Michigan Small Estate: Two Routes and a Moving Limit

General information, not legal advice. Michigan's limit changes every year and the two procedures have different consequences. Confirm the figure for the year of death and the right route with the probate court.

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Two ways to settle a small estate in Michigan

Michigan is unusual in offering two parallel routes and, by statute, letting you decide between them. The first is the Petition for Assignment, form PC 556, filed with the probate court, where a judge issues an Order for Assignment distributing the estate. The second is the Affidavit of Decedent's Successor, form PC 598, a notarized affidavit you present directly to the bank or asset holder with no court filing at all. Michigan law is explicit that if an estate qualifies for either procedure, no one, not even the court, can require you to use one rather than the other. So the decision is genuinely yours, and it is worth making deliberately rather than defaulting to whichever form you happen to find first.

The limit that changes every year

Do not trust an old number for Michigan, because the ceiling moves. The statutory base is $50,000, but it is adjusted for inflation every year under MCL 700.1210, which puts the figure at roughly $53,000 for deaths in 2026. Someone who died in 2023 faced a much lower limit, around $27,000, before a 2024 law raised the base, so many online guides still quote outdated amounts. The number that matters is the adjusted limit for the year of the decedent's death, not the year you happen to be filing. You calculate against it by taking the gross estate and subtracting funeral and burial expenses, and, for deaths since 2024, liens on real property up to $250,000. Non-probate assets, joint accounts, beneficiary designations, trust property, never enter the count.

Petition vs affidavit: which route

The practical difference comes down to speed versus a court record. The affidavit route is faster and cheaper, usable 28 days after death, and requires no court involvement, but it only reaches personal property, not real estate, and it shifts responsibility onto the person who signs. The petition route runs through the probate court and takes longer, but a judge's Order for Assignment gives you a formal record that some institutions prefer and can address a wider set of assets. If the estate is simple, accounts and a vehicle, the affidavit is usually the efficient pick. If there is a wrinkle or an institution that wants a court order, the petition earns its extra steps.

Why the petition ignores the will

This is the catch that surprises families, and it can change which route you want. When a judge assigns a small estate under the Petition for Assignment, the distribution follows the statutory priority in MCL 700.3982, not the terms of the will. That priority pays funeral and burial expenses first, then directs what remains to the surviving spouse, and only then to other heirs. So if the will leaves everything to, say, a particular child, the petition route may not honor that, because it distributes by the statute's order rather than the will's wishes. When following the will's specific provisions matters, the affidavit route or informal probate may fit better than the assignment petition. It is exactly the kind of detail worth checking before you choose.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on MCL 700.3982 and 700.3983 and the 2026 inflation adjustment. Confirm the current-year limit with the probate court.