the home is in the City of St. Louis?

With the City of St. Louis Recorder of Deeds at City Hall, 1200 Market Street. The City of St. Louis is an independent city and is part of no county, so it keeps its own land records, separate from St. Louis County's recorder. A home across the city line in St. Louis County records with the county instead, because RSMo 442.380 ties the recording office to where the land is.

How do I check that my Missouri deed was recorded?

Please ask the closer for the recording confirmation, which carries the day and time the recorder received the deed and where it was filed, under RSMo 59.430. Then you can search the land records index for the county, or for the City of St. Louis, by your name. The deed and the deed of trust should both appear with the same recording date. If they do not show up after five business days, the closer is the first call.

Is my deed valid before it is recorded?

Between you and the seller, yes. RSMo 442.400 says a deed is valid between the parties to it and anyone with actual notice of it even before it is recorded. Against everyone else, it takes effect when it is deposited with the recorder, and under RSMo 442.390 everyone is treated as knowing what the deed says from the time it is filed.