When a Missouri broker receives it, the money goes into the brokerage's escrow or trust account. The statute says such funds are deposited promptly. A Missouri Real Estate Commission rule adds a count of ten banking days from the last signature, unless the contract provides otherwise. A separate rule covers a disputed deposit.
Earnest money is the one part of a home purchase where a buyer hands over real money before anything is finished. Missouri has written rules about where that money sits, how fast it has to get there, and what happens to it when the two sides stop agreeing.
This article is about those rules, quoted from the state's own published text. It is not about how much to offer, and it is not a prediction about anyone's deposit. Both of those depend on a specific contract and a specific situation.
Written by Saleh Ihmoud, REALTOR®. Missouri license #2025005964, sponsored by Elevate Realty, 16141 Swingley Ridge Rd #201, Chesterfield, MO 63017, (314) 947-3137. Illinois license #475.218785, sponsored by Elevate Illinois Realty, 6 Ginger Creek Village Drive, Suite A, Glen Carbon, IL 62034, (618) 343-5444. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is general education. It is not legal, tax, lending or insurance advice. Contract questions belong with a real estate attorney, and questions about a specific escrow belong with the party actually holding the money.
Who holds earnest money in Missouri?
When a Missouri real estate broker receives it, the money goes into the brokerage's escrow or trust account. The statute says such funds are deposited promptly, unless all parties with an interest in them have agreed otherwise in writing. A Missouri Real Estate Commission rule adds a specific count, ten banking days from the last date the signatures or initials of all parties are obtained, unless the contract provides otherwise. A separate rule in the same chapter covers what happens when the deposit is disputed.
Those are several different provisions with different numbers, and the differences between them are the reason this article exists.
What this article covers
Everything quoted below is Missouri: the statute that requires a separate account, the rule that sets the deposit deadline, the rule that governs a dispute, and the statute that says where the money goes if a dispute never ends. This article is Missouri only. Nothing in it describes the law of any other state.
The rule that says where the money goes, and when
The deposit rule is 20 CSR 2250-8.120, titled Deposits to Escrow or Trust Account. Its purpose paragraph, in the Code of State Regulations chapter published 6/30/23 and read on September 14, 2026, runs three sentences:
"This rule requires all earnest money be deposited in a noninterest bearing escrow account not later than ten (10) banking days next following the execution of a contract."
"If the account is interest-bearing, all parties must be made aware."
"A salesperson must immediately deliver to the broker all money received in connection with a transaction in which s/he is engaged."
The same rule states a delivery duty again as its own subsection. 20 CSR 2250-8.120(2):
"A licensee shall immediately deliver to the broker with whom affiliated all money received in connection with a real estate transaction in which the licensee is engaged."
The purpose paragraph uses the word salesperson and subsection (2) uses the word licensee. The ten banking day count sits in a different subsection, (1), and is addressed to the broker:
"All money received by a licensee as set out in section 339.100.2(1), RSMo shall be deposited in the escrow or trust account maintained by the broker no later than ten (10) banking days following the last date on which the signatures or initials, or both, of all the parties to the contract are obtained, unless otherwise provided in the contract."
"Earnest money received prior to acceptance of a written contract may be deposited into the escrow account by the broker with the written authorization of the party(ies) providing the funds."
Three things are stated in that first sentence. The count is in banking days, a term the rule does not define. The count runs from "the last date on which the signatures or initials, or both, of all the parties to the contract are obtained." And the sentence carries the phrase "unless otherwise provided in the contract."
Alongside the rule sits the statute, and the statute uses a different standard. RSMo 339.105 subsection 1, describing the escrow funds it has just required a broker to hold separately, states: "Such funds shall be deposited promptly unless all parties having an interest in the funds have agreed otherwise in writing." The rule states a count and the statute states a promptly standard. How the two apply together in a given transaction is a legal question, and this article does not answer it.
On the date the count runs from, the same chapter has a related rule. 20 CSR 2250-8.100, titled Offers, subsection (3), reads in full:
"Any change to a contract shall be initialed by all buyers and sellers."
"Acceptance of each fully executed contract shall include the date at which final agreement was reached either by 1) specific acknowledgement of final acceptance date; or 2) date of the last signature or initial to the contract."
