How to File a Partition Action in Minnesota: Steps, Service, and Sale

To file a partition action in Minnesota, you file a complaint under Chapter 558A in the district court of the county where the property is located, pay the $310 civil filing fee, and serve every other co-owner with a summons and copy of the complaint.¹ The court will then decide whether to physically divide the property among the owners or order it sold and split the proceeds. Chapter 558A took effect on August 1, 2025, and applies to every partition action filed on or after that date; the older Chapter 558 no longer governs new cases, so any older forms or guides that cite it are out of date.²

Confirm You Have the Right to File

Any person who holds a concurrent ownership interest in Minnesota real property can bring a partition action. That includes joint tenants and tenants in common, and the interest can be a fee simple, a life estate, or a leasehold.³ You do not need to prove the other co-owners misbehaved or that the situation is urgent. Owning a share and wanting out of the shared arrangement is enough.

Tenants in common each hold a separate undivided share that can be unequal, so one person might own 70% and another 30%. Joint tenants hold equal shares with a right of survivorship, meaning a deceased owner’s share passes automatically to the surviving joint tenants rather than through a will. Either type of co-owner can file.

Gather What Goes Into the Complaint

The complaint is the document that starts the case. Under 558A.07, it must identify the interests of every person who has a stake in the property, whether that stake is an ownership interest or a lien like a mortgage or unpaid taxes.³ If you do not know a co-owner’s identity, or if someone’s interest is uncertain or contingent, the statute requires you to say so in the complaint rather than leave that person out.

Before you draft anything, pull together:

The legal description of the property from the deed or county recorder’s office. This is the formal boundary description, not the street address.
The names and last known addresses of every co-owner, so each one can be notified.
Your own ownership interest, stated as a fraction or percentage, and how you acquired it (deed, inheritance, and so on).
All known liens and encumbrances. Outstanding mortgages, unpaid property taxes, and judgment liens all affect how proceeds get distributed and must be disclosed.

Sloppy or incomplete disclosure at this stage causes problems later. If a lienholder is not named and served, their lien survives the partition and can chase the property or the proceeds.

File in the Right County and Record a Lis Pendens

File the complaint in the district court of the county where the property sits. The filing fee is $310.¹ If you cannot afford the fee, you can ask the court to waive it by submitting an in forma pauperis application, but plan for the $310 as the default.

At the same time, record a lis pendens with the county recorder. This is a notice that puts the public on record that the property is the subject of a pending lawsuit. Recording a lis pendens is not technically required under 558A, but skipping it is risky. Without it, a third party could buy the property or take a new lien without knowing about your claim, which complicates everything that comes next.³

Serve Every Co-Owner

After filing, you must formally serve a summons and copy of the complaint on every other co-owner. Service follows the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, which generally means personal delivery by a process server or sheriff, or, if that fails, an alternative method the court approves. Do not mail it yourself and assume that counts.

Each co-owner then has 21 days after service to file a response. If a co-owner ignores the lawsuit and does not respond within that window, you can ask the court for a default judgment. The case moves forward without that person’s input, and the court may grant the relief you requested.

Understand What the Court Will Decide

Minnesota courts resolve partitions two ways. Partition in kind physically divides the property into separate parcels so each co-owner walks away with their own piece. Partition by sale sells the property and splits the net proceeds. Courts generally prefer partition in kind when it is workable, and will order a sale only if physical division would cause “manifest prejudice” to the co-owners as a group.

Under 558A.11, the court must weigh several factors before concluding that physical division would be harmful enough to justify a sale:⁴

Whether the property can practically be split. A 200-acre farm might work. A single-family home almost certainly does not.
Whether dividing the property would make the resulting parcels worth materially less in total than the property would fetch if sold whole.
How long the co-owners and their relatives have owned or possessed the property.
Any ancestral, cultural, or other unique personal value a co-owner places on the property.
Whether a co-owner is currently using the property lawfully, such as living there, farming it, or running a business, and how much harm they would suffer if that use ended.
Whether each co-owner has been paying their fair share of taxes, insurance, maintenance, and improvements.
Any other relevant factor. The statute is intentionally open-ended, and no single factor is automatically decisive.

