I have to apologize for providing incorrect, possibly confusing, information. My sister was married when we set up the life estate for my mother and filed the quit claim deed with my sister and my names on it. I basically have 2 issues: How to protect the house from the state and how to ensure my brother-in-law has no claim on any part of it.. If we take my sister’s name off the quit claim while my mother is alive does that mean the brother-in-law would have no claim on the house? Also, we understood that, in Minnesota at least, that the state couldn’t put a lien on the house if it hadn’t been in my mother’s name for at least the 3 years prior to incurring state medical expenses. If we change the quit claim deed, does that 3 year period start over?