Refusing an Inheritance in Minnesota: No Deadline, One Absolute Bar

Two things about disclaimers in Minnesota are the opposite of what most people believe.

First, there is no deadline. Minn. Stat. § 524.2-1105 says it in eleven words: “A disclaimer may be made at any time unless it is barred under section 524.2-1106.” The nine-month clock everyone repeats is in the Internal Revenue Code, not in Minnesota law, and it governs only whether the disclaimer is tax-qualified. A disclaimer filed three years after a death can be perfectly valid in Minnesota and simply carry gift-tax consequences.

Second, the person with the strongest motive to disclaim is the one Minnesota flatly forbids from doing it. Under Minn. Stat. § 524.2-1106(b)(4), a disclaimer of an interest in property is barred if, before it becomes effective, “the disclaimant is insolvent when the disclaimer becomes irrevocable.” Not voidable. Not subject to a fraudulent-transfer analysis. Barred — and § 524.2-1106(f) makes a barred disclaimer “ineffective.”

That insolvency bar is a Minnesota addition, and it is the single most important sentence in the act. It means the classic maneuver — “I’ll refuse Mom’s estate so my judgment creditors can’t reach it” — is not a close question in Minnesota. It does not work.

This article covers the whole act, §§ 524.2-1101 to 524.2-1116, with attention to the places where it does something you would not predict.

Is there a deadline to disclaim in Minnesota?

No. Minnesota law imposes none.

• State law: “A disclaimer may be made at any time unless it is barred under section 524.2-1106.” Minn. Stat. § 524.2-1105.
• Federal tax law: to be a “qualified disclaimer” under 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b), the refusal must be in writing and “received by the transferor of the interest, his legal representative, or the holder of the legal title to the property to which the interest relates not later than the date which is 9 months after the later of — (A) the day on which the transfer creating the interest in such person is made, or (B) the day on which such person attains age 21.” The person must also not have “accepted the interest or any of its benefits,” and the interest must pass “without any direction on the part of the person making the disclaimer” either to the decedent’s spouse or to someone other than the disclaimant. § 2518(b)(3)–(4).

The consequence of qualifying is stated in § 2518(a): “if a person makes a qualified disclaimer with respect to any interest in property, this subtitle shall apply with respect to such interest as if the interest had never been transferred to such person.” Miss the nine months and the disclaimer may still be effective as a matter of Minnesota property law — but for federal wealth-transfer tax purposes you have made a gift.

Minnesota is explicit that the two systems are separate. Section 524.2-1103 provides that §§ 524.2-1101 to 524.2-1116 “are the exclusive means by which a disclaimer may be made under Minnesota law regardless of whether it is qualified under section 2518 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.”

And § 524.2-1104 runs the bridge the other direction, with one crucial exception:

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, other than section 524.2-1106, if, as a result of a disclaimer or transfer, the disclaimed or transferred interest is treated pursuant to the provisions of section 2518 of the Internal Revenue Code . . . as never having been transferred to the disclaimant, then the disclaimer or transfer is effective as a disclaimer under sections 524.2-1101 to 524.2-1116.

Read the carve-out carefully: other than section 524.2-1106. A federally qualified disclaimer is generally good enough for Minnesota — except that it cannot override the bars in § 524.2-1106. Including the insolvency bar.

Can I disclaim an inheritance to keep it away from my creditors?

Not in Minnesota, if you are insolvent.

Section 524.2-1106(b) lists four events that bar a disclaimer if they occur before the disclaimer becomes effective:

(1) the disclaimant accepts the portion of the interest sought to be disclaimed;

(2) the disclaimant voluntarily assigns, conveys, encumbers, pledges, or transfers the portion of the interest sought to be disclaimed or contracts to do so;

(3) the portion of the interest sought to be disclaimed is sold pursuant to a judicial sale; or

(4) the disclaimant is insolvent when the disclaimer becomes irrevocable.

Paragraph (a) adds a fifth: “A disclaimer is barred by a written waiver of the right to disclaim.”

And § 524.2-1106(f) supplies the consequence: “A disclaimer of an interest in, or a power over, property which is barred by this section is ineffective.” The property does not pass to the contingent takers. It lands on the disclaimant, where the creditors are.

What “insolvent” means here. The act supplies its own definition at § 524.2-1102(9), and it is broader than a simple balance-sheet test:

“insolvent” means that the sum of a person’s debts is greater than all of the person’s assets at fair valuation. A person is presumed to be “insolvent” if the person is generally not paying debts as they become due. Assets do not include property that has been transferred, concealed, or removed, with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors, or has been transferred in a manner making the transfer voidable. Debts do not include an obligation to the extent it is secured by a valid lien or property of the debtor not included as an asset.

