Washington County Quitclaim Deed (Individual Grantor by Attorney-in-Fact) Form

Two documents work together here, and only one is a deed. This Missouri quitclaim deed is subscribed by an attorney in fact, an agent who owns nothing and receives nothing under it: the record owner is the Grantor, and the agent signs in that owner's name under a power of attorney the deed identifies by date and by recording reference. What passes is whatever right, title, and interest the owner holds at delivery, released without covenant or warranty of title.

An agent's signature, and the statute behind it

Section 442.130.1 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri is short and decisive: a deed of lands, or of any estate or interest in lands, is subscribed by the party granting the same, or by his lawful agent. An attorney in fact acting inside a written power of attorney is that agent, and Missouri practice signs the owner's name by the agent, the printed line beneath the signature carrying the agent's name and capacity.

The authority is a recorded document of its own

Section 442.360 puts the power of attorney into the land records on a conveyance's terms: an instrument containing a power to convey real estate is acknowledged or proved, certified, and recorded like a conveyance. Section 442.370 gives that record staying power: a recorded letter of attorney is not deemed revoked by any act of the person who executed it until a revocation is deposited for record in the same office. Section 404.705.3 comes at it from the other direction: a durable power binds principal and agent without recording, except as a real estate transaction brings those two sections into play. Section 5 of this form states the date of the power, its book and page or document number, and where it is recorded. The power itself is prepared and recorded separately and is not included here.

One principal, one agent, one certificate

The form recites exactly one Grantor, a natural person holding the interest, and one attorney in fact, with a single signature line and one certificate. Missouri wrote that certificate: Section 442.210.1(2) prints a short form for natural persons acting by attorney, under which the appearing person is known to the officer as the person who executed the instrument in behalf of the principal and acknowledges it as that principal's free act and deed. Section 442.145 adds a line for the officer to state whether the appearance was made in person or by communication technology. An owner in another state whose son handles a local title matter, and an owner whose agent sells a fractional interest, present the pattern this deed recites. A deed signed by the owner personally, by cotrustees, or by an entity's officer carries a different execution block.

Marital status on two lines, joinder on none

Section 442.130.2 draws a married or unmarried statement from any natural person acting as grantor or otherwise executing a Missouri conveyance, so page one prints a status line for the owner and a second for the agent. The agent's status is indexing content and nothing further: Sections 513.475 and 474.150.2 attach to the real estate of a married owner, not to the agent. This form carries no joinder line.

Quitclaim words, and page one

Section 442.420 reads limited covenants of title into a fee simple conveyance made with the words grant, bargain and sell, so this quit claim deed uses none of them. It remises, releases, and forever quitclaims, says expressly that nothing written in it implies a covenant, and reaches only the interest held at delivery, leaving later acquired title and Section 442.430 aside. Liens, easements, and taxes already burdening the parcel continue to burden it. Below the three inch band Sections 59.310 and 59.313 reserve atop page one, the deed prints the date, both party blocks, the two status lines, the grantee mailing address of Section 59.330.2, and a reference locating the legal description. Missouri taxes no transfer of real estate.

The download holds three files: this attorney in fact quitclaim deed as a fillable PDF, a completed Camden County example in which an agent releases his mother's undivided one-half interest in a lakefront lot, and a plain language guide to each blank, the power of attorney statutes, and recording. These materials cover Missouri law generally, for information, and are not legal advice.