Missouri: Judgment Lien Duration & Renewal Requirements
The short answer
In Missouri, the judgment and the real-property lien it creates run on the exact same 10-year clock and are renewed together in one step: reviving the judgment automatically revives the lien too, with no separate recording required (Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.08). To renew, the creditor files a motion for revival in the same court within 10 years of the judgment's entry, the last payment of record, or the last revival (R. 74.09(a)); the court then orders the debtor to show cause, and if the debtor doesn't respond, the judgment (and lien) is revived automatically. Miss the 10-year window entirely and Missouri law conclusively presumes the judgment paid: no revival, no lawsuit, no collection of any kind is possible after that (RSMo § 516.350.1). One subtlety in the revival rule can cost a creditor priority: if the court doesn't issue its show-cause order until after the lien has already expired, the revived lien only takes effect from the date of the new order and loses out to anyone who recorded an interest in the gap (R. 74.10).
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Missouri. Ezel applies current Missouri law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.08 (lien duration, tied to judgment revival); R. 74.09 (revival procedure); RSMo § 516.350.1 (10-year conclusive presumption the judgment is paid); § 511.350 (which judgments become liens at all) |
|---|---|
| How long the judgment itself lasts | Not a flat expiration but a conclusive presumption: RSMo § 516.350.1 provides every judgment 'shall be presumed to be paid and satisfied after the expiration of ten years' from entry (or from the last revival on personal service, or from the last payment entered of record). Missouri courts treat this as an absolute bar, not rebuttable: 'once the conclusive presumption arises, the judgment cannot be revived and no suit can be maintained upon it' (Pirtle v. Cook, 956 S.W.2d 235, 238 (Mo. banc 1997)) |
| How long a recorded lien lasts | The SAME 10 years as the judgment itself, and the SAME act renews both. Mo. Sup. Ct. Rule 74.08 states plainly that 'the lien of a judgment commences upon entry of the judgment, continues for a period of ten years, and is revived by a revival of the judgment': there is no separate lien-recording or lien-renewal step within the county of entry, unlike states that treat the lien as an independently renewed instrument |
| How to renew | A judgment creditor files a 'motion for revival' in the court that entered the judgment (R. 74.09(a)). The court then issues an order directing the debtor 'to show cause on a day certain why such judgment should not be revived,' served on the debtor like a summons (R. 74.09(b)). If the debtor 'fail[s] to appear and show cause,' the court enters an order reviving the judgment, and the lien revives with it under R. 74.08 (R. 74.09(c)). Older statutory language (RSMo §§ 511.370, 511.430) still describes an antiquated 'scire facias' writ and a mismatched three-year revival period, but current Missouri practice runs entirely on the Supreme Court's later, harmonized Rule 74.08-74.10 framework, not that unamended statutory text |
| Renewal window | The motion for revival must be filed 'within ten years after entry of the judgment, the last payment of record, or the last prior revival of the judgment' (R. 74.09(a)), there's no earliest-filing restriction, only the 10-year outer deadline. Timing the SHOW-CAUSE ORDER matters, not just the motion: R. 74.10 provides that if the show-cause order issues before the lien expires but the revival judgment is entered later, 'the revived lien prevails over intermediate encumbrances'; but if the order itself isn't issued until after the lien has already expired, the revival 'shall take effect from the entry thereof and shall not prevail over intermediate encumbrances', so filing right at the deadline risks losing priority to anyone who recorded first in the gap |
| Recent changes or debt-type limits | No 2025-2026 legislative change found to the judgment-lien duration or revival rules. The last substantive amendment was procedural, not legislative: Rule 74.08 was last amended February 27, 2002 (effective January 1, 2003), and Rule 74.09(a) was amended June 25, 2019 (effective January 1, 2020) to add 'the last payment of record' as an alternative start date for the 10-year window. RSMo § 511.360's own text still carries an old carve-out limiting judgments entered before August 28, 1998 to a 3-year lien, but that cutoff is now purely historical since no judgment from that era could still be current. Pending MO SS/SCS/SBs 835 & 1111 (2026), passed the legislature and headed to the Governor, changes garnishment and debtor-examination procedure but does not touch the judgment or lien duration/revival rules in this survey |
