Michigan estate administration

Michigan probate: rules, process, costs, executor fees and deadlines

Small-estate limit: $51,000

That figure applies to deaths in 2025. Michigan sets this ceiling by the decedent’s date of death, so an earlier death is measured against a different amount.

This guide explains probate in Michigan: Michigan’s Probate Court offers both a sworn-statement collection route for estates without real property and a court-order assignment route.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.

Answer first

Michigan simplified probate route

After 28 days, a successor may use a sworn statement (MCL 700.3983) or a court-order assignment (MCL 700.3982) where the estate has no real property, is within the annually adjusted net-of-liens ceiling, and no personal-representative application or appointment is pending or granted. The ceiling is $50,000 base (as amended by 2024 PA 1) adjusted annually for cost of living under MCL 700.1210; the operative figure for calendar-year 2025 deaths is $51,000 (Michigan Department of Treasury certified notice, Table B).

Collection of personal property by sworn statement

This worksheet needs JavaScript to calculate.

The calculation runs entirely in your browser, which is why nothing you enter is sent anywhere — and why it cannot run with scripting disabled. Every figure it would produce is also published as static text: the state comparison lists limits, waiting periods and court charges for all reviewed states, and each state’s cost page itemises the statutory fee schedule.

1. Where and when

StateMichiganFixed to this page. Open the navigator to compare another state.Date of deathRequired. Without it no waiting period can be tested and the route stays undecided.

Private by design: entries stay in this browser.

2. What they left

Ownership determines whether an asset usually enters probate. Choose “Not sure” when title or beneficiary status has not been confirmed.

Asset 1

DescriptionValue$Not entered. A blank amount is not counted as zero.Enforceable liens or mortgage$Not entered. Enter 0 if there is no lien.OwnershipThis is real property

Asset 2

DescriptionValue$Not entered. A blank amount is not counted as zero.Enforceable liens or mortgage$Not entered. Enter 0 if there is no lien.OwnershipThis is real propertyWill it be sold during administration?Some court charges are assessed on sale proceeds and exclude real property that is kept, so this changes the amount.

Your working estimate

Michigan estate snapshot

Route check

More information is needed

Counted probate estate: not yet counted

A valid date of death is required before any waiting period can be tested.

Michigan also sets its ceiling by the date of death (MCL 700.1210 annual cost-of-living adjustment certified by the Michigan Department of Treasury), so no limit can be applied until that date is known.

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted

Court chargeMore information neededGeneral probate-court civil action or proceeding2 asset entries have no value entered. A blank amount is not treated as zero, so the charge cannot be computed.More information neededMCL 700.3982 court-order assignment2 asset entries have no value entered. A blank amount is not treated as zero, so the charge cannot be computed.Court charges only, for the proceeding named beside each figure. That proceeding is not always the route screened above.

Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.Michigan uses reasonable compensation rather than a percentage schedule. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying when no compensation contract exists; a written compensation contract with the decedent binds the representative.

This route check is general information, not legal advice. It does not test every eligibility condition, creditor issue, will provision, local fee, or asset-title fact.

What the reviewed rules establish

Simplified route

$51,000

Eligibility and caveats

Court cost

$150

Commencing a probate-court civil action or proceeding generally costs $150; commencing the MCL 700.3982 assignment proceeding costs $25. MCL 600.871 separately imposes a statewide, value-based decedent-estate fee due by closing or within one year; it is not an opening filing fee.

Filing-cost detail

Executor compensation

Court-reviewed

Michigan uses reasonable compensation rather than a percentage schedule. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying when no compensation contract exists; a written compensation contract with the decedent binds the representative.

Compensation detail

Creditor deadline

Multiple triggers

Michigan has distinct deadlines: publication, later notice to known creditors, and a three-year death-based outer bar when statutory notice was not given, plus separate post-death claim rules. One days value would misstate the framework.

MCL 700.3801 (Michigan Legislature; reviewed August 9, 2026)

Timeline and creditor details

Statutes read in full for Michigan

These are the Michigan provisions read end to end on the enacting state’s own site, rather than summarised from a secondary source. The middle column is what reading each one actually established for Michigan — not a restatement of the topic — and the last column records the date the wording was read, so a later amendment can be spotted by comparing dates.

Citation	What reading it established	Read on
MCL § 700.3803 (EPIC), eff. Apr. 1, 2000, am. 2009 Act 46, eff. Apr. 1, 2010	Michigan measures its four months from publication, and what the representative knew decides who gets longer — creditor deadline note	2026-09-17

Michigan decision map

The four facts that change the Michigan route

Use this map before opening a form or entering a number. It keeps the Michigan amount test, time gate, court cost, and creditor record separate so one easy figure does not stand in for the whole administration.