8.100(3) names two ways an acceptance date may be recorded: a specific acknowledgement of final acceptance date, or the date of the last signature or initial. 8.120(1) states its count from the last date signatures or initials are obtained. Neither rule cites the other.
8.100 was moved to its current number effective August 28, 2006, and its last amendment was filed February 2, 1994, effective August 28, 1994. 8.120 was last amended by a filing of October 27, 2011, effective April 30, 2012.
What kind of account the rule describes
The same rule describes the account itself. 20 CSR 2250-8.120(3), both sentences:
"The escrow or trust account maintained by a broker, as required by the license law, shall be a checking account in a bank, savings and loan, or credit union."
"If the escrow or trust account maintained by a broker is an interest-bearing account, the broker shall disclose in writing to all parties to the transaction that the account is interest-bearing and the disclosure shall indicate who is to receive the interest."
Subsection (4) is broader than earnest money. It runs five sentences, and the first three are these:
"Each broker shall deposit into the escrow or trust account all funds coming into the broker's possession as set out in section 339.100.2(1), RSMo, including funds in which the broker may have some future interest or claim and including, but not limited to, earnest money deposits, prepaid rents, security deposits, loan proceeds, and funds paid by or for the parties upon closing of the transaction."
"No broker shall commingle personal funds or other funds in the broker's escrow account except to the extent provided by section 339.105.1, RSMo."
"Commissions payable must be removed from the escrow account at the time the transaction is completed."
The two sentences that follow those set two further ten banking day counts, both about disbursing and removing interest after the next account statement arrives. Counting the purpose paragraph and subsection (1) quoted earlier, the phrase "ten banking days" appears four times in this one rule, attached to three different events.
The statute behind the rule is RSMo 339.105, effective August 28, 2004. Its published heading reads in full: "Separate bank escrow accounts required — service charges for account may be made by personal deposit by broker, amount allowed." Subsection 1 states that "Each broker who holds funds belonging to another shall maintain such funds in a separate bank account in a financial institution which shall be designated an escrow or trust account." The sentence after it states that the requirement "includes funds in which he or she may have some future interest or claim." A third sentence states that "Such funds shall be deposited promptly unless all parties having an interest in the funds have agreed otherwise in writing." The second half of the heading is the exception: a broker may deposit and keep a sum not to exceed one thousand dollars of personal funds in the account, specifically identified, to cover service charges related to the account.
What the statute says a broker may not do with it
Missouri's licensing statute reaches escrow money directly. RSMo 339.100, shown on the revisor's site as effective August 28, 2026, is headed "Investigation of certain practices, procedure — subpoenas — formal complaints — revocation or suspension of licenses — digest may be published — revocation of licenses for certain offenses." Its subsection 2 opens: "The commission may cause a complaint to be filed with the administrative hearing commission as provided by the provisions of chapter 621 against any person or entity licensed under this chapter or any licensee who has failed to renew or has surrendered his or her individual or entity license for any one or any combination of the following acts:" The first listed act is this:
"Failure to maintain and deposit in a special account, separate and apart from his or her personal or other business accounts, all moneys belonging to others entrusted to him or her while acting as a real estate broker or as the temporary custodian of the funds of others, until the transaction involved is consummated or terminated, unless all parties having an interest in the funds have agreed otherwise in writing;"
That paragraph is the one 20 CSR 2250-8.120 cites twice, and it is where the phrase "temporary custodian of the funds of others" comes from. It is also, in its own words, a ground on which a complaint about escrow handling can be filed against a licensee.
RSMo 339.105 subsection 5 addresses the broker's own fee out of the same pool:
"A broker shall not be entitled to any money or other money paid to him or her in connection with any real estate sales transaction as part or all of his or her commission or fee until the transaction has been consummated or terminated, unless agreed in writing by all parties to the transaction."
What the rule says happens when the deposit is disputed
This is the part where partial quotation does the most damage, because the subsection's first sentence and its second sentence describe different things.
