Missouri Warranty Deed

A Missouri warranty deed earns its place in the land records on page one. Section 59.310 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri reserves the top three inches for the recorder, then names what belongs below that band: the document title and date, every grantor's name and marital status, every grantee's name, the statutory addresses, and the legal description. This fillable general warranty deed follows that order, with free form party blocks taking one or two natural persons on each side.

What the recorder reads first

Page one of a Missouri deed is an index page as much as a conveyance. The form sets the date, the grantor and grantee blocks, the grantee mailing address, and the legal description below the reserved band in the order the statute lists, keeps three quarters of an inch clear elsewhere, and prints type well above the eight point statutory minimum, with a printed name under each signature. A nonstandard document may still be recorded for an added twenty five dollar fee. Section 59.330.2 allows no such alternative, directing the recorder not to record a deed lacking a grantee mailing address or a legal description.

Covenants that reach past the grantor's own chain

Missouri hangs its title covenants on three words. Under Section 442.420, the phrase grant, bargain and sell in a fee simple conveyance is construed as covenants that the grantor was seized of an indefeasible fee simple estate, that the land was free of encumbrances done or suffered by the grantor or anyone the grantor claims under, and that further assurances will follow, each suable as though written into the deed. Because that encumbrance covenant halts at the grantor's own chain, the deed writes the broader promises out: seizin, lawful authority to convey, freedom from encumbrances beyond the exceptions section, and an undertaking to warrant and defend against the lawful claims of all persons. Section 442.430 carries to the grantee any title the grantor acquires after this conveyance.

One or two names on each side

Nothing about marital status, capacity, or co-ownership is preprinted on this instrument. The grantor block runs four lines and receives one or two people signing in their own right, each with the married or unmarried statement Section 442.130 calls for from a natural person executing a conveyance; the grantee block runs four lines and takes one or two names with whatever words of co-ownership the parties use. The signing area carries two signature blocks, headed GRANTOR and SECOND GRANTOR, with an acknowledgment certificate for each, so a deed executed by a single owner leaves the second block and its certificate unused. Conveyances by one owner and by co-owners together are both patterns this form records, running to a single grantee or to two. A deed executed by a company, a trustee, or an attorney in fact takes a different shape, with its own statutory certificate of acknowledgment; this form is not set up for those, nor for three or more owners on either side.

The words the grantees choose

On the grantee side, the deed's own language settles the ownership form. Section 442.450 turns a conveyance to two or more people who are not married to each other into a tenancy in common unless the instrument expressly declares a joint tenancy, so survivorship among co-grantees arises only where the deed declares it, while a conveyance naming spouses presumptively creates a tenancy by the entirety. The guide lays out each recognized form and what becomes of a co-owner's share at death.

From the notary to the county

Each grantor signs before a notary, who completes a certificate tracking the Section 442.210 short form for a person acting in that person's own right; Missouri also permits remote online notarization for real estate instruments. The deed then goes to the recorder of deeds where the land sits, and filing is when the record begins giving notice of its contents. No statewide transfer tax applies; charges are county page fees plus the statutory user fee, which rose to six dollars in August 2026, and three jurisdictions collect an assessor's certificate of value with the deed, a county form prepared separately and not included in this package.

The package delivers the fillable deed, a completed example filled for a St. Charles County sale, and a plain language guide covering the statutory framework, the ownership forms, every numbered section, signing, and recording. Nothing in it is legal advice; a Missouri attorney can address how these rules land on a particular title.