Michigan estate administration decision map
Question	Recorded Michigan answer	Carry into the case
What route is being screened?	Collection of personal property by sworn statement	Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?	personal probate property only; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances.	Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?	$51,000 for deaths from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025	Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?	28 days after death; Michigan has distinct deadlines: publication, later notice to known creditors, and a three-year death-based outer bar when statutory notice was not given, plus separate post-death claim rules. One days value would misstate the framework.	Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?	$150 is the recorded statewide amount.	Ask the Probate Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?	Michigan uses reasonable compensation rather than a percentage schedule. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying when no compensation contract exists; a written compensation contract with the decedent binds the representative. The relevant base is the estate accounting.	Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Michigan amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Michigan ceiling is $51,000 for deaths from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $38,300 sits below the Michigan figure and $63,800 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Michigan counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amount	Comparison to the Michigan ceiling	What it does not decide
$38,300	Below $51,000 for deaths from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025	Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$63,800	Above $51,000 for deaths from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025	Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Start with the row that is still unknown, then take that question to the named court or source.

Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

PC 556, Petition and Order for AssignmentMichigan State Court Administrative Office
PC 598, Affidavit of Decedent’s SuccessorMichigan State Court Administrative Office

Michigan publishes statewide SCAO forms for both small-estate routes. The forms repeat that the statutory base is adjusted, but do not print an operative calendar-year ceiling.

No stable HTTP-200 human-readable statewide Probate Court directory page was located; direct court-form URLs were verified.

Source trail

Records used by this Michigan map

MCL 700.3982Michigan Compiled Laws, Court Order Distributing Small Estates; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 700.3983Michigan Compiled Laws, Collection by Sworn Statement; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 700.1210Michigan Compiled Laws, Cost-of-Living Adjustment; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 600.880Michigan Compiled Laws, Probate Court Filing Fees; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 600.871Michigan Compiled Laws, Decedent Estate Value Fee; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 700.3719Michigan Compiled Laws, Personal Representative Compensation; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 700.3801Michigan Compiled Laws, Notice to Creditors; reviewed August 9, 2026
MCL 700.3803Michigan Compiled Laws, Limitations on Presentation of Claims; reviewed August 9, 2026
Mich. Dep't of Treasury, EPIC Cost-of-Living Adjustments (MCL 700.1210), Table B, calendar year 2025 (certified Jan. 31, 2025)Michigan Department of Treasury — Estates and Protected Individuals Code Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Specific Dollar Amounts (certified January 31, 2025); reviewed August 9, 2026

Limits and unresolved costs

The published small-estate ceiling of $51,000 is the figure the Michigan Department of Treasury CERTIFIED for decedents dying in CALENDAR YEAR 2025 (notice certified January 31, 2025, Table B). The CY2026 Treasury notice was not obtainable at review - the Treasury estates COLA archive still listed the CY2025 notice as its most recent, and no CY2026 notice was published. A 2026 death must be checked against the current-year Treasury notice (base $50,000 indexed annually under MCL 700.1210) before relying on this number.
The base $50,000 (2024 PA 1) and the indexing mechanism (MCL 700.1210, COLA factor x base rounded to the nearest $1,000) are captured so the CY2026 figure can be refreshed once the notice is published.
Attorney fees, bond premiums, publication, certified copies, tax work, and asset-sale costs are not included unless expressly shown.
Asset title, beneficiary designations, creditor claims, and will terms can change the route.

Use this as a starting point.

This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.

Continue

What Michigan courts publish

The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.

Official formPC 556, Petition and Order for Assignment (PDF)Michigan State Court Administrative Office
State-approved form for the MCL 700.3982 court-order route.
Official formPC 598, Affidavit of Decedent’s Successor (PDF)Michigan State Court Administrative Office
State-approved sworn-statement form for MCL 700.3983.

Limits on court material

Michigan publishes statewide SCAO forms for both small-estate routes. The forms repeat that the statutory base is adjusted, but do not print an operative calendar-year ceiling.
No stable HTTP-200 human-readable statewide Probate Court directory page was located; direct court-form URLs were verified.

Primary sources

Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.

Statute

MCL 700.3982

Reviewed source note: On a showing of evidence, satisfactory to the court, of payment of the expenses for the decedent's funeral and burial and if the balance of a decedent's gross estate consists of property of the value of $50,000.00 or less, the court may order that the property be turned over to the surviving spouse or, if there is not a spouse, to the decedent's heirs.

What this means: The displayed $50,000 is a statutory base amount, not the current calendar-year ceiling; MCL 700.1210 requires an annual published adjustment.