Express words, still required
Under Minn. Stat. § 500.19, all grants and devises of land made to two or more people are construed to create a tenancy in common, not a joint tenancy, unless expressly declared to be in joint tenancy. This exception doesn't apply to mortgages, or to devises or grants made in trust or to executors. Without that express declaration, a co-owner's share still goes through probate.
The four unities, abolished by name
Minnesota takes a notably different approach from some other states on the traditional test for joint tenancy. The statute explicitly states that the common-law requirement for unity of time, title, interest, and possession in the creation of a joint tenancy is abolished. That's a real point of contrast with states like Colorado, which reinstated that stricter four-unities framework by statute in 2008 after courts there had drifted toward it. Minnesota went the opposite direction and did away with the requirement altogether.
Conveying property to yourself and others
One practical consequence of the modernized rule: an owner of real estate can convey all or part of their interest directly to one or more other people, to themselves, or to any combination of themselves and others — including creating a joint tenancy by conveying property back to themselves and someone else as joint tenants. This removes the need for the old-fashioned "strawman" intermediary conveyance that strict four-unities jurisdictions sometimes still require. Conveyances between spouses are generally allowed on the same basis as those between unmarried people, subject to Minnesota's separate rules on when both spouses must join in conveying homestead property.
Severance has to be recorded to count
A Minnesota joint tenant can still sever their own interest during life, converting it into a tenancy in common as to their share — but the statute is specific about how. A severance of a joint tenancy interest is legally effective only if the instrument of severance is actually recorded in the office of the county recorder, or the registrar of titles, in the county where the real estate is located. An unrecorded attempt at severance doesn't count.
A separate affidavit clears title at death
When a Minnesota joint tenant dies, the survivor typically doesn't need a full probate to update the title — an Affidavit of Survivorship, recorded with a certified death certificate and the prior deed or certificate of title, documents the change instead. This affidavit doesn't transfer anything new; it simply confirms that the surviving joint tenant already owns the whole property by operation of the original joint tenancy.
A newer tool, with its own interaction
Joint tenancy isn't the only route to keeping Minnesota real estate out of probate. See our guide to the Minnesota transfer on death deed for how that tool interacts with an existing joint tenancy — and the one way a deed can actually be written to override it.