- Closing structure
- Missouri is a title/escrow state. Title companies commonly conduct residential closings; attorneys frequently participate but are not statutorily required.
- Marital property
- Missouri is NOT a community-property state; it is a common-law/equitable-distribution state (Mo. Rev. Stat.
- Homestead
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 513.475. The exemption is $15,000 per household (not per spouse; married couples cannot double it), a figure unchanged since a 2003 amendment.
- Dower/curtesy
- Abolished in Missouri.
- Standard deed
- General warranty deed. Statutory "grant, bargain and sell" language (§ 442.420) imports implied covenants.
- Disclosure regime
- CAVEAT EMPTOR with a fraud/misrepresentation judicial gloss. No general statutory seller-disclosure form; the Missouri REALTORS® Seller Disclosure form is voluntary/customary, not mandated.
- Transfer tax
- Missouri has NO state real estate transfer tax and no documentary stamp. Recording fees only.
- RON
- Authorized by HB 1655 (2020); Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 486.1100–486.1205; effective August 28, 2020. The Secretary of State approves software and maintains standards (§ 486.1115);
- Recording act
- Race-notice (Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 442.390 [notice from time of filing], 442.400 [instrument "not valid, except between the parties … and such as have actual notice," until deposited for record]...
- Recording office
- County Recorder of Deeds.
- Notable overlays
- St. Louis City Housing Conservation District occupancy inspection (100% of the city); St. Louis County unincorporated occupancy permits; § 442.606 meth-production disclosure;