Minnesota has no separate probate court. Probate is a division of the District Court in each of the state's 87 counties, and every one of those courts feeds a single statewide portal, Minnesota Court Records Online.
Jonathan Khorsandi on Aug 06, 2026
Minnesota has no separate probate court. Probate is a division of the District Court in each of the state's 87 counties, and every one of those courts feeds a single statewide portal, Minnesota Court Records Online. That makes Minnesota one of the easier states in the country to search from a desk.
It also makes it one of the more misunderstood. MCRO is free, needs no login, and covers probate case types in full. What it does not give you is a party's street address or phone number. The court rules strip those from remote access before the record ever reaches your screen, which changes what the research actually costs.
Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota hold about 45% of the state's population, so the four counties below are where the filing volume concentrates. They are a plurality of the market, not the whole of it.
Yes. Probate filings are public records of the District Court, and anyone can inspect them without being an heir, an attorney or a party.
What is public includes the decedent's name, the case number and case type, the filing date, the application or petition, the order or statement appointing the personal representative, the register of actions, and the hearing schedule. Under Rule 4 of the Minnesota Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch, a short list of case records is not public at all, including court services records, judicial work product, medical records and death certificates.
Public access and remote access are two different things, and the difference matters more here than in most states. Rule 8, subd. 2 grants remote access to probate as a case type, then removes specific fields from everything served remotely: Social Security and employer identification numbers, telephone numbers, financial account numbers, and street addresses. MCRO's own Case Search page says it plainly: party street addresses and comment fields are unavailable online for all case types.
So the record is public. The personal representative's address is not online. It is in the file, and the file is at the courthouse.
In the District Court of the county where the decedent lived, under the Minnesota Uniform Probate Code at Chapter 524. Estates with real property in more than one county can generate filings in more than one jurisdiction, but the county of residence is the first place to look.
There is no statewide probate court and no separate probate bench. Hennepin runs a dedicated Probate / Mental Health Court within the Fourth Judicial District; Ramsey runs a Probate Court inside its Civil Division; Anoka and Dakota handle probate through general Court Administration. The docket lands in the same statewide system regardless.
Informal proceedings are administrative. Under Minn. Stat. § 524.3-302, a court registrar, not a judge, issues a written statement of informal probate once at least 120 hours have passed since death. Fewer documents, less judicial oversight, faster.
Formal proceedings are judicial, commenced by petition under Minn. Stat. § 524.3-401 and resolved by court order. They produce petitions, orders, inventories and hearing records, so the paper trail is deeper.
One naming trap: MCRO does not use "Informal Probate" as a case type. Its probate case types are Formal Probate and Other Probate, plus Guardianship and Conservatorship and Trust. Informal matters are docketed under Other Probate. Filter on both or you will miss most of the volume.
Not every estate reaches the court at all. Under Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1201, personal property can be collected by affidavit 30 days after death where the entire probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $75,000. Those decedents generate no probate case, which is a structural ceiling on this lead source worth knowing before you build a pipeline on it.
Through Minnesota Court Records Online, the statewide public portal. It is free, no registration, and all four covered counties are on it.
The steps are the same in every county:
Two limits on what MCRO returns. First, date coverage: the portal carries all public documents filed on or after July 1, 2015. For July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2015 it carries only judgments, orders, appellate opinions and court-generated notices to parties. Older material is limited and generally means contacting local court administration. Note that this is a limit on documents, not on the case index. Full detail is on the Judicial Branch's MCRO coverage page.
Second, and more important: the courthouse terminal beats the portal. The Judicial Branch states that courthouse public access terminals provide the most complete access to electronic district court records. Street addresses withheld from remote access under Rule 8 are among the things a terminal can surface. If addresses are what you need, the trip is the answer.
For estates predating the digital record entirely, the Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library holds probate case files, registers of actions, will books and final decrees. Search their catalogue by county.
Minnesota's most populous county at roughly 1.27 million people, covering Minneapolis, Bloomington, Plymouth, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka. Highest filing volume in the state on population alone.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Court | Hennepin County Probate / Mental Health Court |
| Address | Hennepin County Government Center, 300 South 6th Street, C-400, Minneapolis, MN 55487 |
| Phone | (612) 348-6000 |
| Fax | (612) 843-9313 |
| [email protected] | |
| Hours | 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday |
| Online search | MCRO, filter county Hennepin |
The Records Center is a separate office in a different tower: Room A250 on the skyway level of the Administration tower, behind security screening, with a mailing address of 300 South 6th Street, #B-100, Minneapolis, MN 55487. Probate court is C-400. They are not the same counter, and sending a copy request to the wrong one costs a week.