Three features matter. There is a presumption of insolvency from not paying debts as they come due — so a disclaimant who is current on nothing is presumed barred and has to rebut it. Assets that were shuffled to hinder creditors do not count in the disclaimant’s favor. And secured obligations come out of the debt column to the extent of the collateral. Minnesota uses “insolvent” in several different statutory senses; we sort them out in what “insolvent” means in Minnesota — four different things.

Timing. The bar tests insolvency “when the disclaimer becomes irrevocable.” Under § 524.2-1107(e), a disclaimer “becomes irrevocable when the disclaimer is delivered or filed pursuant to section 524.2-1114 or it becomes effective as provided in sections 524.2-1108 to 524.2-1113, whichever occurs later.” That is the measuring date.

Why this is not the same question as a fraudulent transfer. Section 524.2-1107(f) states that “[a] disclaimer made under sections 524.2-1101 to 524.2-1116 is not a transfer, assignment, or release.” In states without an insolvency bar, that characterization is what lets a solvent-on-paper heir argue that voidable-transaction law cannot reach a disclaimer at all. Minnesota did not leave the question to that argument. It wrote a categorical bar into the act, and the bar operates whether or not anyone could prove intent to hinder or delay.

One protection for the person holding the property. Section 524.2-1114(m) shields a fiduciary or other custodian from liability for a proper distribution made “without actual notice of the disclaimer or, if the disclaimer is barred under section 524.2-1106, for any otherwise proper distribution or other disposition made in reliance on the disclaimer, if the distribution or disposition is made without actual knowledge of the facts constituting the bar.” A personal representative who distributes in good faith to the contingent takers is protected even if the disclaimer later turns out to have been barred. The creditor’s remedy runs against the disclaimant and the recipients, not against the estate.

Note also what a disclaimer can do that an assignment cannot: § 524.2-1107(a) permits a person to disclaim “even if its creator imposed a spendthrift provision or similar restriction on transfer or a restriction or limitation on the right to disclaim.” A settlor cannot draft the right to disclaim out of existence. On the separate question of what a spendthrift clause does and does not protect against, see Minnesota spendthrift trusts and creditors.

What if the creditor is the IRS?

Then the disclaimer fails for a different reason, and the answer comes from the Supreme Court.

In Drye v. United States, 528 U.S. 49 (1999), the taxpayer was insolvent and owed the federal government substantial unpaid assessments when his mother died intestate leaving him sole heir. He disclaimed under Arkansas law; the estate passed to his daughter, who funded a spendthrift trust with it. A unanimous Court held:

We hold that the disclaimer did not defeat the federal tax liens. The Internal Revenue Code’s prescriptions are most sensibly read to look to state law for delineation of the taxpayer’s rights or interests, but to leave to federal law the determination whether those rights or interests constitute “property” or “rights to property” within the meaning of § 6321.

Id. at 52. The reasoning is worth quoting because it explains why a disclaimer is different from refusing a gift:

[A] donee who declines an inter vivos gift generally restores the status quo ante, leaving the donor to do with the gift what she will. The disclaiming heir or devisee, in contrast, does not restore the status quo, for the decedent cannot be revived. Thus the heir inevitably exercises dominion over the property. He determines who will receive the property — himself if he does not disclaim, a known other if he does. This power to channel the estate’s assets warrants the conclusion that Drye held “property” or a “righ[t] to property” subject to the Government’s liens.

Id. at 61. The Court concluded that “[t]he control rein he held under state law . . . rendered the inheritance ‘property’ or ‘rights to property’ belonging to him within the meaning of § 6321 . . . .” Id.

The Court also drew the statutory contrast directly: the absence of any recognition of disclaimers in the tax-collection provisions “contrasts with § 2518(a) of the Code, which renders qualifying state-law disclaimers ‘with respect to any interest in property’ effective for federal wealth-transfer tax purposes and for those purposes only.” Id. at 57.

The practical upshot: a qualified disclaimer under § 2518 keeps the inheritance out of your taxable estate. It does not keep it away from a federal tax lien.

What if I have filed bankruptcy?

The 180-day rule catches it. Under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(5)(A), property of the estate includes “[a]ny interest in property that would have been property of the estate if such interest had been an interest of the debtor on the date of the filing of the petition, and that the debtor acquires or becomes entitled to acquire within 180 days after such date . . . by bequest, devise, or inheritance.”

