Probate in Minnesota: do you need a lawyer, and what it costs

Settling an estate in Minnesota

What an executor deals with after the funeral: the will, the court, creditors, tax and closing the estate. Each fact links to the statute it comes from and shows the date we last read it.

Filing the original will

In Minnesota, if you hold the original will of the person who died, you must deliver it with reasonable promptness to the court, the district court, when an interested person asks. The law sets no fixed number of days.

Minn. Stat. § 524.2-516Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Which court handles probate

In Minnesota, probate is handled by the district court in the county where the person who died lived. If they lived out of state, it can be opened in any Minnesota county where they had property.

Minn. Stat. §§ 524.3-201, 524.1-201(9), 524.1-302Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Creditors' deadline to make claims

In Minnesota, once an executor or administrator (called the personal representative) is appointed, the court administrator's notice to creditors is published in a legal newspaper for two weeks, and known creditors must be sent a copy within three months. Creditors then have four months from the published notice (or one month after being served, if later) to file claims. In any case, most claims are cut off one year after the death.

Minn. Stat. §§ 524.3-801, 524.3-803Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Estate inventory

In Minnesota, the executor or administrator must prepare an inventory of what the person who died owned, with values as of the date of death, within six months after appointment or nine months after the death, whichever is later. A copy goes to the surviving spouse, the main beneficiaries, and anyone interested who asks.

Minn. Stat. § 524.3-706Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

The order estate debts are paid

In Minnesota, if the estate cannot pay every bill, the executor or administrator pays administration costs first, then funeral expenses, then federal priority debts and taxes, then last illness medical and nursing home costs (including Medical Assistance recovery claims), then medical and nursing home costs from the last year of life, then state priority debts and state taxes, then everything else.

Minn. Stat. § 524.3-805Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

State estate and inheritance tax

Minnesota has an estate tax but no inheritance tax. For deaths in 2020 and later, the first $3 million is excluded, and rates on the taxable amount start at 13 percent.

Minn. Stat. §§ 291.016, 291.03Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026effective Jan 1, 2020

Closing an estate

In Minnesota, most estates are closed by the executor or administrator filing a closing statement with the court, no earlier than four months after appointment, saying the creditor notice ran more than four months ago, all claims, expenses and taxes are handled, and the property was inventoried and given out. A copy and a full account go to the heirs first.

Minn. Stat. §§ 524.3-1001, 524.3-1003Read the statute · revisor.mn.govchecked Oct 5, 2026