To make a will in Michigan, you need to be at least 18 and mentally capable, put the document in writing, sign it yourself, and have two witnesses sign it. Everything else, from naming a guardian to adding a self-proving affidavit, builds on that foundation. Get the core execution right and the rest is planning.
Who Can Make a Will
Michigan sets two thresholds: you must be 18 or older and you must have sufficient mental capacity at the time you sign. Capacity here is specific. You need to understand that you’re deciding what happens to your property after death, know roughly what you own, know who your closest family members are, and grasp the general effect of signing the document.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2501
A dementia diagnosis or similar condition doesn’t automatically disqualify you, but it does give disappointed relatives an opening to challenge the will later. If capacity could become an issue, ask your attorney to document it at the signing.
The Three Execution Requirements
A standard Michigan will must be in writing, signed by you (or signed in your conscious presence by someone acting at your direction), and signed by at least two witnesses.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2502 – Execution; Witnessed Wills; Holographic Wills
Each witness has to have personally seen you sign or heard you acknowledge your signature, and each must sign within a reasonable time afterward.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2502 – Execution; Witnessed Wills; Holographic Wills The statute does not require the witnesses to sign in your presence or in each other’s presence. Even so, gathering everyone in one room and signing at the same time is the safest practice because it removes any later argument about timing.
Michigan also allows an “interested” witness, meaning a witness who inherits under the will. Their signature does not invalidate the will or the gift they receive.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2505 Using disinterested witnesses anyway removes a reason for someone to question whether pressure was involved.
Handwritten (Holographic) Wills
Michigan recognizes holographic wills with no witnesses required. The document must be dated, and both your signature and the material portions, meaning the parts that direct who gets what, have to be in your own handwriting.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2502 – Execution; Witnessed Wills; Holographic Wills A pre-printed form with handwritten blanks is risky because the dispositive language isn’t in your handwriting.
Holographic wills beat having no will at all, but they’re disputed more often. Handwriting gets challenged, authenticity is harder to prove without witnesses, and people drafting their own tend to use ambiguous language that creates the exact fights the will was supposed to prevent.
The Harmless Error Backstop
If a document falls short of the execution rules, a Michigan court can still treat it as a valid will when there is clear and convincing evidence that you intended it to be your will.4Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2503 “Clear and convincing” is a high evidentiary bar. Treat harmless error as a rescue doctrine for genuine mistakes, not a planning strategy.
Decisions to Make Before You Draft
List Your Assets
Write down everything you own: real estate, vehicles, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, and valuable personal property. A thorough list prevents assets from being overlooked and helps your personal representative work efficiently.
Digital assets belong on the list too. Cryptocurrency is the sharpest example. If no one can access your private keys or knows where they’re stored, the holdings are effectively gone. Note the platforms you use, where credentials are stored, and whether the assets sit on a physical device or in an online wallet.
Pick Your Beneficiaries
Decide who receives what. Beneficiaries can be family, friends, or charities. Use full legal names and describe each gift clearly enough that no one has to guess. Name an alternate for every meaningful gift so property goes where you want if your first choice can’t inherit.
Choose a Personal Representative
Your personal representative, called an executor in many other states, collects your assets, pays debts and taxes, and distributes what’s left. Pick someone you trust with financial detail and paperwork, and ask before naming them. The role is real work and some people don’t want it.
Address the bond question in the will itself. Michigan generally doesn’t require a personal representative to post a bond unless the court orders one, and you can include language expressly waiving it. Skip that and the court has discretion to require a bond, especially if beneficiaries ask for one.
Name a Guardian for Minor Children
If your children are under 18, your will is where you nominate the person who will raise them if both parents die. Consider the candidate’s values, stability, and relationship with your children, and talk to them before naming them. Name a backup in case your first choice can’t serve. Without a nomination, the probate court chooses on its own.
What the Document Should Contain
A properly drafted Michigan will opens by identifying you and declaring that this is your will, revoking all prior wills and codicils. It names your personal representative and at least one successor, and if you have minor children it names your chosen guardian.
The core is the distribution plan. Specific bequests give particular items or dollar amounts to named people. A residuary clause then captures everything you haven’t specifically assigned. Without a residuary clause, any property you didn’t name gets distributed under Michigan’s intestacy rules as though you’d never written a will for those assets.
Signing and the Self-Proving Affidavit
Sign the will in a ceremony that satisfies the witness requirements. The cleanest version is everyone in the same room signing in sequence.
Add a self-proving affidavit at the same time. It’s a separate sworn statement that you and your witnesses sign before a notary, confirming the formalities were followed. With it, the probate court can accept your will without tracking down your witnesses to testify years later, when they may have moved or died. Michigan authorizes self-proving affidavits under MCL 700.2504, and the notary fee is small enough that there’s rarely a reason to skip it.
Assets Your Will Doesn’t Control
A will does not reach everything you own. Several categories of assets pass outside the will to a named beneficiary or co-owner, no matter what the will says:
- Accounts with beneficiary designations, including life insurance, 401(k)s, IRAs, annuities, and bank or brokerage accounts set up as payable-on-death or transfer-on-death.
- Property held jointly with rights of survivorship, which goes automatically to the surviving owner.
- Assets held in a trust, which follow the trust’s terms.
A beneficiary designation functions like a contract with the institution holding the asset. If your will leaves your 401(k) to your sister but the form on file still names your ex-spouse, the ex-spouse collects. Review beneficiary designations whenever you review the will, and always after major life events.
Spousal Rights You Can’t Write Around
Michigan does not let you fully disinherit a spouse through a will. A surviving spouse can reject the will’s terms and elect a statutory share instead, calculated against what they would have received under intestacy and reduced by what passed to them outside the will.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2202 A surviving spouse (or minor children when there’s no surviving spouse) can also claim exempt household property, vehicles, appliances, and personal effects up to a statutory value above any secured debt. If you plan to leave little to your spouse, know there’s a floor you can’t lower.
Changing or Revoking Your Will
You can revoke a Michigan will two ways: execute a new will that revokes the old one or is inconsistent with it, or physically destroy the document by burning, tearing, canceling, or obliterating it with intent to revoke. Someone else may destroy it for you only in your conscious presence and at your direction.6Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2507
For small updates, like swapping a personal representative or adjusting one gift, you can use a codicil. It has to be signed and witnessed with the same formalities as the original will. One or two codicils are fine; stacking several over the years creates confusion and invites challenges. For bigger changes, draft a new will that revokes all previous versions.
After a Divorce
Once a divorce or annulment is final, Michigan treats your former spouse as having predeceased you for purposes of your will. Gifts to the ex, nominations as personal representative or guardian, and even dispositions to the ex’s relatives are revoked automatically.7Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2807 That statute doesn’t touch non-probate beneficiary designations. If your ex is still named on your 401(k) or life insurance, they may collect regardless of the divorce. Update the beneficiary forms as well as the will.
Storing the Signed Original
Keep the signed original somewhere secure and accessible. A fireproof home safe is a common choice. A bank safe deposit box works but can delay access, since the personal representative may need a court order to open it after your death.
Michigan also lets you deposit your will with your county probate court for safekeeping for a small fee.8Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2519 Whatever option you pick, make sure your personal representative knows exactly where to find the original. A will no one can locate after your death is, in practical terms, no will at all.