Minnesota Transfer-on-Death Deed

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: Minnesota

Minnesota authorizes a transfer-on-death deed

Minnesota Statutes section 507.071 authorizes a transfer-on-death deed for real property. The statute defines it as a deed that transfers an interest to a grantee beneficiary only upon the death of the relevant grantor owner, subject to the statute's survivorship rules (Minnesota Statutes section 507.071).

The deed must satisfy the applicable Minnesota deed requirements and be recorded in a county where part of the real property is located before the grantor owner's death. The recording timing is not a minor technicality: the statutory validity rule makes it central to whether the instrument works as a TOD deed (Minnesota Statutes section 507.071).

It is a title tool, not an automatic MA shield

Minnesota's deed statute itself recognizes public-assistance claims and liens. More importantly, the MA recovery statute defines estate broadly to include assets conveyed through survivorship, living trust, transfer-on-death title or deed, and other arrangements. It separately specifies the decedent's TOD-deed interest or resulting sale proceeds in the estate rule applicable to that recovery process (Minnesota Statutes section 507.071; Minnesota Statutes section 256B.15).

That statutory language means a family should not describe a Minnesota TOD deed as a guaranteed way to avoid estate recovery. It may avoid an ordinary probate transfer, but MA recovery has an expanded definition that does not stop at a conventional probate estate. Eligibility, liens during life, title, creditor claims, tax, and post-death recovery are separate questions (DHS estate recovery and liens; Minnesota Statutes section 256B.15).

Use Minnesota-specific legal review

A TOD deed also does not establish that a lifetime home transfer would be penalty-free, that the home is exempt under every MA rule, or that a beneficiary has no responsibility after death. The deed's timing, existing liens, marital interests, beneficiary designations, and the owner's expected care needs all warrant individualized advice (Minnesota Statutes section 507.071).

Key Minnesota fact: a TOD deed must be recorded before death, and Minnesota's recovery definition expressly includes property transferred by transfer-on-death deed (Minnesota deed statute; Minnesota recovery statute).

For the broader planning framework, see The Home. Use a Minnesota real-estate and elder-law attorney before signing, recording, revoking, or relying on a deed.

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Minnesota authorizes a transfer-on-death deed

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