Michigan

Michigan has a Probate Court in every county, operating under the Estates and Protected
Individuals Code ("EPIC"), the state's version of the Uniform Probate Code. The court issues
letters of authority to the personal representative.

Informal or formal, supervised or not

Michigan separates two questions that other states blur:

• Informal proceedings are handled by the probate register on the paperwork alone, with
  no hearing. This is the normal route for an uncontested estate. Formal proceedings go
  before a judge, and are used when something is disputed or unclear.
• Unsupervised administration is the default. The court does not supervise the personal
  representative except in limited circumstances. Supervised administration has to be requested.

The combination — informal appointment, unsupervised administration — makes a routine Michigan
estate genuinely light on court involvement.

The deadlines that matter

• Notice of appointment served on all interested persons within 14 days of appointment.
• Inventory filed within 91 days of the letters of authority being issued, with copies
  to the presumptive distributees.
• Annual accounting, itemised, showing all income and disbursements.
• Creditor claims are forever barred unless presented within four months of publication
  of the notice to creditors. Publish promptly — that clock is the executor's friend.

No state death tax

Michigan has neither an estate nor an inheritance tax. Only the federal return can arise, and
for most estates it does not.

Before distributing

Let the four-month creditor period run, file the final income tax returns, and account.

A Michigan will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and signed by two
witnesses within a reasonable time after they watched the testator sign or heard them
acknowledge the signature. The testator must be 18 or older and of sound mind.

Holographic wills are valid, on the UPC standard

Michigan follows the Uniform Probate Code approach, which is more forgiving than the older
"wholly in your own hand" rule. A holographic will is valid whether or not witnessed, so
long as it is:

• dated,
• signed by the testator, and
• has its material portions in the testator's own handwriting.

The material-portions test matters: a pre-printed will form with the gifts filled in by
hand can qualify in Michigan, where in a stricter state the printed words would void it.
Michigan does, however, require the date — Arizona, on the same UPC base, does not. If you
write one, date it.

Witnesses who inherit

Michigan does not automatically void a gift to a witness, but an interested witness invites the
argument that the will was procured by undue influence. Use two disinterested people.

Make it self-proving

Attach an affidavit signed by the testator and both witnesses before a notary, so nobody has to
be located afterwards.

Also

• Name an alternate personal representative.
• Consider a Lady Bird deed — an enhanced life estate deed, well established in Michigan —
  to pass a home outside probate while keeping full control during life. Take advice; it
  interacts with the will and with Medicaid estate recovery.
• Review after a marriage, divorce, birth or a move to Michigan.

Yes. Under MCL 700.3719 a personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation
for services performed. Michigan sets no percentage and no tariff.

The part that is unusual, and risky

Michigan expressly allows the personal representative to pay their own compensation
periodically as earned, without prior court approval. Most states require the beneficiaries'
consent or a court order first. Michigan does not.

That is a convenience and a trap. Nobody signs off as you go — but interested persons can
still object afterwards, and if the court finds the amount unreasonable you will be ordered to
repay it. Taking money on your own authority and defending it later is a materially worse
position than agreeing it first. Tell the beneficiaries what you are taking and why, in
writing, even though the statute does not make you.

What "reasonable" means

The size and complexity of the estate, the time actually spent, the skill the work required,
any special expertise you brought, the responsibility assumed, and the results. Keep
contemporaneous time records — in a state with no percentage to fall back on, they are the
whole of the argument.

If the will fixes the figure

A will provision governs, unless there is a binding written contract with the deceased. The
representative may also renounce the will's figure before qualifying and instead take
reasonable compensation — a useful option where the will names a sum set decades ago.

Renouncing the fee

A representative may renounce compensation in whole or in part, in writing filed with the
court.

Tax

Compensation is taxable income; an inheritance is not.

A Michigan personal representative is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses
of administration, separately from compensation for their time.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable reception.
• Probate Court filing fees, certified letters of authority, certified death certificates, and
  publication of the notice to creditors.
• Attorney's fees, and accountant's fees for the final Form 1040 and any Form 1041.
• Appraisals of real property, vehicles, boats, firearms, tools and collections.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: insurance, property tax, utilities, security,
  maintenance, lawn care and snow removal.
• Winterising a property — draining lines and keeping heat on. A Michigan house left cold
  through January is a burst-pipe claim waiting to happen, and prevention is cheaper.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping contents, including a cottage or
  Upper Peninsula property.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate.
• Bond premiums where a bond is required.

Normally not claimable

• The representative's lost wages, meals near home, or personal spending.
• Costs incurred for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements beyond preparing a property for sale as it stands.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account and run everything through it. Michigan requires an inventory
within 91 days and an itemised annual accounting, so the numbers get filed whether or not
you kept a log. Since the statute also lets you pay your own fee without prior approval, the
same records are what justify that fee if anyone later objects.

Michigan's informal, unsupervised default means most estates here are administered by a family
member without much court contact at all. A bank trust department or an attorney serving as
personal representative is worth the cost in narrower cases.

Consider a professional when

• The estate holds an operating business, farmland, or rental property that has to keep
  running.
• There is conflict among the beneficiaries. Note the Michigan-specific edge: because the
  representative can take their own fee and act without supervision, a family member in a
  contentious estate is unusually exposed to accusations. A neutral professional removes the
  target.
• A beneficiary is a minor or a legally incapacitated individual, so a trust runs for years
  and the Probate Court — which also handles guardianships — will be involved.
• Medicaid estate recovery is in play against the family home, which needs handling
  carefully and early.
• The named personal representative lives out of state and cannot easily attend a county
  Probate Court or deal with property in person.
• There is a cottage to be divided among siblings, which in Michigan is its own well-known
  category of family dispute. A cottage succession plan or LLC is often the better answer than
  leaving the executor to referee.

What it costs

Corporate fiduciaries charge a negotiated percentage with a minimum annual fee. Attorneys
generally bill hourly. Ask for either in writing.

Middle ground

Appoint a family member and let them retain a probate attorney and an accountant at the
estate's expense. For most Michigan estates this is both cheapest and correct.

A named representative who does not want the job can decline before letters of authority
issue.