Second most populous at roughly 543,000, anchored by St. Paul, with established suburbs in Roseville, Maplewood and Shoreview. Smallest county in the state by area, dense older housing stock.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Court | Ramsey County Probate Court, Civil Division |
| Address | Main Courthouse, 15 West Kellogg Boulevard, St. Paul, MN 55102 |
| Probate phone | (651) 266-8145 |
| Records and copies | (651) 266-8237, for closed cases, historical information and copy requests |
| Case prefix | 62-PR and 62-TR-CV |
| Online search | MCRO, filter county Ramsey |
Route copy requests to the Court Records line, not to probate. The Ramsey contact page splits the two, and Court Records is the desk that handles closed and historical files.
Roughly 370,000 people directly north of the metro core, covering Blaine, Coon Rapids, Fridley and Andover. Suburban and exurban stock, and one of the faster-growing counties in the metro.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Court | Anoka County District Court |
| Address | Anoka County Courthouse, 2100 3rd Avenue, Anoka, MN 55303 |
| Phone | (763) 760-6700 |
| Court Administrator | H. Ann Basta |
| Online search | MCRO, filter county Anoka |
Roughly 446,000 people, third largest in the state, running south from the core through Eagan, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Lakeville and Hastings.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Court | Dakota County District Court, Judicial Center |
| Address | 1560 W. Highway 55, Hastings, MN 55033 |
| Phone | (651) 377-7180 |
| Other locations | Western Service Center, 14955 Galaxie Ave. West, Apple Valley, (952) 247-7099; Northern Service Center, 1 West Mendota Rd., Ste. 140, West St. Paul, (651) 377-7190 |
| Hours | 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday |
| Online search | MCRO, filter county Dakota |
Third-party court directories publish (651) 438-8100 for Dakota. The Judicial Branch's own contact page gives (651) 377-7180. Use the court's number.
| County | Online case search | Documents online | Street addresses online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hennepin | Yes, MCRO | Yes, filed on or after 1 July 2015 | No, Rule 8 subd. 2(b) |
| Ramsey | Yes, MCRO | Yes, filed on or after 1 July 2015 | No, Rule 8 subd. 2(b) |
| Anoka | Yes, MCRO | Yes, filed on or after 1 July 2015 | No, Rule 8 subd. 2(b) |
| Dakota | Yes, MCRO | Yes, filed on or after 1 July 2015 | No, Rule 8 subd. 2(b) |
Unlike most states, the online question in Minnesota has the same answer in every county. The variable is not which portal a county uses, it is what the portal is permitted to show, and that is fixed statewide.
Searching and downloading through MCRO costs nothing. Filing costs more than the statute alone suggests.
Minn. Stat. § 357.021, subd. 2(1) sets a base filing fee of $310. That is the statewide base, not the amount payable. Counties add a law library fee on top under Minn. Stat. §§ 134A.09 and 134A.10, so the actual first-paper total in the four covered counties is:
| County | Estates, trusts, guardianships, conservatorships, first paper filed |
|---|---|
| Hennepin | $322.00 ($310 base plus $12 law library) |
| Ramsey | $325.00 ($310 plus $15) |
| Anoka | $325.00 ($310 plus $15) |
| Dakota | $325.00 ($310 plus $15) |
There is a single fee line for that first paper. There is no separate charge for an informal appointment versus a formal petition.
Copy fees are simpler and are the same in all four counties:
Verify current figures on the Judicial Branch's district court fee catalogue, which carries a county selector; Hennepin's schedule notes changes effective 1 July 2025. Note that Hennepin's separate $5.00 charge applies to court forms and instruction packets of 11 or more pages, not to case documents.
The practical point: research in Minnesota is close to free. The cost is time at a courthouse terminal to get what the portal withholds.
Most estates run 6 to 18 months from filing to distribution, and the creditor claim period sets the floor. Contested estates run longer.
| Stage | Statutory position |
|---|---|
| Informal probate available | 120 hours after death, § 524.3-302 |
| Small estate affidavit available | 30 days after death, estates under $75,000, § 524.3-1201 |
| Service on known creditors | Within 3 months of first publication, § 524.3-801 |
| Creditor claim bar | 4 months after the court administrator's published notice, § 524.3-801 |
The four-month claim bar is the number that governs timing. Until it runs, a personal representative cannot safely close the estate, which is why properties tend to move in month five and after rather than month two.
That gives a usable outreach window. Filing to month four is when the personal representative is dealing with notice, inventory and creditors and is starting to think about the house. Much past month six on a straightforward estate and the listing decision has usually been made.
This is the statute that decides whether a conversation is worth having. Minn. Stat. § 524.3-715, clause (23), authorises the personal representative to sell, mortgage or lease any real or personal property of the estate, including the homestead, for cash or credit, without the consent of any devisee or heir, unless the property was specifically devised to that heir by the will.
One exception, and it is the one that stalls deals: where the surviving spouse takes an interest in the decedent's homestead, that homestead cannot be sold, mortgaged or leased without the spouse's written consent.
So on most estates the personal representative alone can sign. Confirm the appointment in the register of actions, check the will for a specific devise, and check for a surviving spouse with a homestead interest.