Think through these factors before you file. If you are asking the court for a sale, you should anticipate that a co-owner with deep family ties and active use of the property has real ammunition to push back and demand physical division instead.

What Happens After the Court Orders Partition

Once the court determines each party’s ownership interest and orders a partition, it appoints between one and three referees to carry out the order. Each referee must be disinterested, impartial, and not a party to the action.⁵ In a partition in kind, the referees physically divide the property and assign portions to each co-owner based on quality, quantity, and each party’s rights. They can hire surveyors and other professionals to help.

In a partition by sale, the referees must sell the property “by any means to assure the highest and best price, under the most favorable terms” under 558A.10.³ That includes engaging real estate brokers, appraisers, contractors, cleaning services, and legal counsel as needed. Referees are not limited to courthouse auctions and can list the property on the open market like a normal sale. The court must approve the sale before it closes, so no co-owner is blindsided by a below-market deal.

How the Money Gets Distributed

Sale proceeds do not go straight to the co-owners. Under 558A.22, the court directs the money in a specific order:⁶

General costs of the action, including court filing fees and service expenses.
Referee costs, including any surveyors, brokers, or other professionals the referee engaged.
Attorney fees and costs awarded under 558A.19. The court considers which party’s actions made the partition necessary, how cooperative each party was during the process, and the benefits each party received. A co-owner who obstructed the case may end up shouldering a larger share of fees.³
Liens, paid in their order of legal priority.
Whatever remains, split among the co-owners according to their respective shares.

Referee expenses are generally paid by the parties in proportion to their ownership interests unless the court directs otherwise.³

Ownership percentages do not always tell the full story. If one co-owner has been paying the entire mortgage, covering all the taxes, or funding repairs while the other contributed nothing, 558A.04 lets the court exercise its general equitable powers to adjust the distribution accordingly.³ Keep detailed records of what you have paid: canceled checks, bank statements, tax receipts, and contractor invoices. Without documentation, contribution claims are much harder to prove.

If You Want to Keep the Property Yourself

A partition action does not force you to lose the property to a stranger. Under 558A.15, when the property goes to sale, a co-owner entitled to a share (or an encumbrancer with a lien to be paid from the proceeds) can bid on and purchase the property.³ This works as a buyout through the court-supervised sale process. You will need to match or exceed what the open market offers, but the path exists.

Consider Mediation Before or During the Case

Filing a partition action does not lock you into a full trial and referee sale. Many co-ownership disputes settle through mediation, where a neutral third party helps the co-owners negotiate. Mediation is voluntary, confidential, and far cheaper than litigating through a referee-supervised sale. Common outcomes include one co-owner buying the other out at an appraised value, the parties agreeing to list the property on their own terms, or a structured plan for continued co-ownership with clearer rules.

Even after you file, the court may encourage mediation, and any settlement you reach can be incorporated into the court’s order. Mediation tends to fall apart only when the co-owners disagree fundamentally about value or when one refuses to engage at all.

Plan for the Tax Bill Before the Sale Closes

A partition sale is a taxable event. Each co-owner who receives proceeds will get a Form 1099-S from the closing attorney or referee reporting their share of the gross sale price. Gross proceeds include amounts paid to lienholders out of your share; they are not reduced by costs or payoffs. You report this on your federal return and may owe capital gains tax on the difference between your share of the proceeds and your tax basis in the property (generally what you paid for your share, or, for inherited property, its fair market value at the date of death).

If you plan to reinvest the proceeds in another property, a Section 1031 like-kind exchange may let you defer the capital gains tax. The rules are strict: you must identify the replacement property within 45 days of the sale and complete the purchase within 180 days.⁷ The exchange only applies to property held for investment or business use, not a personal residence, and proceeds must go through a qualified intermediary rather than into your hands. If you receive the money directly, even briefly, the exchange fails. In a partition sale where the court controls the funds, coordinating the intermediary arrangement in advance is essential. Talk to a tax advisor before the sale closes, not after.

1
Minnesota Judicial Branch. District Court Fees
2
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Chapter 2 – MN Laws
3
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 558A – Minnesota Partition Act
4
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 558A.11 – Considerations for Partition in Kind
5
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 558A.08
6
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 558A.22
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1031 – Exchange of Real Property Held for Productive Use or Investment