Minnesota Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the County Recorder, and Check Whether the Land Is Registered

A Minnesota deed is recorded with the county recorder for the county where the property is located, which need not be the county you live in. Every one of the 87 counties has one, and the state portal's County Websites page links each county's own site. The recorder's page there gives the address, hours, fees, and whether the office takes documents by mail or through electronic recording.

Look at your current deed before you go. Minnesota keeps two systems of land records. Most land is abstract land, whose deeds are recorded in order and indexed. Some land is registered land, also called Torrens land, whose ownership is stated on a certificate of title kept by the registrar of titles. If your current deed refers to a certificate of title number, or the county's records say the parcel is Torrens, the deed goes to the registrar rather than the recorder. In most counties the two are the same office and the same counter, but the paperwork differs, and Step 10 covers what changes.

Recording matters more than people expect. A deed that is not recorded is void against a later buyer who pays value in good faith and records first, and against a judgment or attachment against the person still shown as owner. The same section adds that the later buyer taking by a quitclaim deed does not, by itself, count against their good faith. So the deed protects the grantee only once it is on the county's books.

Step 2: Set the Deed Up So the Recorder Can Take It

Minnesota's document standards tell the recorder and the registrar what will be accepted on paper. Each sheet is no larger than 8½ by 14 inches, on white paper of at least 20-pound weight with no background color or images, printed in black ink in type no smaller than 8 point. Every page but the first has a border of at least ½ inch on all four sides. The first page has a blank space three inches deep across the top, and ½-inch borders on the other three edges. The right half of that space is reserved for the recording stamp and the left half for the auditor's tax certification. The title of the document goes directly below that blank space. Nothing may be stapled or taped over any part of the form, and the whole must be legible enough to reproduce.

Two lines on the deed come from statute. The deed must carry the name and address of the person who drafted it, in the form "This instrument was drafted by (name) (address)", and the recorder may not record a deed without it. It must also give the grantee's legal name and residential or business address as the place future property tax statements should be sent, and the recorder won't record a deed without that either. A deed form built for Minnesota also has two lines at the top, "eCRV number" and "Deed tax due", which Step 5 explains, and a place for the well statement, which Step 8 explains, so everything sits where the recorder expects it.

Step 3: Fill In the Grantor, With Marital Status

The grantor is the party giving up whatever interest they hold: a person, a married couple, a trustee, or a company. Give the full legal name exactly as it appears on the deed the grantor received, or on the certificate of title for registered land. The recorder indexes by name, and a title examiner has to match the two. Where the grantor is a trust, the trustee signs as trustee; where it is a company, it signs through an officer or through an attorney appointed by its board.

Give the marital status of each grantor beside the name: "a single person", "married to Jane Doe", or "a married person". Minnesota deeds carry that line because of the homestead rule in Step 7. A title examiner reading a deed signed by one married person has to know whether the property was the signer's homestead and, if so, whether the spouse joined. Give the true status as of the day you sign.

Step 4: Fill In the Grantee

The grantee is the party receiving the interest. Give the full legal name as it should appear on future deeds and tax bills, and give the address property tax statements should go to, as Step 2 explains. Where the grantee is a trust, name the trustee, as in "Jane Doe, Trustee of the Doe Family Trust"; where it is a company, use the name on its Secretary of State filing.

A deed to two or more grantees also has to say how they will hold title, which Step 6 explains. If the grantee is buying for more than $3,000, the grantee's Social Security number or tax identification number goes on the Certificate of Real Estate Value in Step 5, not on the deed.

Step 5: State the Deed Tax, and File the eCRV If the Price Is Over $3,000

Minnesota charges a deed tax on every deed by which real property is conveyed, and the county collects it when the deed is presented for recording. The rate is 0.0033 of the net consideration, meaning the price less any mortgage or other lien that stays on the property. In Hennepin and Ramsey counties an environmental response fund tax of 0.0001 is added, for 0.0034. When there is no price, or the net consideration is $3,000 or less, the tax is a flat $1.65, or $1.70 in those two counties. A gift deed to a child, then, pays $1.65. The statute does not say which party pays; it is due from whoever presents the deed, and in a sale the parties settle it between themselves.

The deed itself has to say what the tax is. No taxable deed is recorded unless it carries a statement of the amount of deed tax due, or that the deed is exempt, and a deed form built for Minnesota has a "Deed tax due" line at the top for exactly this. For a gift or a nominal price, the Department of Revenue asks for this sentence on the front of the deed: "This deed transfers Minnesota real property in exchange for $3,000 or less of consideration." For one of the fifteen statutory exemptions, such as a deed between former spouses under a divorce decree, the deed names the exemption. Our Minnesota deed tax exemptions page lists them and the wording to use.

A transfer for more than $3,000 needs a second filing before the deed can be recorded: a Certificate of Real Estate Value, filed online with the county through the Department of Revenue's eCRV system. It reports the parties, the price, the financing, and the Social Security numbers of buyer and seller, and the county and the Department of Revenue use it to check sale prices against assessments. The certificate's number goes on the "eCRV number" line of the deed, and the recorder may not take the deed without it. Its idea of value is the opposite of the deed tax's: the full price including any mortgage the buyer takes over. A gift deed, or a sale for $3,000 or less, needs no certificate, and the Department asks that the deed say so with the same $3,000 sentence.

