---
type: Authority
title: RSMo §461.025 (beneficiary deed, real property)
description: Missouri's beneficiary-deed statute, letting an owner name who receives real property at death outside probate while keeping full control during life. Real property only.
resource: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=461.025
tags: [beneficiary-deed, transfer-on-death, deeds, probate-avoidance, missouri]
timestamp: 2026-06-22
jurisdiction: Missouri
author: Patrick Nolan
authority_type: statute
citation: RSMo §461.025
---

# Summary

RSMo §461.025 authorizes a beneficiary deed, also called a transfer-on-death deed, for real property. The owner records a deed naming who takes the property at death, keeps full control and ownership during life, and the property passes outside probate. It applies to real property only; Missouri has no beneficiary deed for personal property.

# Operative text

Paraphrased: a beneficiary deed names a grantee beneficiary to receive the owner's interest in real property on the owner's death. It must be recorded before the owner dies to be effective, it is freely revocable during life, and it transfers the property at death without probate. Because the transfer happens at death, the beneficiary has no interest while the owner is alive. The statute reaches real property only; there is no statutory personal-property beneficiary deed in Missouri.

Read the full section at the official source linked above.

# Decision rule

If you own Missouri real estate and want it to pass without probate while keeping full control during life, a recorded beneficiary deed under §461.025 does that. Do not attempt a beneficiary deed for personal property, such as vehicles or accounts; it has no Missouri statutory basis. Use the title-based transfer-on-death tools for those assets instead.

# Related

- [Non-Probate Transfers](/okf/trusts-probate-avoidance/non-probate-transfers.md)
- [RSMo §301.681 (transfer-on-death vehicle title)](/okf/authorities/missouri/rsmo-301-681-vehicle-tod.md)
- Official source: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=461.025