By Jason Kohlmeyer, Family Law Attorney
Starting July 1, 2026, Minnesota gives certain domestic violence victims a new tool to protect the homes they are paying for. A law passed during the 2026 legislative session (HF3970/SF3907, Chapter 80) lets an unmarried person petition a court to terminate another person’s interest in a contract for deed when that other person has committed domestic violence, sexual assault, or harassment against them or their child.
But wait, you’re saying, “Jason, this is a family law firm! Why are you posting this info about a contract for deed!?” The reason is pretty simple, we see a lot of unmarried folks that involve some type of domestic violence.
This matters for a specific but real situation family law attorneys see often: two people buy a home together on a contract for deed, the relationship turns abusive, and the person actually making the payments is legally tied to the person who harmed them.
Here is what the law does, who it applies to, and where the limits are.
A contract for deed is a form of seller-financed home purchase. Instead of getting a mortgage from a bank, the buyer makes payments directly to the seller and does not receive full legal title until the contract is paid off. It is common in situations where a buyer cannot qualify for conventional financing.
When two people are buyers together on that contract, both hold an interest in the property, and untangling that interest normally requires cooperation or a separate legal action.
It’s not uncommon for folks who are unmarried to buy a house together, and if they are younger or have lower income, they often will purchase a house through this method.
Before this law, an unmarried co-buyer had limited options to force a co-owner off a contract for deed. The relationship did not fit neatly into divorce proceedings because the parties were never married, and the property interest did not resolve on its own.
This usually meant they would have to hire a property lawyer to commence a partition action.
The new law creates an easier path. An unmarried person can petition the court to terminate the other person’s interest in the contract for deed if all of the following are true:
If the court grants the petition, the abuser’s interest in the contract is terminated, leaving the victim, who has been paying for the home, in a clearer legal position to keep the house.
This law is aimed squarely at unmarried couples because married couples already have property remedies available through divorce and related family court proceedings. For unmarried people who bought a home together and later became the victim of abuse from their co-buyer, this fills a gap that previously left victims financially chained to the person who harmed them.
The requirement that the abuser not be residing at the property, combined with the requirement that the petitioner has been making the payments, suggests the law is meant for situations where the victim has already separated from the abuser and is carrying the home on their own.
A few limits are worth being clear about. The law applies to contracts for deed specifically, not to jointly titled property held by mortgage or other ownership arrangements. It applies to unmarried people. And it requires a court petition, which means it is not automatic; the victim has to bring the action and presumably establish the underlying facts to a court’s satisfaction.
There are some questions, though, for example, what is the exact procedure, the standard of proof, or how this interacts with existing contract-for-deed cancellation and eviction rules.
If you are unmarried, you bought a home with a partner on a contract for deed, you have experienced domestic violence or harassment from that partner, and you are the one making the payments, Minnesota now gives you a way to ask a court to remove that person from the contract. It does not resolve every joint-property situation, and it is not a substitute for legal advice, but it closes a real gap for a group of victims who previously had few options.
About the author: Jason Kohlmeyer is a Minnesota family law attorney with over 25 years years of experience and a partner at Kohlmeyer Hagen Law Office in Mankato and Rochester. He has practiced family law exclusively since 2010 and has handled hundreds of custody cases across southern Minnesota. He is the author of The Divorce Survival Guide: Getting Divorced in Minnesota and has spoken on family law topics for the American Bar Association, Minn. State Bar associations and American Trial Lawyers Association. He is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association and has been recognized by Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers of America for many years.
