How to Fill Out and File Michigan Executor of Estate Forms

The Michigan executor of estate forms you need come from the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) and are free PDFs on the Michigan Courts website.¹ To open a decedent’s estate you file either PC 558 (informal, no hearing) or PC 559 (formal, judge involved). To close it, you file PC 591. In between sit a handful of required notices, an inventory fee, and a protected-information form the court rules require you to use.

PC 558 or PC 559: Picking the Starting Form

Informal probate is handled by the probate register — a court clerk — without a hearing. Formal probate requires a judge. Which track you take depends on how clean the case is.

Use PC 558, Application for Informal Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative, when the will is uncontested, all heirs are known, and you expect no disputes. The probate register can approve the application and issue letters of authority without a court hearing.²

Use PC 559, Petition for Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative, when heirs disagree about the will’s validity, the will has problems (missing signatures, multiple versions), or the court needs to resolve a dispute. A judge schedules a hearing and issues orders.³

Before you commit to either, check whether the estate is small enough to skip full probate. If the gross estate is $50,000 or less after funeral and burial expenses, you can file a Petition and Order for Assignment under MCL 700.3982, and the court will order the property turned over to the surviving spouse or the heirs. Real property counts, but up to $250,000 of any mortgage or lien on it is deducted before applying the $50,000 threshold. Heirs remain liable for the decedent’s debts up to what they received for 63 days after the order.⁴

If there is no real property at all and the total value (net of liens) is $50,000 or less, you can skip court entirely with a Small Estate Affidavit under MCL 700.3983. Wait at least 28 days from the date of death, then present a sworn statement and a copy of the death certificate directly to whoever holds the property — a bank, an employer, a brokerage — and they must release the assets. No personal representative is appointed and no probate case is opened.⁵ Both thresholds are periodically adjusted under MCL 700.1210, so confirm the current figure.

What to Gather Before You Fill Anything Out

Sitting down to a blank PC 558 or PC 559 without the right paperwork will cost you time. Collect these first:

The death certificate. Most counties want two copies — one unredacted and one with the date of birth and Social Security number blacked out. Some accept non-certified copies, others require certified. Call the county probate court to confirm.
The original will and any codicils. If the will contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, or financial account numbers, prepare a redacted copy to file alongside it.
Form MC 97, Protected Personal Identifying Information. Michigan court rules bar Social Security numbers, dates of birth, passport numbers, and financial account numbers from public court documents. You put that information on MC 97 (which is not public) and use a reference number like “Ref. No. 1” in the public filings wherever the protected data would otherwise appear. MC 97 asks only for the last four digits of the Social Security number.⁶
The names and addresses of all interested persons. Michigan Court Rule 5.125 defines who counts. For a decedent’s estate, that includes the surviving spouse, heirs, devisees named in the will, and known creditors. Missing a required party can force you to restart the notice process.⁷
Rough asset information. You do not need a full inventory for the initial petition, but a rough picture tells you whether the estate qualifies for a shortcut and what the eventual inventory fee will be.

Filling Out PC 558 or PC 559

Both forms cover the same categories of information; PC 559 has extra sections for contested matters.

At the top, enter the court name and county. Venue is the county where the decedent lived at the time of death. If the decedent was not a Michigan resident but owned property in the state, file in the county where that property is located.⁸

In the decedent section, enter the full legal name, date of death, and county of domicile. Then list every interested person — spouse, children, heirs, and devisees — with names, addresses, and relationship to the decedent.² Do not leave someone off because you think they will not contest. The court expects the complete list.

Identify the testamentary status: died with a will (testate), without one (intestate), or probating a copy of a will originally admitted in another state. Nominate a personal representative and explain their priority for appointment. That is typically the person named in the will, or the surviving spouse, or the next of kin. If the will waives bond, mark the appropriate checkbox; otherwise indicate that a bond will be posted.

Print or type every entry. Courts reject forms they cannot read. Sign at the bottom under penalty of perjury that the application is true to the best of your knowledge. Your attorney, if you have one, signs as well. Date both signatures.