| What ends the lien early | Payment: the creditor must 'immediately file an acknowledgment of satisfaction' once a judgment is satisfied (R. 74.11(a)); if the creditor doesn't, 'any interested person may apply to the court...for an order showing satisfaction' (R. 74.11(c)). Separately, simple non-renewal ends both the lien and the underlying judgment together at the 10-year mark, since RSMo § 516.350.1's conclusive-payment presumption 'extinguishes any real property liens created as a result of the judgment' once the ten years run without a timely revival |
| Recording in more than one county | Yes. A circuit court judgment automatically liens real estate only 'in the county for which or in which the court is held' (RSMo § 511.350.1). To reach property in a different county, the creditor files a transcript of the judgment with that county's circuit clerk, which then 'shall be a lien on the real estate...situated in the county in which such transcript is filed' (R. 74.13(a)), lasting 'to the same extent and for the same time only as the lien of the judgment in the county where the same was entered' (R. 74.13(c)). Critically, revival power stays centralized: 'executions may be issued and judgments or liens may be revived only by the circuit court where the judgment was entered' (R. 74.13(d)): a creditor cannot revive the out-of-county lien locally, only refile a fresh transcript of the revival from the original court |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Missouri Supreme Court Rule 74.08 sets the lien's 10-year duration and ties it directly to the judgment's own revival. Rule 74.09 lays out the revival procedure itself. RSMo § 516.350.1 separately creates the 10-year conclusive presumption that bars any enforcement of the judgment once ten years pass. RSMo § 511.350 determines which judgments create a real-property lien at all (circuit court judgments do; small claims, municipal, and associate-division judgments don't, unless separately transcribed).
How long the judgment itself lasts
Not a flat expiration, RSMo § 516.350.1 creates a conclusive presumption of payment after 10 years from entry, from a revival on personal service, or from the last payment entered of record. Missouri courts treat this as an absolute bar, not something a creditor can rebut with proof of nonpayment: once the ten years run without a timely revival, "the judgment cannot be revived and no suit can be maintained upon it" (Pirtle v. Cook, 956 S.W.2d 235, 238 (Mo. banc 1997)).
How long a recorded lien lasts
The exact same 10 years as the judgment, running together. Rule 74.08 states it plainly: the lien "commences upon entry of the judgment, continues for a period of ten years, and is revived by a revival of the judgment." There's no independent lien clock and no separate lien-renewal filing within the county where judgment was entered, reviving the judgment is what revives the lien.
How to renew
File a motion for revival in the court that entered the judgment. The court issues an order requiring the debtor to show cause, by a specific date, why the judgment shouldn't be revived, served on the debtor the same way as a summons. If the debtor doesn't appear and show cause, the court enters an order reviving the judgment, and the lien revives along with it. Older Missouri statutes (§§ 511.370, 511.430) still describe a "scire facias" writ procedure and a mismatched three-year revival term, but current practice runs on the Supreme Court's Rule 74.08-74.10 framework instead, not that outdated statutory language.
Renewal window
File the motion for revival within 10 years of the judgment's entry, the last payment of record, or the last prior revival, there's no earliest-filing rule, only that outer 10-year deadline. But the exact timing of the court's SHOW-CAUSE ORDER also matters for priority: if that order issues before the lien expires (even if the actual revival judgment comes later), the revived lien prevails over anything recorded in between. If the order itself doesn't issue until after the lien has already expired, the revival only takes effect from that point forward and loses priority to intervening encumbrances. Filing at the last minute, in other words, can cost more than just convenience.
Recent changes or debt-type limits
No 2025-2026 legislative amendment touches the judgment-lien duration or revival rules. The most recent change was procedural: Rule 74.09(a) was amended effective January 1, 2020 to add "the last payment of record" as an additional trigger date for the 10-year revival window, alongside the judgment's entry and any prior revival. RSMo § 511.360 still carries old language limiting pre-August 1998 judgments to a 3-year lien, but that cutoff has no practical effect on any judgment still enforceable today. A pending bill, MO SS/SCS/SBs 835 & 1111 (2026), passed by the legislature and delivered to the Governor, overhauls debtor-examination and account-garnishment procedure but does not touch the duration or revival rules covered here.
