Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 527.120 (2026)

Construction

✓ current as of May 2026
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  527.120.  Construction. — This law is declared to be remedial; its purpose is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status and other legal relations; and is to be liberally construed and administered.

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(RSMo 1939 § 1137)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 30 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1955–2023 · leading case: Schaefer v. Koster, 342 S.W.3d 299 (Mo. 2011).
Schaefer v. Koster, 342 S.W.3d 299 (Mo. 2011). · cites it 6× “" Section 527.120, RSMo 2000. [1] The principal opinion does not serve that purpose and ignores the statute of limitations set out in § 516.”
Comm. for Educ. Equality v. State, 878 S.W.2d 446 (Mo. 1994). · cites it 3× “" Moreover, the declaratory judgment statutes are "to be liberally construed," Section 527.120, RSMo 1986, and employed to "terminate a controversy or remove an uncertainty.”
Planned Parenthood of Kansas v. Nixon, 220 S.W.3d 732 (Mo. 2007). · cites it 3× “” Section 527.120, RSMo 2000. By statute, declaratory judgment actions are to be “liberally construed and administered.”
Washington Univ. v. Royal Crown Bottling Co. of St. Louis, 801 S.W.2d 458 (Mo. Ct. App. 1990). · cites it 2× “” § 527.120, RSMo 1986. A judicial declaration of the lessee’s repair and maintenance obligations would provide certain and secure relief.”
Cronin v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 958 S.W.2d 583 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 4× “Section 527.120 declares that the Declaratory Judgment Act is "remedial.”
Greg Minana v. Tom Monroe, Defendants/Respondents., 467 S.W.3d 901 (Mo. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 3× “By the clear, unambiguous language of the deed, the Trustees evidenced that they had found the five conditions precedent satis *908 fied, and thus the Kingsbury West residents’ easement rights vested upon the recording of this conveyance. Courts may grant declaratory relief “to…”
Turner v. Missouri Dep't of Conservation, 349 S.W.3d 434 (Mo. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “Indeed, while even the general law of declaratory judgments “is to be liberally construed and administered[,]” section 527.120 still requires: (1) a justiciable controversy that presents a real, substantial, presently-existing controversy admitting of specific relief, as…”
Payne v. Cunningham, 549 S.W.3d 43 (Mo. Ct. App. 2018). “"§ 527.120. Parties to a contract may invoke the Act to "have determined any question of construction or validity" and "obtain a declaration of rights.”
Midwest Div.-Oprmc, LLC v. Dept. Soc. Serv., Div. of Med. Servs., 241 S.W.3d 371 (Mo. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “Section 527.120 provides that “This law is declared to be remedial; its purpose is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status and other legal relations; and is to be liberally construed and administered.”
Missouri Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Agi-Bloomfield Convalescent Ctr., Inc., 682 S.W.2d 166 (Mo. Ct. App. 1984). · cites it 3× “Section 527.120, RSMo 1978, is also of cardinal significance: “This law is declared to be remedial; its purpose is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status and other legal relations; and is to be liberally construed and…”
Van Dyke v. LVS Bldg. Corp., 174 S.W.3d 689 (Mo. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 2× “Section 527.120 states that declaratory' relief is remedial.”
Nancy Gardner v. Bank of Am., N.A., 466 S.W.3d 642 (Mo. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 2× “” Section 527.120. However, “claims for declaratory relief are not intended to be a substitute for all existing *647 remedies and, instead, are merely designed to supply a deficiency in our remedial proceedings.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.