Layer that on top of § 524.2-1106(b)(4) and the picture is clear. A debtor in or near bankruptcy is, almost by definition, insolvent as § 524.2-1102(9) defines the term — so the Minnesota disclaimer is barred before the bankruptcy question is even reached. A person who inherits during a bankruptcy case should be talking to counsel about exemptions, not about a disclaimer.

What about Medical Assistance?

A disclaimer is not a way to stay eligible, and Minnesota’s transfer statute is written broadly enough to say so without ever using the word “disclaimer.”

Minn. Stat. § 256B.0595, subd. 1(c), provides:

This section applies to transfers, for less than fair market value, of income or assets, including assets that are considered income in the month received, such as inheritances, court settlements, and retroactive benefit payments or income to which the institutionalized person or the institutionalized person’s spouse is entitled but does not receive due to action by the institutionalized person, the institutionalized person’s spouse, or any person, court, or administrative body with legal authority to act in place of, on behalf of, at the direction of, or upon the request of the institutionalized person or the institutionalized person’s spouse.

An inheritance the applicant is entitled to but does not receive because the applicant refused it is squarely inside that language. Minnesota’s characterization of a disclaimer as “not a transfer” under § 524.2-1107(f) is a property-law label; it does not control an eligibility statute that reaches value the person “is entitled to but does not receive due to action by” the person.

The lookback is long. Section 256B.0595, subd. 1(b), provides that “in the case of any other disposal of assets made on or after February 8, 2006, any transfers made within 60 months before or any time after an institutionalized person requests medical assistance payment of long-term care services and within 60 months before or any time after a medical assistance recipient becomes an institutionalized person, may be considered.” A covered transfer “is presumed to have been made for the purpose of establishing or maintaining medical assistance eligibility,” and the person is ineligible for long-term care services for the period determined under subdivision 2 “unless the institutionalized person furnishes convincing evidence to establish that the transaction was exclusively for another purpose.”

The penalty is a period of ineligibility, not a fine. Under subd. 2(a), for uncompensated transfers made after August 10, 1993, “the number of months of ineligibility for long-term care services shall be the total uncompensated value of the resources transferred divided by the average medical assistance rate for nursing facility services in the state in effect on the date of application.” Subdivision 2(e) offers one escape hatch, and it is all-or-nothing: the period “may be eliminated if all of the assets transferred for less than fair market value used to calculate the period of ineligibility, or cash equal to the value of the assets at the time of the transfer, are returned,” and “must not be adjusted if less than the full amount” comes back.

Related: Minnesota Medical Assistance estate recovery.

What else bars a disclaimer?

Beyond insolvency, the acceptance rules in § 524.2-1106 are where careful clients get tripped.

Acceptance. Subsection (b)(1) bars a disclaimer once “the disclaimant accepts the portion of the interest sought to be disclaimed.” Federal law is parallel and stricter in one respect — § 2518(b)(3) requires that the person “has not accepted the interest or any of its benefits.” Depositing a distribution check, collecting rent, moving into the house, taking a dividend: each is a candidate for acceptance, and each is unwindable only in the sense that it is not.

Dealing with the interest. Subsection (b)(2) bars a disclaimer where the disclaimant “voluntarily assigns, conveys, encumbers, pledges, or transfers the portion of the interest sought to be disclaimed or contracts to do so.” Promising to do it is enough.

Judicial sale. Subsection (b)(3) bars a disclaimer where the interest “is sold pursuant to a judicial sale.”

Written waiver. Subsection (a) bars a disclaimer waived in writing. Waivers of the right to disclaim show up in settlement agreements and family arrangements; they should be read as what they are.

The trust-distribution rule, which cuts the other way. Subsection (c) is a genuinely useful carve-out:

Acceptance of a distribution from a trust shall constitute acceptance of only that portion of the beneficial interest in that trust that has been distributed, and shall not constitute acceptance or bar disclaimer of that portion of the beneficial interest in the trust that has not yet been distributed.

A beneficiary who has been taking annual distributions for years has not forfeited the ability to disclaim the remaining interest.

Powers. Subsection (d) provides that a disclaimer “of the future exercise of a power held in a fiduciary capacity is not barred by its previous exercise.” Subsection (e) provides the same for a non-fiduciary power “unless the power is exercisable in favor of the disclaimant.”

What are the formal requirements?