What ends the lien early
Payment: once a judgment is satisfied, the creditor must "immediately file an acknowledgment of satisfaction" (Rule 74.11(a)); if the creditor doesn't, anyone with an interest can ask the court itself to enter an order showing satisfaction (Rule 74.11(c)). Beyond that, simple non-renewal ends both the lien and the judgment together at the 10-year mark, since the conclusive-payment presumption under § 516.350.1 "extinguishes any real property liens created as a result of the judgment" once the window closes without a timely revival.
Recording in more than one county
Yes. A circuit court judgment only liens real estate in the county where that court sits. To reach property in a different county, the creditor files a transcript of the judgment with that county's circuit clerk, creating a lien there that lasts "to the same extent and for the same time only" as the lien in the original county. But revival power stays centralized: only the circuit court that entered the original judgment can revive the judgment or its liens, a creditor can't revive the out-of-county lien locally, only file a fresh transcript there once the original court has revived the judgment.
What trips people up
The biggest trap is treating the show-cause order's issue date as a formality. It isn't: file the motion for revival right at the 10-year deadline, and if the court doesn't get around to issuing its show-cause order until after the lien has technically expired, the revived lien only takes effect from that later date, meaning anyone who recorded a mortgage, judgment, or other interest against the property in the gap now outranks the "revived" lien. The second trap is relying on the older Missouri statutes' text: §§ 511.370 and 511.430 still describe a "scire facias" writ and a three-year revival period that doesn't match either the 10-year lien duration in RSMo § 511.360 or the 10-year revival window in current Rule 74.09, current practice follows the Supreme Court Rules, not that unamended statutory language, and a filing based on the old scire-facias procedure risks confusion with the modern motion-for-revival practice.
Common questions
Do I need to record something separately to renew my Missouri judgment lien? No. Reviving the judgment itself through a motion for revival automatically revives the lien too, under Rule 74.08, there's no separate lien-recording step within the county where judgment was entered.
My Missouri judgment is 11 years old and I never revived it. Is there any way to collect? No. Once ten years pass without a timely revival, RSMo § 516.350.1 conclusively presumes the judgment paid. Missouri courts have held this bar is absolute, the judgment can't be revived and no suit can be maintained on it, regardless of whether the debt was actually paid.
My debtor owns property in a Missouri county where I didn't sue. What do I need to do? File a transcript of the judgment with that county's circuit clerk. That creates a lien there lasting as long as the lien in the original county, but only the original court can ever revive the judgment or its liens, you'll need a fresh transcript of any revival, not a local revival filing.
Statutes and sources
- Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.08, "the lien of a judgment commences upon entry of the judgment, continues for a period of ten years, and is revived by a revival of the judgment." https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=199748 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.09, "A judgment may be revived by order of the court that entered it pursuant to a motion for revival filed by a judgment creditor within ten years after entry of the judgment, the last payment of record, or the last prior revival of the judgment...." https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=199749 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.10, "If the order to show cause is issued before the lien expires but the judgment of revival is entered after the lien has expired, the revived lien prevails over intermediate encumbrances...." https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=199750 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.11, "When any judgment or decree is satisfied, the judgment creditor shall immediately file an acknowledgment of satisfaction...." https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=199751 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- Mo. Sup. Ct. R. 74.13, "A judgment entered or registered...upon the filing of a transcript thereof in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of any county other than the one in which the judgment was obtained, shall be a lien on the real estate...situated in the county in which such transcript is filed...." https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=199753 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- RSMo § 516.350.1, "shall be presumed to be paid and satisfied after the expiration of ten years from the date of the original rendition thereof.... such judgment shall be conclusively presumed to be paid, and no execution, order or process shall issue thereon, nor shall any suit be brought, had or maintained thereon for any purpose whatever." https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.350 (accessed 2026-07-09)
- RSMo § 511.350, "Judgments and decrees entered by the supreme court...by any circuit court...except judgments and decrees rendered by associate, small claims and municipal divisions of the circuit courts, shall be liens on the real estate of the person against whom they are entered, situate in the county for which or in which the court is held." https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=511.350 (accessed 2026-07-09)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Missouri handles this in general. Ezel applies current Missouri law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.