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Michigan timeline

Michigan probate timeline: the 28-day wait and creditor deadlines

The simplified route starts 28 days after death.

That clock is one condition among several, and it is not the whole estate timeline. The deadlines that carry the most risk are creditor deadlines, and in Michigan they are set out below against the event each one runs from.

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

The one date this page can source

The collection of personal property by sworn statement route requires 28 days to elapse from the date of death. This is a precondition: the affidavit or petition cannot be presented before it runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.

After 28 days after a decedent's death, a person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action belonging to the decedent shall pay the indebtedness or deliver the tangible personal property or the instrument to a person claiming to be the decedent's successorMCL 700.3983 — Michigan Legislature; MCL Complete Through PA 91 of 2026.

Creditor deadlines

Michigan does not run one creditor clock. Separate periods start from separate events, and the date that actually bars a claim is the one the applicable period produces. They are listed here against the event that starts each, because a period attached to the wrong starting event is how a deadline gets missed by weeks.

From publication of notice to creditors
Claims generally must be presented within 4 months after publication.
From actual notice to a known creditor
A creditor known at publication or during the following 4 months gets the later of 1 month after subsequent notice or 4 months after publication.
From appointment of the representative
Appointment triggers the personal representative’s duty to publish unless notice was already given; the claim period itself runs from publication.
Outer limit, running from death
If statutory notice requirements were not met, pre-death claims are barred unless presented within 3 years after death, subject to listed exceptions.

How these combine. 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.

upon appointment a personal representative shall publish, and a special personal representative may publish, a notice as provided by supreme court rule notifying estate creditors to present their claims within 4 months after the date of the notice's publication or be forever barred.MCL 700.3801 — Michigan Legislature; MCL Complete Through PA 91 of 2026.

Publishing notice starts a period after which most claims are barred. Missing a required notice can extend the estate’s exposure and, in some circumstances, the personal exposure of the person administering it. Confirm the dates that apply to this estate with the Probate Court before relying on them, because a specific case can carry deadlines these general provisions do not reach.

Michigan measures its four months from publication, and what the representative knew decides who gets longer

MCL 700.3803(1) bars a pre-death claim — including a claim of the state or a subdivision of it, “whether due or to become due, absolute or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, or based on contract, tort, or another legal basis” — unless it is presented within one of three windows. Where notice is given in compliance with § 3801 or § 7608, the period is four months after the date of publication of notice to creditors.

Subdivision (b) treats known creditors differently, and defines “known” by a window rather than by a moment. For a creditor known to the personal representative “at the time of publication or during the 4 months following publication,” the period is one month after the subsequent sending of notice or four months after publication, whichever is later. A creditor the representative learns of in month three is therefore still owed notice, and may end up with a deadline past the general four months.

Failing to give notice at all does not close the estate early — it holds it open far longer. Under subdivision (c), if the notice requirements of § 3801 or § 7608 have not been met, the period is three years after the decedent’s death. The four-month figure is the reward for publishing, not the default.

One provision imports another state’s law directly: a claim “barred by a statute at the decedent’s domicile before the publication for claims in this state is also barred in this state.” For a decedent domiciled elsewhere, the Michigan deadline is not the only one that has to be checked.

Claims arising at or after death run under subsection (2): four months after performance is due on a contract with the personal representative, and otherwise four months after the claim arises or the time specified in subsection (1)(a), whichever is later.

Subsection (3) removes three things from the section’s reach entirely: enforcement of a mortgage, pledge or other lien on estate property; proceedings on liability covered by insurance, “to the insurance protection limits only”; and “collection of compensation for services rendered and reimbursement of expenses advanced by the personal representative or by an attorney, auditor, investment adviser, or other specialized agent or assistant.” The people administering the estate are not creditors racing their own deadline.

Source: MCL § 700.3803 (EPIC), eff. Apr. 1, 2000, am. 2009 Act 46, eff. Apr. 1, 2010, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.

Michigan timeline decision map

What must be established before the Michigan clock matters

The Michigan waiting period is only one condition. Use this map to separate the route clock from creditor deadlines, asset scope, court costs, and the documents needed to move from screening to filing.

QuestionRecorded Michigan answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Collection of personal property by sworn statementConfirm 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, 2025Use 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.

Clock ledger

Do not compress the Michigan deadlines into one date

The Michigan record names separate triggers. The description beside each trigger is the source-bound statement to carry into the estate calendar; the interaction rule explains which period controls when more than one applies.

Clock starts withRecorded periodSource
Publication of noticeClaims generally must be presented within 4 months after publication.MCL 700.3801
Actual notice to a known creditorA creditor known at publication or during the following 4 months gets the later of 1 month after subsequent notice or 4 months after publication.MCL 700.3801
Appointment of the representativeAppointment triggers the personal representative’s duty to publish unless notice was already given; the claim period itself runs from publication.MCL 700.3801
Outer limit from deathIf statutory notice requirements were not met, pre-death claims are barred unless presented within 3 years after death, subject to listed exceptions.MCL 700.3801

How the periods combine: 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.

Case-file context

Keep the Michigan answer with its neighboring conditions

A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Michigan descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.

Route context

Michigan’s Probate Court offers both a sworn-statement collection route for estates without real property and a court-order assignment 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).

Cost context

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.

$150 is the recorded statewide amount.

Compensation context

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.

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.

Court-material note: 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.

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

Next evidence to collect

Calendar the verified gate, preserve the unresolved questions, and confirm the county filing path before distributing property.

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

Official 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.

Source trail

Records used by this Michigan map

The general sequence

The order in which an estate is actually worked — secure property, confirm title and beneficiary designations, identify the court route, notify and account, then close — is the same everywhere and carries no citation, so it is set out once rather than repeated on each state’s page. Read it inthe executor’s first week, and seehow long probate takes for how the phases stretch in practice.

What is jurisdiction-specific is above: the Michigan periods, the event each one runs from, and the source each was read in.

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 in Michigan