The dispute rule is 20 CSR 2250-8.130, titled Earnest and Escrow Money; Disputes. It is a different rule from 8.120, and the next escrow rule along in the same chapter. Subsection (2) is three sentences, and here they are in full:
"In the event a dispute arises concerning the return or forfeiture of any monies or other valuables held by a broker in escrow, the broker shall continue to retain the money or valuables in escrow until a written release is obtained from all parties consenting to its disposition or until a civil action is filed to determine its disposition at which time payment may be made into the court."
"However, in the absence of a pending civil action or written release and upon passage of sixty (60) days from the date of the dispute, a broker may disburse escrow monies or valuables to either party to the transaction based upon a good faith decision by the broker that the opposite party has failed to perform as agreed, but this disbursement shall only be made after the broker has given fifteen (15) days' written notice by certified mail to all parties concerned at their last known address setting forth the broker's proposed action."
"The commission will not take disciplinary action against a broker who in good faith disburses escrow monies or other valuables pursuant to this rule; however, nothing in this rule relieves a broker of any civil action which the damaged party may file in a court of law nor does this rule require a broker to remove money or other valuables from the broker's escrow account when disposition is disputed by the parties."
The first sentence addresses continued retention. The second sentence addresses a disbursement by the broker after sixty days from the date of the dispute, where no civil action is pending and no written release exists, and it names fifteen days of written notice by certified mail as a condition attached to it.
The third sentence is a single sentence joined by a semicolon. Before the semicolon it addresses disciplinary action by the commission. After the semicolon, in the same sentence, it addresses a civil action a damaged party may file and whether the rule requires removing the money from the account. It is printed above exactly as the rule prints it.
| Sentence | What it addresses, in the rule's own terms | The condition it names |
|---|---|---|
| First | Continued retention in escrow | Until a written release from all parties, or a civil action is filed, at which point payment may be made into the court |
| Second | A broker disbursement based on a good faith decision that the opposite party failed to perform | No pending civil action and no written release, sixty days from the date of the dispute, plus fifteen days written notice by certified mail to all parties at their last known address |
| Third, both halves of one sentence | A disciplinary safe harbour for a broker who disburses in good faith under the rule, and immediately after the semicolon, the limit on it | The commission will not take disciplinary action; and the rule does not relieve a broker of a civil action a damaged party may file, and does not require removing the money from the account |
The rule's own purpose paragraph describes the subsection this way: "In the event of a dispute over the return of an earnest money deposit, it instructs the broker as to its proper disposition." The instruction in that sentence is addressed to the broker. Entitlement to a particular deposit is a contract question and a legal question, and those sit with a real estate attorney.
What the statute says about a dispute that never resolves
A dispute that goes nowhere does not leave the money in the brokerage account indefinitely. RSMo 339.105 subsection 4 states:
"Whenever the ownership of any escrow moneys received by a broker pursuant to this section is in dispute by the parties to a real estate sales transaction, the broker shall report and deliver the moneys to the state treasurer within three hundred sixty-five days of the date of the initial projected closing date in compliance with sections 447.500 to 447.595."
"The parties to a real estate sales transaction may agree in writing that the funds are not in dispute and shall notify the broker who is holding the funds."
Two things the text states. The three hundred sixty-five days runs from "the date of the initial projected closing date." And the sections it directs compliance with, RSMo 447.500 to 447.595, are Missouri's unclaimed property provisions.
The Missouri State Treasurer's unclaimed property site, read September 14, 2026 and carrying a 2019 copyright line with no revision date of its own, describes that office's role in its own words: "The Treasurer's Office is responsible for returning Unclaimed Property to Missourians." It states that "Each year financial institutions, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations turn over millions of dollars in cash and the contents of safe deposit boxes to the Treasurer's Office," that "The Office currently holds more than $1.5 billion in unclaimed assets," and that "The Treasurer's Office never charges to return Unclaimed Property." The word currently is the Treasurer's own, on a page that carries no revision date, which is why the read date is given here.
One thing subsection 4 itself does not say is who is then entitled to the money. It names a destination, a deadline, and the unclaimed property sections it directs compliance with. Ownership is the thing that was in dispute in the first place, and the claiming process lives in those sections rather than in 339.105.
