Sundgaard v. Lundgren

Donald Sundgaard and Janice Lundgren (defendant), both of whom had children from previous marriages, began a romantic relationship in 2004. The two kept almost all their assets separate and consistently expressed a desire for their respective assets to pass to their own children. In 2008, the couple bought a home together, contributing equal amounts of money and taking title as joint tenants. In 2012, when Donald’s health began to fail, he and Janice executed a transfer-on-death deed (TODD). The TODD provided that upon the death of Janice or Donald, whoever was the last to die, Donald’s son Scott Sundgaard (plaintiff) would receive an undivided one-half interest in the home and Janice’s two sons would receive the other undivided one-half interest in the home as tenants in common. The couple’s lawyer explained that the TODD would allow Janice and Donald to live in the house until the death of the last of them. When Donald died in 2014, Janice continued to live in the house, but both she and Scott assumed that Scott now owned Donald’s half. In 2015, after a dispute with Scott, Janice revoked the TODD, eliminating Scott’s interest in the home. Scott sued, and the trial court reformed the original warranty deed to reflect, prior to executing the TODD, that Janice and Donald owned the home as tenants in common, and not as joint tenants. Janice appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which held that the trial court had not erred in reforming the warranty deed and considered whether Janice had effectively revoked the TODD as to the entire property.