Guides
Each guide states the law, quotes the statute it relies on, links the primary source, and shows the date that source was last checked.
Deciding whether you need one
Before you buy anything.
Why Put Your House in a Trust? An Honest Guide for Minnesota Homeowners
A plain-English look at what a revocable living trust does and doesn't do for a Minnesota home — probate, homestead, taxes, and the transfer-on-death deed alternative.
The Minnesota Estate Tax Trap
Minnesota taxes estates the federal government does not, and it does not let a married couple carry over an unused exemption. Doing nothing can cost one spouse’s exemption entirely.
Will the State Take My Mother's House? Minnesota Estate Recovery, Explained
Minnesota must file a claim against the estate of someone who received Medical Assistance for long-term care. What it reaches, what it waits for, and why a revocable trust does not stop it.
Setting one up
What the document does and does not do.
Leaving Money to Someone on Disability Benefits: Whose Money Funded the Trust Decides Everything
SSI cuts off above $2,000 in countable resources and Minnesota Medical Assistance above $3,000. A supplemental needs trust is the answer — and whether the State gets repaid at death turns entirely on who put the money in.
Funding it
The step that is skipped, and what happens when it is.
The Revocable Trust You Signed and Never Funded Does Almost Nothing
A Minnesota revocable trust governs only what was retitled into it. The pour-over will is a backstop that runs the assets you paid to keep out of probate straight through probate.
Serving as trustee
You were named. Now what?
The Named Successor Trustee Cannot Serve. What Happens Next?
How a Minnesota trusteeship becomes vacant, who fills it, and what a successor trustee is actually required to do on taking office.
Background
Context for the rest.
Should You Set Up a Trust in South Dakota? Minnesota Trust Law vs. the 'Trust-Friendly' States
What South Dakota, Nevada, Delaware, Alaska and Wyoming actually offer that Minnesota does not — self-settled asset protection, trust duration, and state income tax — and the limits nobody markets.