Probate in Michigan: do you need a lawyer, and what it costs

Settling an estate in Michigan

What an executor deals with after the funeral: the will, the court, creditors, tax and closing the estate. Each fact links to the statute it comes from and shows the date we last read it.

Filing the original will

In Michigan, if you have the original will, you must send it to the probate court with reasonable promptness after the death, either by hand or by registered mail. The law sets no fixed number of days.

MCL 700.2516Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Which court handles probate

In Michigan, estates are handled by the probate court in the county where the person who died lived. If they lived out of state, the case can be opened in a Michigan county where they had property.

MCL 700.3201, 700.1302Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Creditors' deadline to make claims

In Michigan, once appointed, the executor or administrator (the law calls them the personal representative) publishes a notice telling creditors to file claims within 4 months after the notice is published. Known creditors must also be sent the notice. If no notice is given, claims are cut off 3 years after the death.

MCL 700.3801, 700.3803Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Estate inventory

In Michigan, the executor or administrator must prepare an inventory of what the person who died owned, with date-of-death values, within 91 days after being appointed, and send a copy to the people expected to inherit. Filing it with the court is optional, but the court must be given the figures it needs to calculate the inventory fee.

MCL 700.3706Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

The order estate debts are paid

In Michigan, if the estate can't pay every bill, the executor or administrator pays them in a set order: estate administration costs, then funeral and burial costs, then the family protections (homestead allowance, family allowance, exempt property), then federal priority debts such as Medicaid recovery, then last illness medical bills, then state priority debts and taxes, and finally everything else.

MCL 700.3805Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

State estate and inheritance tax

Michigan has no inheritance tax and, in practice, no estate tax today. Its estate tax equals a federal credit for state death taxes, and that credit no longer exists under current federal law.

MCL 205.232, 205.256(g)Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026

Closing an estate

In Michigan, most estates are closed by the executor or administrator filing a sworn closing statement with the probate court, no earlier than 5 months after appointment, once the creditor deadline has passed, everything is paid and distributed, and the heirs have a written account. A court-ordered settlement after a hearing is the formal alternative.

MCL 700.3954, 700.3952, 700.3953Read the statute · legislature.mi.govchecked Oct 5, 2026