Section 524.2-1107(c) sets four elements plus delivery:

To be effective, a disclaimer must be in writing, declare the writing as a disclaimer, describe the interest or power disclaimed, and be signed by the person or fiduciary making the disclaimer and acknowledged in the manner provided for deeds of real estate to be recorded in this state. In addition, for a disclaimer to be effective, an original of the disclaimer must be delivered or filed in the manner provided in section 524.2-1114.

Note the acknowledgment requirement — it applies to every disclaimer, not only to disclaimers of real estate. A signature alone is not enough.

Who may disclaim. Under § 524.2-1107(a), “[a] person may disclaim, in whole or in part, any interest in or power over property, including a power of appointment.”

Fiduciaries. Section 524.2-1107(b) sets three rules. With court approval, a fiduciary may disclaim when acting in a representative capacity. Without court approval, a fiduciary may disclaim “if and to the extent that the instrument creating the fiduciary relationship explicitly grants the fiduciary the right to disclaim.” And “[w]ith court approval, a custodial parent may disclaim on behalf of a minor child for whom no conservator has been appointed.” If you are drafting a will or trust and want your fiduciary to have post-mortem flexibility, the express grant belongs in the document; without it, the fiduciary is in court.

Partial disclaimers are broad. Section 524.2-1107(d) permits a partial disclaimer “expressed as a fraction, percentage, monetary amount, specific property, term of years, portion of a beneficial interest in or right to distributions from a trust, limitation of a power, or any other interest or estate in the property.” Federal law parallels this at § 2518(c)(1) for an undivided portion of an interest.

When it becomes irrevocable. Section 524.2-1107(e): on delivery or filing under § 524.2-1114, or when it becomes effective under §§ 524.2-1108 to 524.2-1113, “whichever occurs later.”

Where does the disclaimer have to be delivered?

This is where otherwise correct disclaimers die. Section 524.2-1114 gives a different answer for each situation.

Two mechanics from § 524.2-1114(a): “delivery of a disclaimer may be effective by personal delivery, first-class mail, or any other method that results in its receipt,” and “[a] disclaimer sent by first-class mail is deemed to have been delivered on the date it is postmarked.” Any other method is effective on receipt. When a federal nine-month deadline is in play, the postmark rule is the one to use.

And paragraph (l) supplies an alternative for land: “Notwithstanding paragraph (a), delivery of a disclaimer of an interest in or relating to real estate shall be presumed upon the recording of the disclaimer in the office of the county recorder or registrar of titles of the county or counties where the real estate is located.”

Real estate: record it, and describe it

Section 524.2-1115 separates validity from notice, and both halves matter.

(a) A disclaimer of an interest in or relating to real estate does not provide constructive notice to all persons unless the disclaimer contains a legal description of the real estate to which the disclaimer relates and unless the disclaimer is recorded in the office of the county recorder or registrar of titles in the county or counties where the real estate is located.

(b) An effective disclaimer meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) constitutes constructive notice to all persons from the time of recording. Failure to record the disclaimer does not affect its validity as between the disclaimant and persons to whom the property interest or power passes by reason of the disclaimer.

An unrecorded disclaimer still works between the parties. It just leaves the record title telling a story that no longer matches the ownership — which is a title problem for whoever tries to sell.

Where does the property go?

Not automatically to the next person named. The act sets defaults, and the governing instrument can override them.

The default. Section 524.2-1108(c) gives priority to the instrument: the disclaimed interest passes “according to any provision in the instrument creating the interest providing for the disposition of the interest, should it be disclaimed, or as disclaimed interests in general.” Well-drafted wills and trusts include such a clause; most do not.

If the instrument is silent. Section 524.2-1108(d)(1): if the disclaimant is an individual, the interest “passes as if the disclaimant had died immediately before the interest was created,” unless the interest was contingent on surviving to the time of distribution, in which case it passes as if the disclaimant died immediately before the time for distribution. But “if, by law or under the governing instrument, the descendants of the disclaimant would share in the disclaimed interest by any method of representation had the disclaimant died before the time of distribution, the disclaimed interest passes only to the descendants of the disclaimant who survive the time of distribution.”

That last clause is the one to think about before disclaiming. In an intestate estate or a will with an antilapse-style representation scheme, disclaiming does not push the property sideways to your siblings. It pushes it down to your own children — including minor children, who will need a conservatorship or a trust to receive it. If the goal was to redirect value to a sibling, a disclaimer may accomplish the opposite. See Minnesota intestate succession for how the default shares are computed.