Step 6: Add the Legal Description and Decide How Co-Owners Will Hold Title

Copy the legal description word for word from the current deed or the certificate of title. For a platted lot that is the lot number, the block, and the name of the plat; for a condominium it is the unit and the declaration; for rural land it is the section, township, and range description. A street address alone does not describe land. If any part of the parcel is registered land, the deed should show it; a form built for Minnesota has a box to mark it and a line for the certificate of title number.

If two or more people will own the property, the deed has to say how, and Minnesota gives you two choices. A deed to two or more people creates a tenancy in common, separate shares that each pass by will or inheritance, unless the deed expressly declares a joint tenancy, where the survivor takes the whole. Minnesota has no tenancy by the entirety; its statute recognizes only ownership in severalty, in joint tenancy, and in common, and a married couple who want survivorship choose joint tenancy like anyone else. An owner may deed directly to themselves and another person, or to their spouse, in one step, without a straw party.

Minnesota also limits how a joint tenancy can be broken. One joint tenant's deed of their share severs the joint tenancy only if the deed is recorded, or all the joint tenants sign it, or a court orders it. And a judgment of divorce severs every joint tenancy between the spouses unless the judgment says otherwise, leaving them tenants in common.

Step 7: If You Are Married, Decide Whether Your Spouse Signs

Minnesota's rule is short and strict. If the owner is married, no conveyance of the homestead is valid without the signatures of both spouses. The homestead is the house the owner lives in as their dwelling and the land it sits on, up to 160 acres. It does not matter that only one spouse is on the title; the other spouse signs, or the deed is void. The statute allows three exceptions: a purchase-money mortgage, a deed from one spouse to the other, and a deed that severs a joint tenancy between the spouses. So a married owner can deed the home to their spouse alone. The statute's wording also supports adding a spouse to the title alone, but it does not say so in so many words, so both spouses signing avoids any question. A deed of the home to a child, a trust, or anyone else needs both signatures.

For property that is not the homestead, a rental house or a cabin, a spouse may convey their own property by separate deed, subject to whatever rights the other spouse has in it. Those rights exist. Minnesota gives a surviving spouse rights in the other spouse's property, including a life interest in the homestead, and a non-owner spouse may sign a deed solely to release any marital interest. The Certificate of Real Estate Value statute even provides the sentence for it, so that the releasing spouse's Social Security number need not go on the certificate. Whether to ask a non-owner spouse to sign a deed of non-homestead property is a title question for a Minnesota attorney; the deed is valid without it.

The practical rule, then: if you are married and deeding the house you live in to anyone but your spouse, both of you sign, and both of you appear before the notary.

Step 8: Say What You Know About Wells on the Property

Minnesota's groundwater law puts a well question on every deed that needs a Certificate of Real Estate Value. Before signing an agreement to sell, a seller must tell the buyer in writing about every well the seller knows of on the property and its status. At closing the seller gives the buyer a well disclosure certificate with the location of each well. The recorder may not record a deed for which a Certificate of Real Estate Value is required, meaning a transfer for more than $3,000, unless one of two things is true. Either the deed carries the statement "The Seller certifies that the Seller does not know of any wells on the described real property", or a completed well disclosure certificate comes with it, for which the recorder collects a $54 fee. The recorder does not record the certificate itself; it notes "No wells on property" on the deed where that is what the certificate says, and sends the certificate to the Department of Health.

The statute allows a third choice. Where a certificate is already on file, the deed can carry a signed statement that the status and number of wells haven't changed since the last certificate. Use whichever of the three fits. A gift deed or a sale for $3,000 or less needs no Certificate of Real Estate Value, so the statute doesn't require a well statement on it. If you don't know of any wells, adding the no-wells sentence anyway costs nothing. Washington County has its own additional well disclosure requirement under a separate section. The rules for the statement and the certificate are in Minnesota's well disclosure statute, section 103I.235.

Step 9: Sign the Deed Before a Notary

A deed is entitled to record when it is legible, signed, and acknowledged before a notary or other notarial officer, with the certificate of acknowledgment completed. Minnesota requires no witnesses. The notary confirms who you are from personal knowledge, from the oath of a credible witness the notary knows, or from identification documents. Then the notary completes the certificate on the form: the county, the date, the name and marital status of each grantor as written above, and the notary's signature. The notary's stamp carries the state seal, the notary's name, "Notary Public", and the commission expiration date. The recorder wants original signatures of the parties and the notary on a paper deed. A deed signed in another state may be acknowledged under that state's law.

Minnesota allows online notarization. A Minnesota notary who has registered with the Secretary of State as a remote online notary may take your acknowledgment over a live audio-video connection. The notary must be physically in Minnesota; you may be anywhere in the United States, or abroad if the deed concerns Minnesota property. The notary checks your identity through the platform, keeps an electronic journal, and records the session. The result is an electronic document. A county that accepts electronic recording will take it. For one that records only paper, the statute lets a notary certify a paper copy of the electronic deed as true and correct, and the recorder must then record the paper copy. Our Remote Online Notarization by State page explains how a remote session works.