Filing, Fees, and Letters of Authority

Bring or mail the completed forms to the probate court in the correct county, or e-file through MiFILE if that court is live on the system. Not every probate court is — check the court list on the Michigan Courts website or call before assuming electronic filing is available.⁹

The statewide filing fee for opening a decedent’s estate is $150 under MCL 600.880(1).¹⁰ Counties may add local surcharges. Wayne County charges $175 for a deceased estate filing and Kent County charges $187. A certified copy of the letters of authority costs $12, and you will want at least one — banks, title companies, and financial institutions require it before they will deal with you as the personal representative.¹¹

Once the court accepts the filing and payment, the case gets a number and a judge assignment. On an informal PC 558, the probate register can issue letters of authority without a courtroom appearance, often within days. On a formal PC 559, the court schedules a hearing and you must notify all interested persons of the hearing date.

What You Have to Do After Appointment

Within 28 days of appointment, the personal representative must send a notice of appointment to all heirs and devisees. It must follow a court-approved format and include information about the estate and the representative’s contact details.¹²

You also have to notify creditors. Publish a notice in a local newspaper giving creditors four months from the publication date to present claims or be permanently barred. Publication alone is not enough. Send a copy of the notice directly to every creditor you know about or could reasonably discover by reviewing the decedent’s records from the two years before death and any mail received after death.¹³

Known creditors who receive individual notice have the later of four months from publication or one month from receiving the notice to file a claim. If you discover a creditor less than 28 days before the four-month window closes, you still have to send notice, and that creditor gets 28 days from when you notify them.¹⁴ If no notice is published at all, creditors have three years from the date of death to file claims. Skipping publication is one of the costliest mistakes personal representatives make.

Inventory Fee

On top of the filing fee, Michigan charges a separate inventory fee based on the total value of the decedent’s assets as of the date of death. The fee is set by statute on a sliding scale:¹⁵

Under $1,000: $5 plus 1% of the amount over $500
$1,000 to $2,999: $25
$3,000 to $9,999: $25 plus 0.625% of the amount over $3,000
$10,000 to $24,999: $68.75 plus 0.5% of the amount over $10,000
$25,000 to $49,999: $143.75 plus 0.375% of the amount over $25,000
$50,000 to $99,999: $237.50 plus 0.25% of the amount over $50,000
$100,000 to $500,000: $362.50 plus 0.125% of the amount over $100,000
Over $500,000: $62.50 for each additional $100,000 (drops to $31.25 per $100,000 above $1,000,000)

If real property is mortgaged, the mortgage balance is deducted from the property’s value before calculating the fee. The fee is due when the estate closes or one year after probate begins, whichever comes first. The court will not accept a final accounting until the inventory fee is paid in full.¹⁵

Closing the Estate With PC 591

Once you have paid all debts and taxes, distributed the remaining assets, and waited at least five months from the date of your appointment, you close the estate by filing PC 591, Sworn Statement to Close Unsupervised Administration.¹⁶

On the form you confirm that you published notice to creditors, that the claims period has expired, that all valid claims and administration expenses are paid or settled, and that all assets have been distributed. You confirm the Michigan tax status; for decedents who died after September 30, 1993, you check the box stating no Michigan estate tax is due, because Michigan does not impose a separate estate or inheritance tax on those deaths.¹⁷ Then send a copy of the sworn statement to all distributees and any creditors whose claims remain unpaid or unresolved.

Anyone who disagrees with the closing can file a written objection within 28 days, along with a $20 fee. If no objections come in, the probate register issues a certificate confirming full administration. One year after the sworn statement is filed, the personal representative’s appointment ends automatically, assuming no pending proceedings remain.¹⁶

1
Michigan Courts. Estates, Trusts, and Miscellaneous Probate Forms
2
Michigan Courts. PC 558, Application for Informal Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative
3
Michigan Courts. PC 559, Petition for Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.3982 – Petition and Order for Assignment
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.3983 – Collection of Personal Property by Sworn Statement
6
Michigan Courts. MC 97, Protected Personal Identifying Information
7
Kalamazoo County, MI. Probate Court – Guardianship of an Individual with Legal Incapacity
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.3201 – Venue for First and Subsequent Estate Proceedings
9
Michigan Courts. MiFILE
10
Michigan Courts. Probate Court Fee Tables
11
Wayne County Probate Court. Wayne County Probate Court Filing/Probate Fees
12
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.3705 – Appointment of Personal Representative; Notice Requirements
13
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.3801 – Notice to Creditors
14
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.3803 – Limitations on Presentation of Claims
15
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.871
16
Michigan Courts. PC 591, Sworn Statement to Close Unsupervised Administration
17
State of Michigan. Inheritance Tax Frequently Asked Questions