If the disclaimant is not an individual, the interest “passes as if the disclaimant did not exist.” § 524.2-1108(d)(2).

No acceleration of your own future interest. Section 524.2-1108(d)(3): on the disclaimer of a preceding interest, a future interest held by another person takes effect as if the disclaimant had died or ceased to exist immediately before the time of distribution — “but a future interest held by the disclaimant is not accelerated in possession or enjoyment as a result of the disclaimer.” You cannot disclaim a life estate to move up your own remainder.

Timing. Section 524.2-1108(b): the disclaimer “takes effect as of the time the instrument creating the interest becomes irrevocable, or, if the interest arose under the law of intestate succession, as of the time of the intestate’s death.”

Joint property. Section 524.2-1109 governs survivorship rights and does the fractional math for you. Where the deceased holder could have unilaterally regained a portion attributable to that holder’s contributions without anyone’s consent — a typical joint bank account — a surviving holder may disclaim “a fractional share of that portion of the property attributable to the deceased holder’s contributions determined by dividing the number one by the number of joint holders alive immediately after the death.” § 524.2-1109(a)(1). For all other jointly held property, the disclaimable fraction has a numerator of one and a denominator equal to “the product of the number of joint holders alive immediately before the death . . . multiplied by the number of joint holders alive immediately after the death.” § 524.2-1109(a)(2). The disclaimer takes effect as of the deceased holder’s death, and the disclaimed interest “passes as if the disclaimant predeceased the holder to whose death the disclaimer relates.” § 524.2-1109(b)–(c).

Trustees. Section 524.2-1110: if a trustee with disclaimer authority under the instrument or by court order disclaims an interest that would otherwise have become trust property, “the interest does not become trust property.” It never touches the trust.

Powers. A disclaimer of an unexercised non-fiduciary power takes effect when the creating instrument became irrevocable; if the power was exercised, immediately after the last exercise; and the creating instrument “is construed as if the power expired when the disclaimer became effective.” § 524.2-1111. Sections 524.2-1112 and 524.2-1113 set parallel rules for appointees, objects, and takers in default, and for fiduciary powers — including that a fiduciary’s disclaimer binds another fiduciary only if the disclaimer so provides and the disclaiming fiduciary “has the authority to bind the estate, trust, or other person for whom the fiduciary is acting.” § 524.2-1113(c).

Reach-back. Section 524.2-1116 provides that the act “appl[ies] to disclaimers of any interest in or power over property existing on January 1, 2010, whenever created.”

So why disclaim at all?

Given the bars, the legitimate uses are narrower than the folklore suggests — but they are real, and they are usually about tax and structure, not about creditors.

• Post-mortem estate planning. A surviving spouse or an adult child disclaims so that value falls into a credit-shelter trust, a bypass structure, or the next generation instead of stacking into an already-large taxable estate. Minnesota’s estate tax makes this a live question at asset levels that do not trigger federal tax at all — see the Minnesota estate tax trap.
• Fixing a stale document. A will drafted twenty years ago names beneficiaries whose circumstances have changed. A disclaimer is one of the few tools that can redirect a bequest after death, and § 524.2-1107(d)’s broad partial-disclaimer rule lets it be done surgically rather than all-or-nothing.
• Refusing a burdened asset. Contaminated land, an underwater property, an LLC interest carrying capital-call obligations, an asset whose carrying cost exceeds its value. Here the disclaimer is not tax planning; it is refusing a liability.
• Preserving needs-based benefits for someone other than a long-term-care applicant. This requires care and a supplemental needs trust analysis rather than a reflexive disclaimer — and the § 256B.0595 transfer rules above are the reason.

Before you sign anything

1. Test solvency first. Section 524.2-1106(b)(4) and § 524.2-1102(9). If the answer is close, the disclaimer is not the tool.
2. Touch nothing. No deposits, no rent, no moving in, no promises to convey. §§ 524.2-1106(b)(1)–(2); 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b)(3).
3. Decide whether tax qualification matters. If it does, the nine-month clock in § 2518(b)(2) controls even though Minnesota imposes none.
4. Read the governing instrument for a disclaimer clause before assuming the statutory default applies. § 524.2-1108(c).
5. Work out where the property actually lands — and whether that is your own minor children. § 524.2-1108(d)(1).
6. Get the formalities right: writing, self-identification as a disclaimer, description, signature, and acknowledgment in deed form. § 524.2-1107(c).
7. Deliver to the right person under § 524.2-1114 and keep proof. Use first-class mail when a deadline is tight — the postmark controls.
8. Record it with a legal description if real estate is involved. § 524.2-1115.
9. If a fiduciary is disclaiming, confirm express authority in the instrument or get court approval. § 524.2-1107(b).

