Close up of Washington County deed book with racial covenants marked with yellow post-it notes

How to Discharge a Racial Covenant in Minnesota

Background on the discharge process FAQs about the discharge process

Discharge a racial covenant, step-by-step.

Learn how a “discharge” petition can be added to the property record. This does not remove the racial covenant from the property record. Instead, it adds a legal declaration from the homeowner that documents the racist language in the deed.

You can find a visual guide to discharging a racial covenant here.

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Step One: Identify if you have a racial covenant on your property

Type your address in Mapping Prejudice’s interactive racial covenants map. If your property has a racial covenant, it will be highlighted in green on our map.

Click on the green lot for more information. The pop up box will show the text of the covenant, the date the covenant was executed, the seller and buyer, and the document number.

Note: Our data includes racial covenants from counties across the country, as we are mapping in states outside of Minnesota. However, we cannot speak to the discharge process for states other than Minnesota.

Step Two: Fill out the discharge form

You can find the Minnesota state discharge form by:

Visiting MN.gov/commerce/business/real-estate. Click on "search for forms" and then enter the term "covenant" in the search documents box.
or fill out this pdf form: https://mn.gov/commerce-stat/pdfs/40.10.1DischargeofRestrictiveCovenant-fillable.pdf

You can use the information found on Mapping Prejudice’s racial covenants map, such as the document number and date of the racial covenant, to fill out the discharge form. Please note that the “legal description” of the property is not an address, it is the “physical description” of the property. This usually consists of the Lot number, Block and Addition, or a geographic and physical description of the parcel.

The Just Deeds coalition has put together a set of resources to help people navigate the discharge process.

You can find a visual guide to discharging a racial covenant here.

Step Three: Notarize the discharge form

You will need to have your form notarized. You can find a notary at:

Public libraries
US Post offices
UPS Stores
Find a Notary search tool from the Minnesota Secretary of State

Step Four: File the discharge form

File your discharge document with the County Recorder’s office where you live. There is no recording fee to record a discharge of a racial covenant in Minnesota.

UMN Libraries: Mapping Prejudice

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How to Discharge a Racial Covenant in Minnesota

Step One: Identify if you have a racial covenant on your property

Step Two: Fill out the discharge form

Step Three: Notarize the discharge form

Step Four: File the discharge form

Mapping Prejudice

UMN Libraries: Mapping Prejudice

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License Notice

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How to Discharge a Racial Covenant in Minnesota

+ Step One: Identify if you have a racial covenant on your property

+ Step Two: Fill out the discharge form

+ Step Three: Notarize the discharge form

+ Step Four: File the discharge form

Mapping Prejudice

UMN Libraries: Mapping Prejudice

Copyright notice

License Notice

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Step One: Identify if you have a racial covenant on your property

Step Two: Fill out the discharge form

Step Three: Notarize the discharge form

Step Four: File the discharge form