Step 10: Get the Auditor's Stamp, Pay the Fee and Tax, and Record the Deed

A Minnesota deed makes two stops. First it goes to the county auditor, who checks the tax records for the parcel. If no taxes are delinquent, the auditor transfers the land on the auditor's books and writes on the deed "no delinquent taxes and transfer entered" over the auditor's signature. The recorder and the registrar must refuse a deed without that statement. Delinquent taxes have to be paid first. If the deed conveys only part of a tax parcel, the county treasurer must also certify that the current year's taxes on the whole parcel are paid. The left half of the three-inch space on the first page is where these certifications go. A personal representative's deed and a court decree still go to the auditor, who notes "transfer entered" on them, but need no delinquent-tax certificate; a transfer on death deed needs neither.

Then the deed goes to the recorder, with the recording fee of $46, whatever the deed's length, and the deed tax. The treasurer's receipt for the tax, or the tax stamps, are endorsed on the face of the deed; a deed filed electronically has the tax data attached electronically. For registered land, the registrar of titles takes the deed instead, records it, cancels the grantor's certificate of title, and enters a new certificate in the grantee's name, for a fee of $46. Send a stamped envelope or the "return to" address, and in most counties expect the recorded deed back by mail with its document number.

One more filing belongs to the new owner. Minnesota classifies an owner-occupied home as a homestead for property tax purposes, and the classification does not follow the deed. The assessor removes it in the year after a sale or transfer unless the new owner files a homestead application with the county assessor. The application cannot be accepted until any required Certificate of Real Estate Value has been filed. File it by December 31 of the year you move in to be classified as a homestead for the taxes payable the next year.

Where do I record a Minnesota quitclaim deed?

With the county recorder for the county where the property is located, after the county auditor has stamped it "no delinquent taxes and transfer entered". If the land is registered, or Torrens, land, which you can tell from a certificate of title number on the current deed, the deed goes instead to the registrar of titles in the same county. The registrar issues a new certificate of title to the grantee. In most Minnesota counties the recorder and the registrar are the same office. The state portal lists all 87 county websites.

Does my spouse have to sign a Minnesota quitclaim deed?

If the property is your homestead, the house you live in, and you are married, yes. Minnesota law says no conveyance of the homestead by a married owner is valid without both spouses' signatures, whether or not the other spouse is on the title. A deed missing that signature is void rather than merely defective. The exceptions are a deed from one spouse to the other and a deed severing a joint tenancy between the spouses, so you can deed the home to your spouse alone. For property that is not your homestead, you may convey your own interest by separate deed, subject to your spouse's marital rights in it.

Is there deed tax on a Minnesota quitclaim deed to a family member?

Yes, but only the minimum. Minnesota's deed tax applies to every deed conveying real property, and when there is no consideration or the net consideration is $3,000 or less, the tax is $1.65, or $1.70 in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. The deed states on its front that it transfers Minnesota real property in exchange for $3,000 or less of consideration, which also tells the recorder that no Certificate of Real Estate Value is needed. A sale to a relative for more than $3,000 pays 0.0033 of the price less any mortgage the relative takes over.

Do I need an eCRV for a Minnesota quitclaim deed?

Only if the property is sold or transferred for more than $3,000, counting any mortgage the buyer takes over. Then an electronic Certificate of Real Estate Value is filed online with the county before recording, its number goes on the deed, and the recorder may not take the deed without it. A gift deed needs none, and the deed says so with the $3,000 sentence. A transfer between you and your own revocable trust, or your own solely owned company, is a designated transfer that needs no certificate if the deed says on its first page that it is one.

Does a gift deed to my child need the well statement?

The statute ties the well requirement to deeds that need a Certificate of Real Estate Value, which a gift deed does not, so it is not required on a gift. But if you don't know of any wells, adding the no-wells sentence costs nothing. The three choices are a statement that there are no known wells, a well disclosure certificate that goes with the deed, or a statement that the status of the wells hasn't changed since the last certificate. A sale for more than $3,000 must have one of the three.

Can I get a Minnesota quitclaim deed notarized online?

Yes. A Minnesota notary registered with the Secretary of State as a remote online notary may take your acknowledgment over a live audio-video connection. The notary must be physically in Minnesota; you may be anywhere in the United States, or outside it if the deed concerns Minnesota land. The notary checks your identity through the platform and keeps a recording and an electronic journal. The deed that results is electronic; a recorder that accepts electronic recording takes it as it is, and for a paper-only recorder a notary may certify a paper copy, which the recorder must then record.

Where do I get a Minnesota quitclaim deed form?

Start from a form written for Minnesota. The Department of Commerce publishes a set of recommended deed forms, but state law doesn't require you to use them. A form written for no particular state may leave out the drafter's name and address, the deed tax statement, the address for tax statements, the well statement and the marital status line. A Minnesota recorder hands back a deed with no drafter's name and address and no deed tax statement, and the auditor can't enter a transfer on a deed with no room for the tax stamp. If you'd rather start from something built for Minnesota, see our Quitclaim Deed Help page.