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Start the free role checkWhy people avoid probate
Probate in Michigan is a court process: it can take months, the filings become a public record, and it adds administrative cost. Passing assets outside probate can be faster, more private, and simpler for your family — though it takes planning while you're alive.
Common ways Michiganders avoid probate
A funded revocable living Trust
Assets retitled into a revocable living Trust pass to your beneficiaries outside probate, while you keep full control during life. “Funding” — actually transferring assets in — is what makes it work.
Beneficiary, POD & TOD designations
Retirement accounts, life insurance, and many bank and brokerage accounts let you name a beneficiary (or “payable-on-death” / “transfer-on-death”), so they pass directly to that person without probate.
Joint ownership with survivorship
Property owned jointly with a right of survivorship — and a home spouses own together as tenants by the entireties — passes to the survivor at death, outside probate. How the deed or the account is titled decides it.
Deeds that keep a life estate
A deed can keep a life estate for the owner — sometimes with the power to sell, an “enhanced life estate” or “Lady Bird” deed — so the home passes at death without probate. For property tax, a transfer subject to a life estate the owner keeps is not a transfer of ownership until the life estate ends (MCL 211.27a(7)(c)). Whether it fits depends on your facts and is a question for a licensed Michigan attorney.
Small-estate options
When an estate is small, the court may order the property turned over to the spouse or heirs once the funeral and burial expenses are paid (MCL 700.3982), and 28 days after a death a successor may collect personal property by sworn statement where the estate has no real property and is worth no more than $50,000 as adjusted ($53,000 in 2026) (MCL 700.3983) — simpler than a full administration.
The catch: it all depends on titling
A plan only avoids probate for the assets actually titled or designated correctly — a Trust that isn't funded, or an account with no beneficiary, can still end up in probate. Coordinating titling across everything you own is where mistakes happen. This page is general information, not legal advice; a free role check can show you where you stand, and a Michigan attorney can review your titling.
General information about Michigan law, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
- How do Michigan families pass property outside probate?
- Commonly through a funded revocable trust (MCL 700.7401), beneficiary and payable- or transfer-on-death designations, joint ownership with right of survivorship, and the small-estate procedures (MCL 700.3982, 700.3983).
- What is Michigan's small-estate limit?
- The small-estate procedures apply where the estate's value, as each section measures it, is not more than $50,000 as adjusted for the year of death — $53,000 for a 2026 death (MCL 700.3982, 700.3983).
General information about Michigan law, not legal advice.