Simplified route
$53,000
Collection of personal property by sworn statement; usable 28 days after death.
Eligibility and caveatsMichigan estate administration
Michigan probate: rules, process, costs, executor fees and deadlines
Small-estate limit: $53,000
That figure applies to deaths in 2026. 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 October 3, 2026.
Answer first
Michigan simplified probate route
Up to $53,000; usable 28 days after death. Source: Mich. Dep't of Treasury, EPIC Cost-of-Living Adjustments (MCL 700.1210), Table B, calendar year 2026 (certified Jan. 30, 2026).
Collection of personal property by sworn statementScreen a specific Michigan estate with the calculators on the small-estate page, or compare states in the full estate navigator.
What the reviewed rules establish
Court cost
$150
2 published schedules, itemised on the filing-cost page.
Filing-cost detailExecutor compensation
Court-reviewed
No percentage schedule; the court decides what is reasonable. Source: MCL 700.3719.
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.
A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services performed. A personal representative may pay the personal representative's own compensation periodically as earned without prior court approval. MCL 700.3719
Creditor deadline
Multiple triggers
MCL 700.3801 (Michigan Legislature; reviewed August 9, 2026)
Timeline and creditor detailsStatutes read in full for Michigan
Read on the enacting state’s own site, with the date each was read.
| 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
Each Michigan answer below links to the page that sets out its source.
| Question | Recorded Michigan answer |
|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Collection of personal property by sworn statement |
| What property and basis count? | personal probate property only; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. |
| What is the amount screen? | $53,000 for deaths from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026 |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 28 days after death; creditor deadlines: separate clocks by triggering event |
| What does the cost record establish? | $150 is the recorded statewide amount. |
| What does compensation use? | Reasonable compensation set by the court, measured on the estate accounting. |
Limits and unresolved costs
- The small-estate ceiling is set by the year of death. The Michigan Department of Treasury certified $53,000 for decedents dying in calendar year 2026 (notice signed January 30, 2026, Table B) and $51,000 for calendar year 2025 (notice certified January 31, 2025). A death in a later year must be checked against that year's Treasury notice, which is published early in the year; this page applies no figure to a year Treasury has not yet certified.
- 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 each new year's figure can be checked against its notice.
Continue
What Michigan courts publish
Every link is probed before each release.
- 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.
Michigan primary sources
- MCL 700.3982 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Court Order Distributing Small Estates
- MCL 700.3983 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Collection by Sworn Statement
- MCL 700.1210 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Cost-of-Living Adjustment
- MCL 600.880 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Probate Court Filing Fees
- MCL 600.871 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Decedent Estate Value Fee
- MCL 700.3719 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Personal Representative Compensation
- MCL 700.3801 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Notice to Creditors
- MCL 700.3803 — Michigan Compiled Laws, Limitations on Presentation of Claims
- 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)
- Mich. Dep't of Treasury, EPIC Cost-of-Living Adjustments (MCL 700.1210), Table B, calendar year 2026 (certified Jan. 30, 2026) — Michigan Department of Treasury — Estates and Protected Individuals Code Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Specific Dollar Amounts (certified January 30, 2026)
Every quotation, edition label and machine check is on the Michigan source record.
Michigan record: 10/10 verified, 56 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction