Stearns County Warranty Deed (Individual Grantor) Form

This Minnesota warranty deed is set up for one individual grantor: one name and marital status recital in the grantor section, one signature line, and one acknowledgment certificate. It conveys Minnesota real property in fee simple using the statutory words "conveys and warrants," and it carries the recording entries a Minnesota deed presents at the county counter, from the deed tax figure to the well disclosure statement.

Five covenants from three words

Minnesota Statutes section 507.07 gives the phrase "conveys and warrants" its force. A deed in the statutory form is a conveyance in fee simple with covenants that the grantor is lawfully seized in fee simple, has good right to convey, that the premises are free from all encumbrances, that the grantee will enjoy quiet and peaceable possession, and that the grantor will defend the title against all lawful claims. The statute makes those covenants binding on the grantor and the grantor's heirs and personal representatives as fully as if written out at length, so the deed states the operative words once and the covenant package follows by law. An exceptions section defines what the conveyance remains subject to, such as recorded easements and the current year's taxes, and so marks the boundary of the encumbrance covenant. Searchers who know this instrument as a general warranty deed will recognize the same full-covenant design here under Minnesota's shorter statutory name.

One grantor, one signature line

The form recites exactly one individual grantor. The grantor section carries the full legal name with a marital status entry, the signature section carries a single line signed before a notary, and the notary block carries one acknowledgment certificate in the Minnesota short form. That single-signer architecture matches an unmarried owner, and a married owner conveying Minnesota property that is not the homestead; Minnesota Statutes section 507.02 makes both spouses' signatures a validity requirement for a conveyance of the homestead, and the form is not set up as a two-signature homestead conveyance, since it provides no second signature line or certificate. The grantee side is open: one grantee takes sole ownership, and two or more grantees take as tenants in common unless the entry following their names expressly declares a joint tenancy, the default Minnesota Statutes section 500.19 supplies.

Built for the Minnesota recording counter

A Minnesota deed carries more state-specific machinery on its face than most deeds. This form reserves the statutory top three inches of the first page for recording and tax certification data, then provides the entries the recording statutes look for: the deed tax due figure under section 287.21, computed at 0.0033 of net consideration above the $3,000 tier; the eCRV number generated when an electronic certificate of real estate value is filed for a sale over $3,000; the well disclosure statement or certificate reference section 103I.235 requires before a covered deed records; an Abstract or Registered (Torrens) entry, because Minnesota runs two land-records systems and registered land is filed with the registrar of titles; the drafter statement of section 507.091; and the tax statement block of section 507.092, naming the grantee and address for future property tax statements. The county auditor's transfer certification under section 272.12 completes the package at the counter. Recording itself follows Minnesota's race-notice rule: an unrecorded conveyance is void against a subsequent good-faith purchaser who records first, so the deed's protection against third parties dates from its recording.

What arrives with the form

The download delivers the blank fillable warranty deed, a completed example showing one filled-in version of the same conveyance from a Dakota County fact pattern, and a guide that walks through every section, the signing and notarization formalities, and the recording steps, including the deed tax computation, the eCRV filing, and the well disclosure options. The materials describe Minnesota law in general terms and are informational; they are not legal advice, and a Minnesota attorney can address how these rules operate on a specific title or transaction.