What the rule says about a deposit that is not cash
The first subsection of the dispute rule is about something else entirely. 20 CSR 2250-8.130(1) states:
"A broker shall not accept any note, nonnegotiable instrument or anything of value not readily negotiable as earnest money in a transaction without the signed, written consent of the owner of the real estate."
The rule's purpose line reads: "This rule prohibits acceptance of nonnegotiable securities as earnest money without the knowledge and consent of the owner." The condition the rule names is the signed, written consent of the owner of the real estate.
When the money is not held by a broker
Everything above is a rule about a broker. A contract can name someone else as the holder, and Missouri transactions are often closed through a title company.
Missouri has a separate statute covering title companies acting as escrow or closing agents. It is RSMo 381.022, effective August 28, 2016, and its published heading reads: "Title insurer, agency or agent not affiliated with a title agency may operate as an escrow, security, settlement or closing agent, when, penalty for violations." The scope words in that heading are part of it. The section sits in chapter 381, Title Insurance Law, not in chapter 339, which is headed Real Estate Agents, Brokers, Appraisers and Escrow Agents.
This article does not state the operative content of that statute. Its own subsection 7 states that "A violation of any provision under this section is a level three violation under section 374.049," which routes enforcement to RSMo chapter 374, headed Department of Commerce and Insurance. The Missouri Real Estate Commission rules quoted throughout this article are themselves published under "TITLE 20—DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCE, Division 2250—Missouri Real Estate Commission." Questions about how a specific title company handles a specific deposit are answered by that company and by a real estate attorney reading the escrow instructions.
The narrower point that belongs in a general article is this: the Missouri Real Estate Commission rules quoted above describe money "held by a broker in escrow," in their own words, and the contract names who is holding a given deposit.
Every source in this article, in one place
| Authority | Heading as published | What the quoted text addresses | Date the source carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSMo 339.100.2(1) | Investigation of certain practices, procedure — subpoenas — formal complaints — revocation or suspension of licenses — digest may be published — revocation of licenses for certain offenses | Failure to maintain and deposit others' money in a special account until the transaction is consummated or terminated, listed as a ground for a complaint | Effective August 28, 2026 |
| RSMo 339.105.1 | Separate bank escrow accounts required — service charges for account may be made by personal deposit by broker, amount allowed | Separate account, prompt deposit, no commingling apart from an identified service charge sum not exceeding one thousand dollars | Effective August 28, 2004 |
| RSMo 339.105.4 | Same section as above | Disputed escrow money reported and delivered to the state treasurer within 365 days of the initial projected closing date | Effective August 28, 2004 |
| RSMo 339.105.5 | Same section as above | No entitlement to commission or fee from the money until the transaction is consummated or terminated, absent written agreement of all parties | Effective August 28, 2004 |
| 20 CSR 2250-8.100(3) | Offers | Initialing of changes, and the two ways the acceptance date of a fully executed contract may be recorded | Moved effective August 28, 2006; last amended effective August 28, 1994 |
| 20 CSR 2250-8.120 | Deposits to Escrow or Trust Account | The licensee's immediate delivery to the broker, ten banking days from the last signature unless otherwise provided in the contract, account type, interest disclosure, commingling | Amended effective April 30, 2012 |
| 20 CSR 2250-8.130 | Earnest and Escrow Money; Disputes | Nonnegotiable instruments as earnest money, and the three sentence dispute subsection | Moved effective August 28, 2006; last amended effective August 28, 1994 |
| RSMo 381.022 | Title insurer, agency or agent not affiliated with a title agency may operate as an escrow, security, settlement or closing agent, when, penalty for violations | Named here only as the separate statute that exists for title company escrow, and its routing to chapter 374. Its operative content is not stated in this article | Effective August 28, 2016 |
| Missouri State Treasurer, Unclaimed Property | Unclaimed Property | The office's description of its own role and holdings | 2019 copyright line, no revision date, read September 14, 2026 |
What this article deliberately does not do
It does not say how much earnest money belongs on an offer. Nothing quoted above sets an amount, and the amount on any particular contract is a term of that contract.
It does not predict whether any reader gets a deposit back. That turns on the contract's own contingency language, on what happened and when, and on facts a web page does not have.
It does not cover any state other than Missouri. Every provision quoted above is Missouri law and nothing here should be read as describing anywhere else.
