Michigan is no longer a dower state. The legislature abolished dower effective April 6, 2017, ending the rule that gave a widow a life estate in one-third of her husband’s real property and required a non-titled spouse to sign deeds and mortgages to release that claim.1Michigan Legislature. 2016 Michigan Public Acts Table A narrow exception preserves dower for widows whose husbands died before that date. For every marriage still intact on April 6, 2017, and every marriage formed since, a surviving spouse’s protections come from the elective share, intestate succession, and a set of estate allowances under the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC).
When Dower Still Applies
MCL 558.30 carves out two groups of women whose dower rights survived the repeal. A widow who had already elected dower before April 6, 2017 keeps that interest. A widow whose husband died before April 6, 2017 but who had not yet made the election retains the right to elect dower under MCL 700.2202.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 558.30
The dividing line is the husband’s date of death. If he was alive on April 6, 2017, the inchoate dower interest was extinguished and nothing survived for the wife to claim later. If he died before that date, the life estate in a portion of his real property is still available under the old rules.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 558.30 Added Section
What Abolition Changed for Real Estate
Before 2017, a married Michigan owner could not convey clean title alone, even on property held solely in their name. Title companies required the non-titled spouse to sign the deed or mortgage to release the inchoate dower claim. Missed releases from prior marriages clouded titles for years.
Today, a titled owner can sell or mortgage Michigan real property without the other spouse joining in the deed for dower purposes. Title companies no longer search for dower releases on living spouses or on marriages formed after April 6, 2017. Other co-ownership forms are a different matter: a tenancy by the entirety still requires both spouses to sign. The repeal is specifically about dower, not about joint ownership.
The Elective Share Against an Unfavorable Will
With dower gone, MCL 700.2202 is the main tool a surviving spouse has to push back against a will that leaves them too little. You file a written election with the probate court to reject the will, and in exchange you receive half of what you would have inherited under intestate succession, reduced by half the value of property you already received from the decedent through other channels.4Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700-2202 – Election of Surviving Spouse
Those other channels include joint accounts, life insurance proceeds, retirement benefits, and gifts made within two years of death that were subject to federal gift or estate tax.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2202 A spouse already named on a large retirement account or insurance policy may find the elective share adds little after the offset.
The deadline is short. You must file within 63 days after the deadline for presenting claims against the estate, or within 63 days after the inventory is served on you, whichever is later. The election must be made during your lifetime. Miss the window and the right is forfeited, so talking to a probate attorney promptly after the death matters.
What You Inherit If There Is No Will
Because the elective share is calculated from the intestate share, the intestate rules under MCL 700.2102 matter even when a will exists. What a surviving spouse takes depends on who else survived the decedent:6Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2102
- No surviving descendants or parents: the entire estate.
- All descendants are also yours and you have no other descendants: the first $150,000 (adjusted) plus half the balance.
- No surviving descendants but a parent survives: the first $150,000 (adjusted) plus three-quarters of the balance.
- The decedent had children who are not yours: the first $100,000 (adjusted) plus half the balance.
For deaths in 2025, Treasury has adjusted the $150,000 base to $293,000 and the $100,000 base to $195,000.7Michigan Department of Treasury. Estates and Protected Individuals Cost-of-Living Adjustments The figures are republished every year, so look up the current adjustment for a death after 2025. In many modest Michigan estates, the priority amount sweeps the whole thing, and the surviving spouse effectively inherits everything even when children also survive.
Homestead, Exempt Property, and Family Allowances
EPIC adds three allowances that sit on top of whatever the spouse receives through the will, intestate succession, or the elective share. All three outrank every claim against the estate except administration costs and reasonable funeral expenses.
The homestead allowance under MCL 700.2402 is a lump-sum payment to the surviving spouse. The 2025 adjusted figure is $195,000.7Michigan Department of Treasury. Estates and Protected Individuals Cost-of-Living Adjustments The name is misleading. It is a dollar entitlement, not a right in the family home, and it can be paid from any estate asset.8Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2402
The exempt property allowance under MCL 700.2404 covers household furniture, vehicles, appliances, and personal effects up to $20,000 (2025 adjusted) above any security interests on those items. If the estate’s personal property falls short, other estate assets can be pulled in to reach the threshold.9Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2404
The family allowance under MCL 700.2405 supports the spouse during administration. The personal representative can set it as a lump sum of up to $35,000 (2025 adjusted) or as monthly installments of up to one-twelfth of that amount for a year.10Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2405 Administration often runs many months, and this allowance is what covers living expenses in the meantime.
Taken together, the three allowances can protect $250,000 or more from creditors and reach the surviving spouse before any debts or bequests to other heirs are paid. Treasury adjusts all three annually under the cost-of-living formula in MCL 700.1210.11Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.1210
Federal Estate Tax for Larger Estates
For wealthier Michigan families, property passing to a surviving spouse generally qualifies for the unlimited federal marital deduction, so no estate tax is due at the first death regardless of the amount. The tax question is deferred until the second spouse dies. For 2026, the federal exemption is $15,000,000 per person, following the increase enacted through legislation signed on July 4, 2025.12Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
Couples can preserve both exemptions through portability, but only if the executor files Form 706 at the first death to transfer the unused exemption to the survivor. Skip that filing and the unused portion is gone. The marital deduction also assumes the surviving spouse is a U.S. citizen; a non-citizen spouse needs a qualified domestic trust to obtain the same deferral.