How to fill out Missouri Form 4809

Three documents printed on one sheet, and the middle one is the piece of paper that decides whether your car can be sold. A lien shown on the face of a Missouri title is cleared by the lender completing and notarising the release section here and handing it back to you, to be attached to the title. The top of the same sheet records a new lien, and the third band is a lender's authorisation to add or remove an owner's name.

Written against Form 4809 (Rev 08-2025), issued under RSMo 301.600 and 301.640. Start on this weeks before you advertise the car. A payoff clearing does not release the lien - somebody at the lender has to complete this block in front of a notary and post you the original, and a lender who has been taken over, merged or wound up is where Missouri sales stall. The Department's titling manual has a separate procedure for releasing a lien when the lienholder no longer exists.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Form 4809 from the dor.mo.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today.

Step 1 · the form itself Blank Form 4809 — Notice of Lien, Lien Release, or Authorization to Add/Remove Name from Title PDF at dor.mo.gov · new tab

Filled in

What a completed one looks like

This is all 2 pages of the actual Form 4809, rendered from the PDF the Missouri Department of Revenue publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.

Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below

Missouri Form 4809 filled in as a lien release: owner Delphine R. Tallmadge of 4127 Wyandotte St, Kansas City, MO 64111 in Jackson County, the Passenger box ticked, a 2016 Subaru with vehicle identification number 4S4BSANC1G3271486 and its previous title number, the first and second lienholder blocks left blank, and the lien release section completed by Ozark Ridge Credit Union with agent Bernice L. Halvorsen, a lien creation date of 03/09/2019 and a release date of 07/28/2026, notarised by Alvah T. Sedgemoor in Greene County. — Page 1 of 2. Owner and unit at the top, then straight down to the release band at the foot. It is the only part of a Missouri car sale that ends up in front of a notary.

Field by field

Every line, in the order you meet it

1
You fill this in
Owner information
Your name as it appears on the title application, address, county, and driver licence number, with the change-of-ownership question answered.
Watch out: Complete this even though the lender is the one signing. The Department matches the release to a vehicle record through the owner and the unit, not through the lienholder.
2
You fill this in
The unit
Tick the vehicle type, then year, make, vehicle or hull identification number, purchase date, previous title number and net price.
Watch out: The previous title number is the one on the certificate in your hand. If the release ends up describing a different title number the license office cannot pair the two documents.
3
You fill this in
Leave the two lienholder blocks empty
First lienholder information and second lienholder information, in the middle of the page.
Watch out: Counter-intuitive, and it is the Department's own instruction: on a lien release, the first and second lienholder sections are left blank. Those blocks are for recording a new lien.
4
The lienholder fills this in
The lienholder's name as shown on title
The first field in the release band, and it has to be the name printed on the face of the certificate.
Watch out: Banks change names. Where the lender that appears on your title has since been absorbed, the release has to explain the connection, and the Department's titling manual sets out what it will accept.
5
The lienholder fills this in
The agent's printed name and signature
Two fields beside the lienholder's name, both completed by a person with authority at the lender.
Watch out: Signed in front of the notary, not before. The notary is certifying the agent's signature, and a pre-signed form defeats that.
6
The lienholder fills this in
Lien creation date and release date
Two eight-cell dates inside the notary band - the day the lien was recorded, and the day it is being released.
Watch out: The creation date is on the face of your title, in the block headed LIEN DATE. The two together are how the Department matches the release to the entry it is cancelling.
7
The lienholder fills this in
The notarisation
Everything to the left and below the two lien dates - stamp box, jurisdiction, the sworn-before-me line and the officer's own details.
Watch out: The one absolute requirement on this form. A license office notary charges two dollars, but the person being witnessed is the lender's agent, so it is usually done at the lender's own counter.
8
You fill this in
Attach it to the title
The original release, physically with the certificate, handed to the buyer at the sale.
Watch out: Keep a photograph of both before they leave. If the buyer loses the release, the lender has to produce another original - the Department will not take a copy.

At a glance

What goes where

On the form	What to put in it
Owner information	Name as shown on the title application, street address, city, state, ZIP, county and a driver licence or federal employer number, with a Yes or No for whether this is a change of ownership.
Unit description	Eleven vehicle-type boxes from Passenger through to Outboard Motor, then year, make and the vehicle or hull identification number, the purchase date, the previous title number and the net price after trade-in.
First lienholder information	The lender's name as shown on the title application, an FDIC or lienholder identification number, street address, city, state and ZIP, the lien date, whether the loan is subject to future advances, and a loan or unit number.
Second lienholder information	The same block again, with a rule above it for the first lienholder to sign authorising the second lien.
Add or remove a name	A separate band with its own owner details, the name being added or removed, an Add and a Remove box, the county, title number, the vehicle, and the printed name and signature of the lienholder's agent. Headed, in the Department's own words, no notary required.
Lien release	Headed LIEN RELEASE - ATTACH TO TITLE (NOTARY REQUIRED). The lienholder's name as shown on title, the printed name of the lienholder's agent and that agent's signature.
Notary block	Shares its band with two dates that belong to the lien rather than to the witnessing: the lien creation date and the release date sit between the jurisdiction and the sworn-before-me line, with the officer's details beneath them.

What gets this one rejected

•A release with an empty notary block. The instruction page says it in one line - the notary information is required to be completed to release the lien - and the heading on the block itself repeats it.
•A photocopy. Printed across the foot: THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT MUST BE SUBMITTED. It is recommended that you retain a copy for your records.
•Filling in the lienholder sections when you are releasing rather than recording. The instructions for a lien release are to complete the owner and unit blocks and leave the first and second lienholder sections blank.
•A lienholder's name that does not match the one printed on the face of the title. The release block asks for the lienholder's name as shown on title, because that is the entry the Department is cancelling.
•Signing it yourself because the lender has gone quiet. RSMo 301.640 makes it a class D felony to knowingly and intentionally submit a separate document releasing a lien of another without the authority to do so, and the warning is printed twice on the form.
•Leaving the release loose in an envelope. The heading is ATTACH TO TITLE, and a buyer who arrives at a license office with one but not the other has nothing.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

•The release travels with the title, and the buyer needs both. The front of a Missouri certificate carries the instruction in print: to release any lien shown on the face of this title, the lienholder must complete a notarized Lien Release (DOR-4809) to be attached to this title before the purchaser applies for a Certificate of Title.
•A notice of lien costs $9, a release costs nothing. The processing fee is printed twice on the sheet and it belongs to the notice of lien half. Releasing a lien you have already paid off is not a chargeable transaction.
•Adding or removing a name needs no notary. The middle band says so in its own heading, which is worth knowing because the two bands around it both do.

Every line here was read off Form 4809 (Rev 08-2025) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Missouri Department of Revenue pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all Missouri seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Missouri involves.

How to fill out Missouri Form 4809

What a completed one looks like

Every line, in the order you meet it

Owner information

The unit

Leave the two lienholder blocks empty

The lienholder's name as shown on title

The agent's printed name and signature

Lien creation date and release date

The notarisation

Attach it to the title

What goes where

What gets this one rejected

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

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