Opinion letter to the Honorable C. E. Hamilton, Jr.

JOHN C . DAN FORTH ATTORNEY OENERAL. O:FFICl!l~ 01-' TU~ A'F'ir'®~NJEIY G.El~F. !RAL ({J)]F .DJ{H~~<fDUJR][ JEFFE:R.§C{)N CI'l'Y June 26, 1974 OPINION LETTER NO . 18 Honorable C. E. Hamilton , Jr . Prosecuting Attorney Callaway County , Courthouse Fulton , Missouri 65251 Dear Mr . Hamilton: This opinion letter is ~~1ri tten in response to your request posed to the Office of the Attorney General in which the fol- l owing question is asked : .. Is a County Recorder in a third class county required to accept for recording one Deed of- Release which releases three separate Deeds of Trust?" Section 59 . 330, RSNo 1969·, provides it is the duty of county r ecorders to record: "All deeds , mortgages , conveyances , deeds of trust , bonds , convenants, defeasances, or other instru.l'llents of v.rriting, of or con- cerning any lands and tenements , or goods and chattels, which shall be proved or acknowledged according to law, and autho- rized to be recorded in their officesi II Section 443 . 060, RSMo 1969, relating to mortgages and deeds of trust, provides in part that: "If any mortgagee , cestui que trust or assign- ee , or administrator of the mortgagee , cestui Honorable C. E. Hamilton, Jr. que trust or assignee, receive full satis~ fadtion of any mortgage or deed of trust, he shall, at the request and cost of the per- son making the.same, acknowledge satisfac- tion of the mortgage or deed of trust on the margin of the.record thereof, or deliver to such person a sufficient deed of release of the mortgage or deed of trust; but it shall not in any case be necessary for the trustee to join in such acknowledgment of satisfac- tion or in such deed of release; and provided further 1 thatwhen any mortgage or deed of trust shall be satisfied by a deed of release, the recorder shall note on the margin of the record of such deed of trust the book and page where such deed of release is recorded. In case satisfaction be acknowledged by the payee or assignee, or in case a full deed of release is offered for record, the note or notes secured shall be produced and canceled in the presence of the recorder, who shall enter that fact on the margin of the record and attest the same with his official signature; and no full deed of release shall be admitted to record unless the noi:::e or notes are so produced and ci'l.ncP..I P.rl: and that fact entered on the margin of the record and attested as above provided ... (Emphasis added) . Clearly 1 from the statutory language in the above sections, it is the duty of the county recorder to record a deed of release releasing a mortgagor or trustor from obligation under a mort- gage or deed of trust. Nothing in either Chapter 59 or Chapter 443 qf the Revised Statutes of this state countermands that duty of the recorder to the extent that a deed, releasing more than one mortgage or deed of trust, is not required to be recorded. Therefore, we answer your in'quiry in the affirmative, i.e. , a county recorder 'in a third class county is required to accept for recording one deed of release which rele~ses three separate deeds of trust. Very truly vourrs, ' d -----) . ~(~L-{2-~ JOHN C. DANFOR"ll'H Attorney Generiilll - 2 -