It does not tell anyone what to do about a dispute in progress. A dispute over escrow money is a legal matter, and the rule quoted above is written as an instruction to the broker rather than to the parties.
One disclosure, so you can weigh it. I am a real estate agent, and I get paid when transactions close. An article about escrow custody written by someone in that position earns skepticism rather than trust. Every quotation above is linked to the page it came from, on the Missouri Secretary of State's site, the Missouri revisor's site and the State Treasurer's site, and all three are public and readable without me.
Where a general article stops being useful
The rules above are the same for everyone. What they mean in a specific transaction is not, because the rules themselves point back at the contract in several places.
| Provision | What it addresses | Where the provision's own text points |
|---|---|---|
| 20 CSR 2250-8.120(2) and the purpose paragraph | The licensee's immediate delivery of money received to the broker | Nowhere else. The duty is stated as immediate |
| 20 CSR 2250-8.120(1) | The brokerage deposit deadline, counted in banking days from the last date signatures or initials of all parties are obtained | At the contract, by way of the phrase unless otherwise provided in the contract |
| RSMo 339.105.1 | The statutory standard for the same deposit, stated as promptly | At a written agreement of all parties having an interest in the funds |
| 20 CSR 2250-8.130(1) | A note or other instrument not readily negotiable offered as earnest money | At the signed written consent of the owner of the real estate |
| 20 CSR 2250-8.130(2) | A disputed deposit: retention, a broker disbursement after sixty days plus fifteen days certified notice, a disciplinary safe harbour and the limit on it | At a written release, a civil action, or a court |
| RSMo 339.105.4 | Delivery of long disputed money to the state treasurer | At the initial projected closing date, and at RSMo 447.500 to 447.595 |
| RSMo 381.022 | A title company acting as escrow or closing agent | At chapter 381 and, for enforcement, at chapter 374 |
Here is the honest limit. What any of this comes to in a real transaction depends on which contract form was signed, what it says about the deposit, who it names as holding it, what its contingency language does, and what has already happened between the parties. Those interact, and the combinations are where a general article runs out.
That part takes a conversation, and that part is my job. In a consultation I hear the actual circumstances first, take a question to my broker where it needs one, and only then work out what I would recommend for that person specifically, as their agent once a written agreement is in place. No web page does that, including this one.
If you want to walk through how your own transaction is set up, start a conversation with me. No obligation and no pressure.
The full sequence of a purchase is on the home buying process, and the calendar version is in how long it takes to buy a home in St. Louis. What representation involves is on working with a buyer's agent. The costs and paperwork a first purchase involves are in the St. Louis first-time home buyer guide, the patterns that cost buyers are on buyer mistakes, and financing is on mortgages and financing.
Missouri statutory text was read on revisor.mo.gov on September 14, 2026. RSMo 339.100 is shown there as effective August 28, 2026, RSMo 339.105 as effective August 28, 2004, and RSMo 381.022 as effective August 28, 2016. The Missouri Real Estate Commission rules were read in the Code of State Regulations chapter 20 CSR 2250-8, Business Conduct and Practice, in the version published 6/30/23, on September 14, 2026. The Missouri State Treasurer's unclaimed property site was read September 14, 2026 and carries a 2019 copyright line with no revision date. Statutory headings above are quoted as the revisor prints them, including the revisor's own punctuation. Rules and statutes are amended, which is why every authority above is dated and linked to the page it was read on.
Frequently asked questions
Who holds earnest money in Missouri?
It depends on what the contract says, and Missouri has written rules for the case where a real estate broker holds it. Under RSMo 339.105, effective August 28, 2004, each broker who holds funds belonging to another shall maintain such funds in a separate bank account in a financial institution which shall be designated an escrow or trust account. The Missouri Real Estate Commission rule 20 CSR 2250-8.120(3) adds that the escrow or trust account maintained by a broker, as required by the license law, shall be a checking account in a bank, savings and loan, or credit union. Missouri transactions are often closed through a title company instead, and Missouri has a separate statute whose published heading reads: Title insurer, agency or agent not affiliated with a title agency may operate as an escrow, security, settlement or closing agent, when, penalty for violations. That statute is RSMo 381.022, and it sits in chapter 381, the title insurance chapter, rather than chapter 339, the real estate licensing chapter. The scope words in that heading are part of it. Which body of rules applies to a particular deposit follows from who the contract names as holding it.
