- Probate value
- Gross Value. No adjustment for debt.
- Small Estate Affidavit
- Value of gross estate, after payment of funeral and burial costs is $15,000 or less. 28-day waiting period.
- Summary Administration
- The value of the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed homestead allowance, family allowance, exempt property, costs of administration and reasonable expenses of last illness and funeral. Under Michigan probate code, unsupervised administration becomes the default procedure for administering an estate.
- Surviving spouse procedure
- If total value of vehicles is less than $60,000 and there are no other probate assets, a death certificate is only authority document needed to transfer vehicle titles.
- Ancillary Probate
- The personal representative who was appointed in the state where the decedent lived is known as a foreign personal representative. A foreign personal representative is the only one who can be granted the powers of a Michigan personal representative without having to open a probate estate in Michigan. A foreign personal representative must file an authenticated copy of their foreign appointment. Affidavits are available from some courts.
- Statutory Attorney Fees
- Reasonable fee
- Statutory Executor Fees
- Reasonable
- Probate Court Costs
- Probate filing fees based on value of probate estate. For a fee table and other information about costs, go to http://www.kalcounty.com/courts/probate/inventory.asp
- Do It Yourself Support
- An estate representative can prepare and file documents. State Bar of Michigan has an on line legal self-help center. www.michbar.org/news/releases/archives05/self.help.cfm State Court Administrative Office has self-help information on their web site: http://courts.mi.gov/self-help/center/pages/default.aspx
- Probate Statutes
- The main statute is 700.3982 Small Estate. To see it, go to http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(h3y512pagul5ndowh0340po1))/mileg.aspx?page=ChapterIndex and search for “probate”.
- Special Notes
- None
