Minnesota

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 50 out of 100

Minnesota judges divide marital property as they find fair and set the amount of maintenance by weighing factors, but they may not consider marital misconduct for either. Since August 2024 the length of maintenance follows presumptions tied to how long the marriage lasted, and each party may remove the assigned judge once without giving a reason. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Minnesota ranks 5 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	15 / 20	The court makes a ‘just and equitable division of the marital property’ with no presumption of equal shares, and may apportion up to one-half of nonmarital property only on a finding of unfair hardship. Minn. Stat. § 518.58, subds. 1-2
Alimony	15 / 20	Amount is set ‘as the court deems just’ after weighing listed factors, while duration follows rebuttable presumptions tied to marriage length: no maintenance for marriages under 5 years, transitional maintenance of no more than half the marriage’s length for 5 to 20 years, and indefinite maintenance for 20 years or more. Minn. Stat. § 518.552, subds. 2-3 (as amended by 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 101, art. 2)
Fault	0 / 20	Both property division and maintenance are made ‘without regard to marital misconduct’. Minn. Stat. §§ 518.58, subd. 1; 518.552, subd. 2
Lawyers’ fees	10 / 20	The court ‘shall award’ fees needed to let a party carry on the case when the fees are necessary for good-faith assertion of rights, the payor has the means to pay and the recipient does not, and may add conduct-based fees against a party who unreasonably lengthens the case. Minn. Stat. § 518.14, subds. 1-1a
Second opinion	10 / 20	A party may remove the assigned judge once as of right by filing a notice to remove within ten days of notice of the assignment, and the family-court rules apply that removal rule to dissolution cases. Minn. R. Civ. P. 63.03; Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 301.01(d) and advisory committee comment to Rule 303.01; Minn. Stat. § 542.16

Getting in

No waiting period. Both partners apply to the local registrar of any Minnesota county, and may do so in person, by phone, by video or by mail, with proof of age. No waiting period applies. The license lasts 6 months and works anywhere in Minnesota. The fee is $125, or $50 after 12 hours of qualifying premarital education.
Minn. Stat. §§ 517.07, 517.08, subds. 1a, 1b

Who can marry you. Since a 2025 rewrite, anyone 21 or older who registers as a civil marriage officiant with a county local registrar may perform a marriage; the old list of judges and clergy is gone. A friend or relative can register and officiate. The officiant cannot be a partner or witness. Two witnesses must attend. The statute does not address online ordination; ordination is no longer the test.
Minn. Stat. §§ 517.01, 517.04, 517.09, 517.10; 2025 Minn. Laws ch. 35, art. 11, §§ 6, 9, 10, 25

Common-law marriage: Closed to new couples. A marriage after April 26, 1941 without a license, two witnesses and an authorized officiant is void, so a couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Minnesota. A marriage valid where it was made is generally honored, but Minnesota residents cannot create one by temporarily visiting a state that allows it.
Minn. Stat. § 517.01; Laikola v. Engineered Concrete, 277 N.W.2d 653 (Minn. 1979)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Minnesota is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Property either spouse acquires after marrying and before the valuation date is presumed marital, however titled. That date is normally the initially scheduled prehearing settlement conference. Gifts, inheritances and premarital property stay nonmarital, as does passive growth; growth from a spouse’s efforts is marital. A judge may award up to half of nonmarital property to prevent unfair hardship.
Minn. Stat. §§ 518.003, subd. 3b, 518.58, subds. 1, 2; Nardini v. Nardini, 414 N.W.2d 184 (Minn. 1987); Baker v. Baker, 753 N.W.2d 644 (Minn. 2008)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It can stay separate if you can trace it. An inheritance stays nonmarital if it is kept apart or can be readily traced. Routing it through a joint account does not by itself make it marital, but the spouse claiming it must prove the trail; money that cannot be traced is treated as marital. A judge may still reach up to half of nonmarital property to prevent unfair hardship.
Nash v. Nash, 388 N.W.2d 777 (Minn. Ct. App. 1986); Olsen v. Olsen, 562 N.W.2d 797 (Minn. 1997); Wopata v. Wopata, 498 N.W.2d 478 (Minn. Ct. App. 1993); Minn. Stat. § 518.58, subd. 2

