Bulletin: MO2020001

Dear Associates:

As the State of Missouri seeks to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus many government offices are limiting physical access to the public. Stewart Title Guaranty Company (“Stewart”) is committed to our partners and providing solutions to allow agents to continue closing and insuring transactions. Given the uncertainty of how COVID-19 may impact the recording and indexing of documents, Stewart has issued a National Bulletin that provides guidelines for insuring transactions.

For transactions which fall outside one or more of the conditions listed in the National Bulletin, please contact a Missouri underwriter for approval prior to issuing policies.

Please note that the following recommendations apply to Missouri transactions:

Recommendations to comply with the recording requirement pursuant to Section 381.026.1, RSMo:

1. Document the file with a copy/picture of the postmarked envelope sent to the County Recorder of Deeds.
2. Document the file with a receipt for overnight delivery to the County Recorder of Deeds.
3. The person that hand delivered documents to the County Recorder of Deeds should document the file with a signature and date the task was performed.

Additional information regarding COVID-19 is available by clicking here.

As a reminder, you are responsible for knowledge of and compliance with the information contained in all Bulletins and Special Alerts as posted on Virtual Underwriter (www.vuwriter.com), whether you receive them by electronic distribution or not.

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

For on-line viewing of this and other bulletins, please log onto www.vuwriter.com.