Find Carroll County Property Records
Carroll County property records are kept by the Circuit Clerk who serves as the Ex-Officio Recorder of Deeds. The office is in Carrollton, the county seat. If you need to search for deeds, check liens, or look up ownership on a piece of land in Carroll County, this is the office to contact. Property records here include deeds, deeds of trust, plats, surveys, and other documents that affect real estate in Carroll County, Missouri. You can visit in person, call, or send an email to start your search.
Carroll County Quick Facts
Carroll County Recorder of Deeds Office
Carroll County is one of the Missouri counties where the Circuit Clerk also serves as the Ex-Officio Recorder of Deeds. Janet Horine holds this dual role. The office is at 8 S Main, Suite 3, in Carrollton, MO 64633. You can reach the office by phone at (660) 542-1466 or by fax at (660) 542-1444. For email, contact janet.horine@courts.mo.gov. This arrangement is common in smaller Missouri counties where the volume of recordings does not justify a separate recorder's office.
Despite the combined role, the Carroll County office handles all the same property document types as any standalone recorder's office in Missouri. Deeds, deeds of trust, releases, plats, surveys, easements, and liens all get filed here. Once recorded, each document becomes part of the Carroll County public record. Anyone can ask to see or copy a recorded document. You do not need to be a party to the transaction or give a reason for your request.
The Missouri Recorders Association includes Carroll County in its directory of all 115 county recorder offices across the state.
| Office | Carroll County Circuit Clerk / Ex-Officio Recorder |
|---|---|
| Recorder | Janet Horine |
| Address |
8 S Main, Ste. 3 Carrollton, MO 64633 |
| Phone | (660) 542-1466 |
| Fax | (660) 542-1444 |
| janet.horine@courts.mo.gov |
How to Search Carroll County Property Records
Searching for property records in Carroll County means visiting or contacting the Circuit Clerk's office in Carrollton. The office does not have a widely known online portal for property searches, so most people need to visit in person or call. Have the property owner's name ready. Records are indexed by grantor and grantee names. Staff can pull up documents from the index and help you find what you need.
Carroll County was organized in 1833. Land records go back to around that time. For earlier ownership research, the Missouri Digital Heritage database has land patent entries from 1777 to 1969. You can search these by name, year, or county. Federal land patents for Carroll County are available through the Bureau of Land Management records site.
The FamilySearch Missouri land guide is another free tool for tracing old Carroll County property records. It points to microfilm collections of pre-1900 deeds and explains the township, range, and section system used in Missouri land descriptions.
Note: The Circuit Clerk serves as Ex-Officio Recorder in Carroll County, so property records and court records are handled by the same office.
Carroll County Property Recording Fees
Carroll County uses the standard Missouri recording fee schedule. The first page of any document costs $24 to record. Each page after that is $3. If the document does not meet the formatting rules in Section 59.310, a $25 non-standard penalty applies. The state requires 8.5 by 11 inch paper, a 3-inch top margin, and at least 8-point type size for all recorded documents.
Copies of Carroll County property records run $1 per page. Certification is $1 per document. Call the office at (660) 542-1466 to check what forms of payment they take and confirm that the fee schedule has not changed since your last visit.
Property Documents Filed in Carroll County
The Carroll County recorder's office files the same range of property documents as any Missouri county. Warranty deeds give full title guarantees. Quitclaim deeds transfer the grantor's interest without guarantees. Deeds of trust serve as mortgage security. Release deeds clear liens when loans are paid off. Each of these documents is recorded and becomes part of the permanent Carroll County property records.
Other documents filed with the Carroll County recorder include:
- Plats and subdivision maps
- Surveys with boundary measurements
- Easements for utility or access rights
- Tax liens and mechanic's liens
- Restrictive covenants limiting property use
Beneficiary deeds are allowed under Section 461.025 of Missouri law. Carroll County property owners can use these to name who gets the property after death. The deed does not take effect until the owner dies, and it can be revoked at any time. This keeps the property out of probate, which saves time and money for the family.
Carroll County Property Tax Records
Property tax records in Carroll County are handled by the assessor and collector, not the recorder. The assessor sets property values every odd-numbered year. Missouri uses assessment ratios of 19% for residential property, 12% for agricultural land, and 32% for commercial property. Carroll County has a lot of farmland, so the agricultural rate applies to a large share of the county's real estate.
Tax bills go out by November 1 each year and are due December 31. Contact the Carroll County collector in Carrollton for information about taxes owed on a specific property. The Missouri Department of Revenue runs property tax credit programs for qualifying seniors and disabled veterans. These state programs can help reduce the property tax cost for eligible Carroll County residents.
Note: Agricultural property in Carroll County is assessed at a lower rate than residential or commercial, which can significantly affect tax bills.
Historical Property Records in Carroll County
Carroll County has land records going back to its 1833 formation. The Missouri State Archives keeps a database with over 280,000 land patent entries that covers the entire state from 1777 to 1969. This is a valuable tool for tracing early property ownership in Carroll County, especially for federal land sales and state-issued patents from the 1800s.
Missouri was a public-domain state. That means the federal government originally owned the land and sold or granted it to private owners. The first sale of any piece of land is called a land patent. After that first sale, all later transactions were recorded at the county level. For Carroll County, those county-level records are at the Circuit Clerk's office in Carrollton. The federal records are at the Bureau of Land Management and the Missouri State Archives.
Nearby Counties
These counties are near Carroll County in north-central Missouri. Property documents must be filed in the county where the land is located.