Minnesota Guide & File Divorce: How to Use the Court's Free Online Tool

Minnesota Guide & File is a free interactive tool provided by the Minnesota Judicial Branch that generates court-ready divorce forms based on your answers to an online interview. It's one of the better state-provided self-help tools in the country — and it's completely free to use.

But there's an important distinction people miss: Guide & File generates your forms. It doesn't help you decide what to put on them.

What Guide & File Actually Does

The tool walks you through a structured interview — your county, marriage length, whether you have children, whether you and your spouse agree on terms — and produces a completed form packet customized to your situation. The output includes:

• The petition or joint petition (DIV302, DIV402, DIV802, or DIV1702 depending on your case type)
• Financial disclosure forms
• Confidential information forms
• Filing instructions specific to your county courthouse

You answer questions, the system fills in the right forms with your information, and you get a downloadable PDF packet ready to print, sign, and file.

How to Access It

Go to mncourts.gov and look for the Guide & File section under Divorce/Dissolution. You'll create an account to save your progress — the interview takes 30–60 minutes depending on complexity, and you can return to it.

The tool supports:

• Summary Dissolutions (marriages under 8 years, no children, limited assets)
• Joint Petitions without children
• Joint Petitions with children
• Single-party Petitions (where one spouse files and the other responds)

What Guide & File Doesn't Do

The tool is a form generator, not a financial advisor. It will ask you how you want to divide your property, but it won't tell you whether your proposed division is fair. Specifically, it won't:

• Explain the Schmitz formula for calculating non-marital interests in real estate
• Help you value retirement accounts or understand the difference between a QDRO and a DRO
• Calculate spousal maintenance under the 2024 durational presumptions
• Flag lopsided settlements where one spouse is unknowingly giving up significant value
• Walk you through debt allocation strategy or warn you about the creditor liability trap on joint accounts

Guide & File asks: "How do you want to split the retirement accounts?" You need to already know the answer. It asks: "What monthly maintenance amount have you agreed to?" You need to already have a number and duration.

Using Guide & File Effectively

The smartest approach is to complete your financial preparation before you start the Guide & File interview. When the tool asks how you want to divide assets, debts, or maintenance, you'll have real numbers ready — not guesses you'll regret later.

Before starting the interview:

1. Create a complete inventory of all marital and non-marital assets with current values
2. Pull recent statements for every bank, investment, and retirement account
3. List all debts with balances, monthly payments, and whose name is on each account
4. If you own real estate, know the current market value and outstanding mortgage balance
5. If either spouse has a public pension (PERA, TRA, MSRS), get a current benefit estimate

During the interview:

• Answer accurately — the forms are signed under penalty of perjury
• Save your progress regularly (the system can time out)
• Don't rush the financial sections — this is where settlement terms get locked in

After generating your packet:

• Review every page before signing — the tool generates what you entered, including any mistakes
• File the packet at your county District Court with the $390 filing fee
• Keep stamped copies for your records

When Guide & File Isn't Enough

If your case involves contested issues, complex assets, or any disagreement about terms, Guide & File may generate your forms but it can't resolve disputes. For contested matters, you'll likely need mediation, Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE), or legal representation.

For the financial decision-making that Guide & File assumes you've already done — property classification, home equity calculations, retirement division options, maintenance estimation — the Minnesota Divorce Financial Split Guide provides the worksheets and methodology to complete before you start the interview.

See more Minnesota guides →