A Minnesota transfer on death deed lets you name who inherits your real property when you die, keeping the property out of probate while leaving you full control during your lifetime. You keep the right to sell, mortgage, or revoke, and the beneficiary gets nothing until you die. For the deed to work, it has to be signed, notarized, and recorded with the correct county office before your death, and it has to clear a few requirements that quietly void deeds people thought were airtight.
Who Can Create One
Any Minnesota real property owner can use a TODD, whether the property is a house, farmland, commercial real estate, or severed mineral rights.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 507.071 – Transfer on Death Deeds If you own as a tenant in common, you can file a TODD covering only your fractional share, and your co-owners don’t need to sign.
Joint tenancy works differently. When joint tenants both sign the TODD, it takes effect only when the last surviving joint tenant dies.2Minnesota Department of Commerce. Transfer on Death Deed – Married, Joint Tenants Until then, the property passes between the joint tenants by survivorship.
You need the mental capacity to enter a contract at the moment you sign. An agent under a power of attorney can sign for you, but only if the power of attorney document specifically grants authority to execute deeds.
Spousal Consent for Homestead Property
If you’re married and the property is your homestead, your spouse must join in the deed or sign a separate written consent. This applies even if only one spouse holds title.3Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 507.02 – Conveyances Requiring Both Spouses Once the non-owner spouse signs or consents, that signature is conclusive proof of waiver of any marital or statutory interest when the transfer eventually takes effect.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 507.071 – Transfer on Death Deeds
Skip this step and you’ve built a challenge into the deed. A non-signing spouse can assert a claim against the property later, and the beneficiary can end up defending title or settling with the surviving spouse to keep the home.
What the Deed Must Contain
Minnesota publishes standardized forms through the Department of Commerce, and county recorder offices usually carry them. Whatever form you use, the deed has to include:
- The full legal name of every grantor, exactly as it appears on the current deed.
- The full legal names of the beneficiaries. Small discrepancies from other records cause real problems when the transfer is processed after death.
- The full legal description of the property. A street address is not enough and will get the deed rejected. Pull the description from your current deed or property tax records; it references lot, block, and plat.
You can name a trust, a charity, or any other entity that can hold real property as your beneficiary. You can also name successor beneficiaries who take if your primary beneficiary dies before you do. Naming a backup is worth the extra line: if every named beneficiary predeceases you, the TODD fails and the property lands in probate anyway.
Signing, Notarizing, and Recording
Sign the deed in front of a notary public. Then record it with the county where the property is located. Which office you file with depends on how your property is registered. Abstract property goes to the County Recorder. Torrens property goes to the Registrar of Titles, and the deed must be memorialized on the certificate of title. Your current deed or your title insurance policy will tell you which system applies.
The recording fee is $46 statewide.4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 357.18 – County Recorder Transfer on death deeds are exempt from Minnesota deed tax, so you won’t owe the percentage-based tax that hits most other property transfers.5Minnesota Department of Revenue. Deed Tax Form DT1
The one deadline that matters: the deed must be recorded before you die. A signed and notarized TODD sitting in a drawer at the time of death is void, with no grace period and no way to fix it after the fact.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 507.071 – Transfer on Death Deeds
Changing or Revoking the Deed
You can revoke a TODD at any time, for any reason, without telling the beneficiary. Three ways work:
- Record a Revocation of Transfer on Death Deed with the same county. This cancels the deed outright.
- Record a new TODD for the same property. The deed with the latest notarization date controls.
- Sell or convey the property during your lifetime. The TODD becomes ineffective as to whatever interest you transferred.
Any revocation, like the deed itself, has to be recorded before you die.
A will cannot revoke or override a recorded TODD, no matter when the will was written or what it says. If your will leaves the house to your daughter but your recorded TODD names your nephew, the nephew gets the house.
What Happens After Divorce
Minnesota treats a TODD as a governing instrument under its revocation-upon-dissolution statute. A divorce automatically revokes the beneficiary designation for your former spouse and for their family members who aren’t also your family.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 524.2-804 – Revocation Upon Dissolution The former spouse is treated as if they died before the dissolution, so any named successor beneficiary steps in. Remarrying the former spouse revives the original designation.
What the Beneficiary Actually Inherits
A TODD transfers the property with every mortgage, lien, judgment, and tax claim already attached.1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 507.071 – Transfer on Death Deeds If $150,000 is owed on the mortgage at death, the beneficiary receives the property with that $150,000 mortgage in place. The beneficiary isn’t personally liable on the loan the way a co-signer would be, but the lien stays and payments have to continue.
A due-on-sale clause usually doesn’t accelerate the loan at death. The Garn-St. Germain Act blocks residential lenders from calling a mortgage when property passes at death to a relative, or when a spouse or child becomes the new owner.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions The loan stays in the deceased borrower’s name on its original terms. This protection covers residential property with fewer than five units.
The state’s Medical Assistance recovery rights survive too. If Minnesota paid for the grantor’s long-term care, the state can recover from the transferred property, and if the grantor’s other estate assets don’t cover the claim, the beneficiary is personally liable up to the value of the property received.
Completing the Transfer After Death
The property passes by operation of law, but the beneficiary still has to update the public record to get clear title and be able to sell, refinance, or insure the property.
The 120-Hour Rule
A beneficiary who does not survive the grantor by at least 120 hours is treated as having died first. Any named successor beneficiary takes instead. If no successor was named, the TODD fails and the property goes through the grantor’s estate.8Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 524.2-702 – Requirement of Survival by 120 Hours
What the Beneficiary Files
The beneficiary completes an Affidavit of Identity and Survivorship, signs it before a notary, and records it with the county along with a certified copy of the grantor’s death certificate.9Minnesota Department of Commerce. Affidavit of Identity and Survivorship for Transfer on Death Deed If a named beneficiary died before the grantor, a certified death certificate for that person is also required.
Before the county will issue a new certificate of title on Torrens property or recognize clear ownership on abstract property, the beneficiary also has to record a Medical Assistance clearance certificate from the county agency. It confirms whether the state has a claim for long-term care benefits paid on behalf of the grantor or a predeceased spouse.10Minnesota Department of Commerce. Clearance Certificate for Public/Medical Assistance Claim – Transfer on Death Deed If a claim exists, it has to be satisfied before the beneficiary gets clean title. The certificate must be recorded in every county where TODD property is located.
File these documents promptly. Until the record is updated, the beneficiary is stuck paying taxes and insurance on property they can’t easily sell or refinance.
Tax Treatment
Property inherited through a TODD gets a stepped-up basis. Under federal tax law, the beneficiary’s cost basis resets to the fair market value on the date of the grantor’s death, not what the grantor originally paid.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent A house the grantor bought for $80,000 that’s worth $350,000 at death gives the beneficiary an $350,000 basis, so a sale at that price produces little or no capital gain.
Recording the TODD itself is exempt from Minnesota deed tax. The 2026 federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per individual under Public Law 119-21, so most Minnesota homeowners won’t owe federal estate tax.12Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax The TODD does not shield property from Minnesota’s state estate tax, which has a lower exemption and applies separately.