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Generally, you don’t owe your spouse’s bills. Since October 1, 2024, a spouse is not liable to a creditor for any debts of the other spouse; the Legislature deleted the former rule that spouses living together were jointly and severally liable for necessary medical services and household necessaries, though a divorce court may still apportion such debt and creditors may claim against a decedent’s estate.
Minn. Stat. § 519.05, as amended by 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 114, art. 3, § 83 (eff. Oct. 1, 2024)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect a percentage of the augmented estate that rises with the length of the marriage, from a supplemental amount only (under one year) through 3 percent at one year to 50 percent at 15 years or more, with a $75,000 supplemental floor; the augmented estate includes the net probate estate, nonprobate transfers to others and to the spouse, and the spouse’s own property.
Minn. Stat. §§ 524.2-202, 524.2-203

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under own statute (Minn. Stat. § 519.11, rewritten 2024). An agreement must be procedurally and substantively fair; the court asks whether all or part of it is so substantively unfair as to be unconscionable either by its terms or because of drastically changed circumstances not foreseen when it was made, such that enforcement no longer matches the parties’ reasonable expectations at signing. Postnuptial agreements are valid only if each spouse had separate legal counsel at execution, and one is presumed unenforceable if a separation or dissolution action begins within two years unless the enforcing spouse proves it fair and equitable.
Minn. Stat. § 519.11, subds. 1c, 1d (2024 Minn. Laws ch. 101, art. 3, § 1)

What an agreement needs. The agreement must be in writing, executed in the presence of two witnesses, and acknowledged before a notary or other officer authorized to administer oaths (a power of attorney does not satisfy this); it requires full and fair disclosure of income and property, which cannot be waived, a meaningful opportunity to consult independent counsel, and voluntary execution. An agreement signed at least seven days before the wedding is presumed enforceable; one signed later loses the presumption and the proponent bears the burden of proof. No statutory public-assistance override exists; spousal-maintenance terms are tested under the unconscionability standard.
Minn. Stat. § 519.11, subds. 1b, 1c

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Basic support is divided by each parent’s share of combined income. Support generally ends at 18, or continues to 20 for a child still in secondary school; a child unable to support themselves because of a physical or mental condition also stays covered. A judge cannot impose college costs, but parents can agree to them and a court will enforce that agreement.
Minn. Stat. §§ 518A.26, subd. 5, 518A.34, 518A.35, subd. 2; Peterson v. Peterson, 319 N.W.2d 414 (Minn. 1982); Baril v. Figge, 305 N.W.2d 351 (Minn. 1981)

Moving away with a child. A parent cannot move a child to another state without the other parent’s consent or a court order if the other parent has parenting time. The judge applies best interests using listed factors, and the moving parent bears the burden. If the court finds the moving parent was abused by the other parent, the burden shifts to the opposing parent. A move meant to interfere with parenting time is barred.
Minn. Stat. § 518.175, subd. 3

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. One spouse must have lived in Minnesota, been stationed there in the armed services, or been domiciled there, for 180 days just before filing. A narrow exception covers nonresidents married in Minnesota whose home jurisdiction will not hear the case because of the spouses’ sex or sexual orientation. Grounds arising in the state make no difference. No county period is added.
Minn. Stat. § 518.07

How long it takes. One spouse can obtain a divorce over the other’s denial. The judge must find an irretrievable breakdown, supported by 180 days apart before filing or by serious marital discord, so no separation is required. Defenses such as condonation and recrimination are abolished. The statute sets no waiting period, though the other spouse has 30 days to answer.
Minn. Stat. §§ 518.06, subd. 1, 518.07, 518.12, 518.13, subd. 2

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 180 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence; serious marital discord needs no separation). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Minnesota and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Minnesota lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Minnesota” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.