Missouri Beneficiary Deed

Missouri Revised Statutes section 461.025 lets a property owner record a beneficiary deed that names a grantee beneficiary, so long as the deed itself expressly states it won't take effect until the owner dies. To actually work, that deed has to be executed and filed with the recorder of deeds in the county — or counties — where the property sits, and it has to happen before the owner passes away.

The statute is fairly generous on mechanics: no consideration is required, delivery to the beneficiary isn't necessary, and property can even transfer into a trust estate regardless of whether that trust is revocable. It also explicitly preserves other legal conveyancing methods that delay enjoyment until death, so a beneficiary deed is one state-authorized title tool among several, not the only option on the table.