Minnesota property deeds

Deeds Minnesota recognizes

Minnesota does not recognize lady bird deeds, so recording one here may not do what you want.

How a deed has to be signed in Minnesota

Minnesota requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public. No witnesses are required.

Minnesota document formatting rules

A safe layout for Minnesota is 8.5 × 11 inch paper with a 3-inch clear space at the top of the first page for the county recorder's stamp, 0.5-inch margins elsewhere, and no type smaller than 10 point. That is the profile Deedly formats every Minnesota document to. Minnesota recorders are told not to reject a document for its layout unless it is not legible or cannot be archived (Minn. Stat. § 357.18, subd. 5), but keep the top 3 inches blank: the recording and tax certification stamps go there.

• Minnesota requires a blank 3-inch space at the top of the first page (the right half for recording information, the left half for tax certification, so nothing else may print there), with the document title displayed directly below it, half-inch borders elsewhere, black ink no smaller than 8-point type, and white paper of at least 20-pound weight (Minn. Stat. § 507.093).

Minnesota transfer tax and recording fees

Minnesota charges Deed tax at 0.33% of net consideration (0.34% in Hennepin and Ramsey, which add a 0.01% Environmental Response Fund tax); $1.65 when consideration is $3,000 or less ($1.70 in Hennepin and Ramsey). Customarily paid by the grantor. Gifts, and any other transfer for $3,000 or less of consideration (adding a spouse to the title when nothing is paid, for example), pay the $1.65 minimum, or $1.70 in Hennepin and Ramsey (Minn. Stat. § 287.21). A transfer between you and your own revocable trust, or between you and an entity owned only by you, by you and your spouse, or by all the co-owners in the same shares, is a designated transfer: it pays the same minimum, and it needs no eCRV if the deed says on its first page "This is a designated transfer pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 287.20, subd. 3a" (Minn. Stat. §§ 287.20, subd. 3a; 272.115, subd. 6). No Minnesota city levies its own deed tax. Only Hennepin and Ramsey counties add 0.01% (the Environmental Response Fund tax, authorized through December 31, 2027; Minn. Stat. §§ 383A.80, 383B.80).

Common exemptions: deeds between former spouses under a marriage dissolution decree (Minn. Stat. § 287.22(14)), transfer on death deeds (§ 287.22(15)), deeds of distribution by a personal representative (§ 287.22(8)), and partition deeds between co-owners (§ 287.22(9)).

Recording fees run about $46 per document. State law caps what a county recorder or registrar of titles may charge for indexing and recording a deed at $46 (Minn. Stat. §§ 357.18, 508.82), whatever the page count. Hennepin County lists $46.

See how Minnesota's transfer tax and recording fee compare with other states.

How to hold title in Minnesota

• Sole ownership. One person owns everything.
• Tenancy in common. Separate, divisible shares with no survivorship. A deceased owner's share goes to their heirs.
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Equal shares; the survivor takes the whole property automatically.

Where to record a deed in Minnesota

Deeds are recorded with the County Recorder (or Registrar of Titles for Torrens property) in the county where the property is located. Minnesota has 87 counties. Many offices accept e-recording, but usually only from approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders.

Hennepin · Ramsey · Dakota · Anoka · Washington · St. Louis · Olmsted · Stearns · Scott · Wright. all Minnesota recording offices

Why deeds get rejected in Minnesota

• Every Minnesota deed must state each grantor's marital status, and recorders check the acknowledgment for it too. If a grantor is married, the spouse must sign to convey homestead property, even when the spouse is not on the title (Minn. Stat. § 507.02).
• The deed must state the deed tax due or the exemption that applies (Minn. Stat. § 287.241), the name and address of whoever drafted it (§ 507.091), and, on a deed that conveys title now, the grantee's legal name and residential or business address for the property tax statements (§ 507.092).
• An electronic Certificate of Real Estate Value (eCRV) must be filed online when the property is sold or transferred for more than $3,000 of consideration, including any mortgage the grantee assumes, and recorders want its number on page one of the deed (Minn. Stat. §§ 272.115, 287.241). A gift, or any other transfer for $3,000 or less, needs none.
• Delinquent property taxes block recording: the county auditor must certify "no delinquent taxes and transfer entered" on the deed before the recorder will take it (Minn. Stat. § 272.12). A transfer on death deed is exempt from this (§ 507.071, subd. 8).
• Minnesota runs both an abstract system (County Recorder) and a Torrens system (Registrar of Titles). Your prior deed or certificate of title tells you which. If the land is partly abstract and partly Torrens, it must be recorded in both systems, each with its own fee.
• Do not cross out, white out or tape over anything on the deed: Hennepin and Anoka recorders do not accept documents altered with strikeouts, white-out or correction tape. The well disclosure statement on the deed has boxes instead; tick the one that applies (Minn. Stat. § 103I.235).
• After a Minnesota TOD deed takes effect, the beneficiary applies to the county's medical assistance (estate recovery) office for a clearance certificate and records it, with an affidavit of identity and survivorship and a certified death record (Minn. Stat. § 507.071, subds. 3, 20, 23).