Minnesota

Trust law is state law, and the differences are not cosmetic. This site covers Minnesota specifically rather than writing nationally and hedging.

The law that governs

Minnesota trusts run under the Minnesota Trust Code, chapter 501C of the Minnesota Statutes. Estates are settled under the probate code, chapter 524. Real estate transfers on death can also be handled under the transfer-on-death deed statute in chapter 507. The state estate tax lives in chapter 291, and it operates very differently from the federal one.

Four things that catch Minnesotans out

Minnesota has its own estate tax, and it does not follow the federal one

The state exemption is far below the federal exemption, and Minnesota does not offer portability between spouses the way federal law does — which means a married couple can lose one spouse's exemption entirely by doing nothing. Estates that owe nothing federally routinely owe Minnesota tax. This is the single most common planning surprise in the state.

Minnesota is not a self-settled asset protection state

Several states let you create a trust for your own benefit that your creditors cannot reach. Minnesota does not. A trust you set up for yourself is reachable by your creditors here, and moving the paperwork to another state does not reliably change that — fraudulent transfer law follows the assets regardless of where the trust is signed.

Homestead treatment does not automatically survive a transfer

Putting the house into a trust can affect its homestead classification for property tax purposes, and the homestead creditor exemption interacts with trust ownership in ways that are worth confirming before the deed is recorded rather than after.

The duration limit changed and most published advice has not caught up

Minnesota's ceiling on how long a trust can last moved from 90 years to 500 years effective August 1, 2025. Articles saying 90 are not being dishonest; they are old.