Watonwan County Quitclaim Deed (Interspousal) Form

Minnesota's homestead signature rule carries an exception written for married couples, and this deed is built on it. Section 507.02 makes a homestead conveyance valid only when both spouses sign, and then excepts a conveyance between spouses made under section 500.19, subdivision 4. The Minnesota Quitclaim Deed (Interspousal) recites that transaction and nothing else: the conveying spouse signs alone, the deed states the marriage in its own conveyance language, and whatever interest that spouse holds in the described Minnesota real property passes to the other spouse, with no warranty of title.

The statute that lets spouses deal directly

Minnesota does not leave deeds between spouses to general conveyancing law. Section 519.06 provides that no contract between spouses relative to the real estate of either is valid except as provided in section 500.19, subdivisions 4 and 5, and subdivision 4 is the channel it points to: paragraph (a) permits a direct conveyance to other persons, to one or more of themselves, or to any combination, and paragraph (b) puts conveyances between spouses on the same footing as those between unmarried persons. Subdivision 3 abolishes the old unities of time, title, interest, and possession, which is why a spouse who owns a house can convey straight into both names without routing title through a third party first. The guide prints both statutes and the cross-reference each one makes to the other.

One grantor, one certificate, a marriage on the face of the deed

The form recites one Grantor, a married person holding an interest of record, and a Grantee who is that person's husband or wife, named alone or named together with the Grantor. Section 7 carries the section 507.07 statutory words conveys and quitclaims, the statement that the Grantor is married to the spouse named as Grantee, and the statements that nothing acquired later passes and that no covenant or warranty of title comes with the deed. The execution section pairs one signature block with one certificate in the short form of section 358.66, because the Grantor is the only signer and a Grantee does not sign a Minnesota deed. Three patterns present this configuration: a house standing of record in one spouse's name moving into both names, one spouse conveying an interest to the other spouse alone, and one of two spouses who hold as joint tenants passing that interest to the other. The form is not set up as a conveyance by two spouses acting as grantors, nor for a transfer to someone outside the marriage.

How the grantee side reads

Spouses who take title together take under the ordinary Minnesota estates. Section 500.19, subdivision 2, construes a grant to two or more persons as a tenancy in common unless joint tenancy is expressly declared, and Minnesota recognizes neither tenancy by the entirety nor community property. The words entered in Section 3 are therefore what decide survivorship between spouses, and any designation follows the grantee names in the style the completed example uses.

Tax lines on a transfer with no price

A deed between spouses often moves no money, and the recording arithmetic changes accordingly. Deed tax under section 287.21 is $1.65 where there is no consideration, or where net consideration is $3,000 or less, against 0.0033 above that line, with 0.0001 added in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. An electronic certificate of real estate value belongs to a transfer for more than $3,000 under section 272.115, and that section's designated transfer exemption reaches entity and revocable trust transfers rather than deeds between spouses. Section 103I.235 conditions recording on well disclosure where a certificate of value is required, and the form prints the statutory statements either way. Section 272.12 still sends the deed to the county auditor for the transfer entry and tax certification first, and the recording fee is the flat $46 of section 357.18.

The completed example runs an Anoka County conveyance: a Coon Rapids owner quitclaims to herself and her husband as joint tenants for no monetary consideration, with $1.65 of deed tax, well disclosure statement (A) certifying no known wells, and a recorded mortgage that stays in force noted in Additional Provisions. An interspousal deed, a spouse to spouse quit claim deed, and a Minnesota quitclaim deed adding a spouse to a title all name this same instrument. The package delivers the fillable form, the completed example, and the guide. The materials are informational and are not legal advice.