Madgett Law, LLC

Madgett Law, LLC advises Minnesota beneficiaries, personal representatives, and trustees on disclaimers under the Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act — including the solvency analysis that determines whether a disclaimer is available at all, the delivery and recording mechanics that determine whether it works, and the question that usually matters most: where the property goes once it leaves you. If you have been told to “just disclaim it,” that advice is worth checking before you sign. Call 612-470-6529 or send us a message.

Sources: Minn. Stat. § 524.2-1101 (short title; act spans §§ 524.2-1101 to 524.2-1116); § 524.2-1102(9) (definition of “insolvent”; presumption from not paying debts as they become due; exclusions from assets and debts), (5) (definition of “disclaimer”), (10) (definition of “jointly held property”); § 524.2-1103 (exclusive means, “regardless of whether it is qualified under section 2518”); § 524.2-1104 (federally qualified disclaimer effective in Minnesota, “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, other than section 524.2-1106”); § 524.2-1105 (a disclaimer may be made at any time unless barred); § 524.2-1106(a) (written waiver), (b)(1)–(4) (acceptance; assignment/encumbrance/contract to do so; judicial sale; insolvency at irrevocability), (c) (acceptance of a trust distribution bars only the distributed portion), (d)–(e) (fiduciary and non-fiduciary powers; exception where exercisable in favor of the disclaimant), (f) (a barred disclaimer is ineffective); § 524.2-1107(a) (who may disclaim; spendthrift and anti-disclaimer restrictions overridden), (b) (fiduciary disclaimers with or without court approval; custodial parent for a minor), (c) (writing, declaration, description, signature, acknowledgment in deed form, delivery of an original), (d) (forms of partial disclaimer), (e) (when irrevocable), (f) (not a transfer, assignment, or release); § 524.2-1108(b) (when effective), (c) (instrument controls), (d)(1)–(3) (default passage as if the disclaimant predeceased; descendants-only rule; disclaimant’s own future interest not accelerated); § 524.2-1109(a)(1)–(2), (b)–(c) (jointly held property fractions; effective date; passes as if the disclaimant predeceased); § 524.2-1110 (trustee disclaimer — interest never becomes trust property); § 524.2-1111 (nonfiduciary powers); § 524.2-1112 (appointees, objects, takers in default); § 524.2-1113(a)–(c) (fiduciary powers; binding another fiduciary); § 524.2-1114(a) (methods of delivery; first-class mail deemed delivered on the postmark date), (b)–(k) (delivery/filing addressee by situation), (l) (recording presumed to be delivery for real estate), (m) (protection for a fiduciary or custodian acting without actual notice or knowledge of a bar); § 524.2-1115(a)–(b) (constructive notice requires a legal description and recording; failure to record does not affect validity between the parties); § 524.2-1116 (application to interests existing on January 1, 2010, whenever created); Minn. Stat. § 256B.0595, subd. 1(b) (60-month lookback for disposals on or after February 8, 2006; presumption of eligibility purpose; “convincing evidence” rebuttal), subd. 1(c) (application to inheritances and to income or assets “to which the institutionalized person . . . is entitled but does not receive due to action by the institutionalized person”), subd. 2(a) (ineligibility months = uncompensated value ÷ statewide average MA nursing facility rate on the date of application), subd. 2(e) (period eliminated only if all transferred assets or their full cash value are returned); 26 U.S.C. § 2518(a) (qualified disclaimer treated as if the interest had never been transferred), (b)(1)–(4) (writing; nine-month receipt deadline; no acceptance of the interest or any of its benefits; passage without direction to the spouse or another), (c)(1) (undivided portion); 11 U.S.C. § 541(a)(5)(A) (inheritance acquired within 180 days after the petition is property of the estate); Drye v. United States, 528 U.S. 49, 52, 57, 61 (1999) (state-law disclaimer does not defeat a federal tax lien under 26 U.S.C. § 6321; the disclaiming heir “inevitably exercises dominion over the property”; § 2518(a) makes disclaimers effective for federal wealth-transfer tax purposes “and for those purposes only”).

This article is general legal information about Minnesota and federal law. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney–client relationship, and no particular outcome is promised or implied. It is not tax advice. Statutes, rules, and case law change; verify current text before relying on any provision discussed here.