How long does a Missouri broker have to deposit earnest money?
The rule states two separate duties. Under 20 CSR 2250-8.120(2), a licensee shall immediately deliver to the broker with whom affiliated all money received in connection with a real estate transaction in which the licensee is engaged. The rule's purpose paragraph states the same duty, using the word salesperson rather than licensee. The brokerage step is in subsection (1): all money received by a licensee as set out in section 339.100.2(1), RSMo shall be deposited in the escrow or trust account maintained by the broker no later than ten (10) banking days following the last date on which the signatures or initials, or both, of all the parties to the contract are obtained, unless otherwise provided in the contract. Three things that sentence states. The count is in banking days, a term the rule does not define. The count runs from the last date on which the signatures or initials, or both, of all the parties to the contract are obtained. And the sentence carries the phrase unless otherwise provided in the contract. Alongside the rule, the statute states a different standard. Describing the escrow funds it has just required a broker to hold separately, RSMo 339.105.1 says such funds shall be deposited promptly unless all parties having an interest in the funds have agreed otherwise in writing.
What do the Missouri rules say when earnest money is disputed?
The dispute rule is a different rule from the deposit rule. It is 20 CSR 2250-8.130, titled Earnest and Escrow Money; Disputes, and its subsection (2) is three sentences that have to be read together. The first says the broker shall continue to retain the money or valuables in escrow until a written release is obtained from all parties consenting to its disposition or until a civil action is filed to determine its disposition at which time payment may be made into the court. The second says that in the absence of a pending civil action or written release and upon passage of sixty (60) days from the date of the dispute, a broker may disburse escrow monies or valuables to either party based upon a good faith decision by the broker that the opposite party has failed to perform as agreed, but this disbursement shall only be made after the broker has given fifteen (15) days written notice by certified mail to all parties concerned at their last known address setting forth the broker's proposed action. The third is a single sentence joined by a semicolon: the commission will not take disciplinary action against a broker who in good faith disburses under the rule; however, nothing in the rule relieves a broker of any civil action which the damaged party may file in a court of law, nor does the rule require a broker to remove the money from the escrow account when disposition is disputed. All three sentences are one subsection. Entitlement to a particular disputed deposit is a contract and legal question for a real estate attorney.
What happens to disputed earnest money that is never released?
Missouri's statute names a destination. RSMo 339.105, subsection 4, states that whenever the ownership of any escrow moneys received by a broker pursuant to this section is in dispute by the parties to a real estate sales transaction, the broker shall report and deliver the moneys to the state treasurer within three hundred sixty-five days of the date of the initial projected closing date in compliance with sections 447.500 to 447.595. The same subsection states that the parties to a real estate sales transaction may agree in writing that the funds are not in dispute and shall notify the broker who is holding the funds. Two things the text states. The three hundred sixty-five days runs from the date of the initial projected closing date. And sections 447.500 to 447.595 are Missouri's unclaimed property provisions. The Missouri State Treasurer's unclaimed property site, read September 14, 2026 and carrying a 2019 copyright line, states that the Treasurer's Office is responsible for returning Unclaimed Property to Missourians and that the Treasurer's Office never charges to return Unclaimed Property. What subsection 4 itself does not address is who is then entitled to the money. It names a destination, a deadline, and the unclaimed property sections it directs compliance with, and ownership is the thing that was in dispute.
Can earnest money be something other than a check?
Missouri's rules address that directly and the answer carries a condition. 20 CSR 2250-8.130(1) states that a broker shall not accept any note, nonnegotiable instrument or anything of value not readily negotiable as earnest money in a transaction without the signed, written consent of the owner of the real estate. The rule's own purpose line describes it the same way: this rule prohibits acceptance of nonnegotiable securities as earnest money without the knowledge and consent of the owner. The condition the rule names is the signed, written consent of the owner of the real estate. How that applies to a particular instrument inside a particular contract is a legal question for a real estate attorney.