Missouri's recorded instrument, affidavit made in connection with a deed and attached to it, with a recital showing or tending to show heirship or kinship, rests on a statute written for a sworn statement of heirs. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: the recital in the deed, the attached affidavit, or the record of either, may be read in evidence as the testimony of the persons making it, in any suit in which title to the real estate described in the deed is in questionRSMo 490.370Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. The effect attaches once the affidavit has been of record for 5 yearsRSMo 490.370Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. It is evidence of the facts it states, not a deed; it does not itself transfer title, and a purchaser, lender or title company decides whether to rely on it.
In the office of the recorder of deeds of the county where said real estate, or some part thereof, is situatedRSMo 490.370Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. The office records it as it records deeds, in the county where the land lies, and charges its recording fee per page.
It depends on what the person owned and how it was titled. Property with a named beneficiary, joint property with survivorship, and property in a trust pass outside probate. What remains goes through probate unless it is under the state's small estate limit, in which case a small estate affidavit collects it. The Probate Decision Tool applies your state's rules.
When the estate's value is under the state's limit and the state's waiting period after the death has passed. The limit and the period differ by state, and several states run the small estate as a court process rather than an affidavit. The builder checks the estate against your state's limit before it produces the document.
It records who the heirs are when no estate was administered, so that real property can be dealt with in the county land records. It is a sworn statement of the decedent's family history, laid out to the state's recording rules. It does not itself transfer title.