MCRO gives you a name and a case. Four more steps make it workable, and the first one exists because of what the portal cannot show you.
1. Confirm the appointment, not just the filing. An application is not authority. Look in the register of actions for the statement of informal probate or the order appointing the personal representative. Without it, nobody can sign.
2. Get the address, which is not online. MCRO returns the personal representative's name, the case number, the filing date, the case type and the hearing schedule. It does not return their street address or phone number, and it will not, because Rule 8, subd. 2(b) removes those fields from remote access. Your options are a courthouse public access terminal, which the Judicial Branch says gives the most complete access, a copy request to the court, or skip tracing from the name. Any article that tells you the address is in the portal is describing a system that does not exist.
3. Cross-reference the county property records. The court file may not itemise real property. Match the decedent's name against county assessor and recorder records to find the parcel and confirm the estate actually holds real estate. A large share of probate cases involve no property at all, and filtering those out early is most of the work.
4. Note the attorney of record where one appears. On formal proceedings there is usually counsel on the docket. Attorney contact details are not stripped the way party addresses are, and on larger estates the attorney is often the better first call. Probate attorneys carry several clients who need to sell.
Follow-up is where this falls down. A four-month creditor bar means a personal representative who says no in month two is a different conversation in month six. A 90-day cadence across the four counties is the difference between working probate and collecting names.
Four: Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota. Together they cover the Twin Cities metro and about 45% of the state's population.
Every lead is a verified court filing with a case number, not a death record or a pre-probate prediction. Each one carries the property records matched to the estate, the personal representative skip traced with mailing address, phone and email where available, the attorney of record where one is named, and MLS tracking so you can see whether the property has already listed.
The manual path in Minnesota is genuinely cheaper than in most states, and it is worth being straight about that. MCRO is free, it covers all four counties, and it has no login. What it costs you is the part it withholds: the addresses are not online, so every case you want to contact means a courthouse terminal, a copy request or a skip trace, then assessor cross-referencing to find out whether there is a house at all. New filings land every week across four counties. The research is legitimate and it works. It is also a standing weekly commitment.
You can see the full coverage list at probatedata.com/counties, or start a 7-day trial for $1 and search the Minnesota counties directly.
For the wider method across every state, see the national guide to finding probate records by county.
Yes. Probate filings are public records of the county District Court and anyone can inspect them without being an heir, an attorney or a party. Rule 4 of the Minnesota Rules of Public Access keeps a short list of case records non-public, including court services records, judicial work product, medical records and death certificates. Public access and remote access are different, though: some fields that are public at the courthouse are removed from anything served online.
Through Minnesota Court Records Online, the free statewide portal at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us. It needs no login and covers all 87 counties, including Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota. Use Case Search, filter by county and select both Formal Probate and Other Probate as case types, then open the register of actions for the filing chronology, the appointment and any hearings. Document Search pulls specific filings by case number at no charge.
No. MCRO's Case Search page states that party street addresses and comment fields are unavailable online for all case types, and Rule 8, subd. 2(b) of the Minnesota Rules of Public Access bars remote access to street addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and financial account numbers. MCRO gives you the personal representative's name, the case number, the case type, the filing date and the hearing schedule. To get an address you need a courthouse public access terminal, a copy request to the court, or skip tracing from the name.
MCRO carries all public documents filed on or after July 1, 2015 for probate case types. For July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2015 it carries only judgments, orders, appellate opinions and court-generated notices to parties. Access to documents filed before July 1, 2015 is limited rather than absent, and local court administration can advise. That date limit applies to documents, not to the case index.
Minn. Stat. 357.021, subd. 2(1) sets a base filing fee of $310, but counties add a law library fee on top, so the base is not the amount payable. The first-paper total for estates, trusts, guardianships and conservatorships is $322.00 in Hennepin and $325.00 in Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota. There is a single fee line for that first paper, with no separate charge for an informal appointment versus a formal petition.
A certified copy of any instrument is $14.00 flat under Minn. Stat. 357.021, subd. 2(2), with no per-page charge, and that figure is the same in Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka and Dakota. Exemplified and certified copies are $28.00 and exemplified uncertified copies are $14.00. Uncertified or plain copies of case documents are free, and documents downloaded through MCRO cost nothing.
Informal probate is administrative: under Minn. Stat. 524.3-302 a court registrar, not a judge, issues a written statement of informal probate once at least 120 hours have passed since death. Formal proceedings are judicial, commenced by petition under Minn. Stat. 524.3-401 and resolved by court order, and they produce more documents. MCRO labels formal cases Formal Probate and dockets informal matters under Other Probate.
Most estates run 6 to 18 months from filing to distribution, and contested estates run longer. The floor is set by Minn. Stat. 524.3-801, which bars creditor claims presented more than four months after the court administrator's published notice and requires the personal representative to serve known creditors within three months of first publication. Estates under $75,000 can avoid probate entirely by affidavit 30 days after death under Minn. Stat. 524.3-1201.
