Minnesota's own statute, since 2008
Minnesota authorized its transfer on death deed (TODD) in 2008 under Minn. Stat. § 507.071 — its own bespoke scheme, not the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act many other states have used. A deed that expressly states it's only effective on the death of one or more of the "grantor owners" transfers the interest to a named "grantee beneficiary" once that owner dies, outside probate.
Doesn't sever a joint tenancy — unless it says so
By default, a joint tenancy is not severed or affected by the later execution of a TODD. A surviving joint tenant who didn't sign the deed keeps a right of survivorship that prevails over the named grantee beneficiary. But Minnesota's statute gives owners an explicit way to change that outcome: the deed can specifically state that it severs the joint tenancy ownership. Without that specific language, the TODD simply doesn't override an existing joint tenant's survivorship rights — with it, the owner can deliberately choose to redirect their share to a named beneficiary instead of a co-owner.
All joint owners have to sign
When property is owned as joint tenants, a TODD has to be executed by all of the owners — and by their respective spouses too, where Minnesota's homestead-conveyance rules require it — to eventually transfer anything. Even then, the transfer takes effect only after the death of the last surviving grantor owner. If the last surviving joint tenant never signed the deed, it's ineffective and void, regardless of what the other, earlier-deceased owners intended.
A predeceased beneficiary doesn't cause a lapse
Minnesota builds in a protection most states don't spell out this explicitly. If a grantee joint tenant named in the deed dies before the grantor owner, and no successor beneficiary was designated for that person, the deed doesn't simply fail as to that share — the surviving joint tenants named in the deed become the successors instead, and the interest doesn't lapse back into the grantor's probate estate.
A spouse can join just to release marital interests
A spouse who isn't themselves an owner of the property can still join in signing a TODD, solely to release any statutory or marital interest they might otherwise have in it. Doing so doesn't make that spouse a "grantor owner" under the statute — they're simply clearing their own potential claim, conclusively, once the transfer becomes effective.
Medical assistance can still reach the property
A TODD doesn't shield the property from Minnesota's medical assistance recovery program. The interest transferred to a beneficiary remains subject to the claims and liens the state and county are authorized to assert under Minnesota's medical assistance statutes, even once the deed has taken effect and the property has passed to the named beneficiary.