Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.04 (2026)
Service by Publications; Personal Service Out of State
(a)Service by Publications.
Service by publication shall be sufficient to confer jurisdiction:
(1) When the defendant is a resident individual domiciliary having departed from the state with intent to defraud creditors, or to avoid service, or remains concealed therein with the like intent;
(2) When the plaintiff has acquired a lien upon property or credits within the state by attachment or garnishment, and
(A) The defendant is a resident individual who has departed from the state, or cannot be found therein, or
(B) The defendant is a nonresident individual or a foreign corporation, partnership or association;
When quasi in rem jurisdiction has been obtained, a party defending the action thereby submits personally to the jurisdiction of the court. An appearance solely to contest the validity of quasi in rem jurisdiction is not such a submission.
(3) When the action is for marriage dissolution or separate maintenance and the court has ordered service by published notice;
(4) When the subject of the action is real or personal property within the state in or upon which the defendant has or claims a lien or interest, or the relief demanded consists wholly or partly in excluding the defendant from any such interest or lien;
(5) When the action is to foreclose a mortgage or to enforce a lien on real estate within the state.
The summons may be served by three weeks' published notice in any of the cases enumerated herein when the complaint and an affidavit of the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney have been filed with the court. The affidavit shall state the existence of one of the enumerated cases, and that the affiant believes the defendant is not a resident of the state or cannot be found therein, and either that the affiant has mailed a copy of the summons to the defendant at the defendant's place of residence or that such residence is not known to the affiant. The service of the summons shall be deemed complete 21 days after the first publication.
(b)Personal Service Outside State.
Personal service of such summons outside the state, proved by the affidavit of the person making the same, shall have the same effect as the published notice provided for herein.
(c)Service Outside United States.
Unless otherwise provided by law, service upon an individual, other than an infant or an incompetent person, may be effected in a place not within the state:
(1) by any internationally agreed means reasonably calculated to give notice, such as those means authorized by the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents; or
(2) if there is no internationally agreed means of service or the applicable international agreement allows other means of service, provided that service is reasonably calculated to give notice;
(A) in the manner prescribed by the law of the foreign country for service in that country in an action in any of its courts of general jurisdiction; or
(B) as directed by the foreign authority in response to a letter rogatory or letter of request; or
(C) unless prohibited by the law of the foreign country, by
(i) delivery to the individual personally of a copy of the summons and the complaint; or
(ii) any form of mail requiring a signed receipt, to be addressed and dispatched by the court administrator to the party to be served; or
(3) by other means not prohibited by international agreement as may be directed by the court.
(Amended effective January 1, 1997; amended effective July 1, 2015.)
Advisory Committee Comments - 2015 Amendments
Rule 4.04 is amended to implement a new statute directing the courts to accept documents without notarization if they are signed under the following language: "I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct." Minnesota Statutes, section 358.116 (2014) codifying Minnesota Laws 2014, chapter 204, section 3). The statute allows the courts to require specifically, by rule, that notarization is necessary. The difficulty in accomplishing and documenting notarization for documents that are e-filed and e-served militates against requiring formal notarization, and notarization often places a significant burden on self-represented litigants. Rule 15 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice provides that documents signed in accordance with its terms constitute "affidavits." Rule 15 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice establishes uniform requirements for the formalities of documents signed under penalty of perjury.
Advisory Committee Comment - 1996 Amendment
Rule 4.04 is amended to conform the rule to its federal counterpart, in part. The new provision adopts verbatim the provisions for service of process outside the United States contained in the federal rules. This modification is appropriate because this subject is handled well by the federal rule and because it is advantageous to have the two rules similar. This is particularly valuable given the dearth of state-court authority on foreign service of process. Existing portions of the rule are renumbered for clarity.