Michigan Letters of Authority: Filing, Duties, and Closing Out

In Michigan, letters of authority are the probate court document that proves one specific person has been appointed to manage a deceased person’s estate. Banks, brokerages, title companies, and the register of deeds all want to see them before they will release money, transfer property, or talk to you about the deceased person’s affairs. You get them by opening a probate case in the county where the person lived, and the filing fee to start is $150.¹

What the Letters Actually Prove

Letters of authority are the outward evidence of an inward appointment. The probate court appoints a personal representative, and the letters are what that person carries into the world to show they have the legal power to act. The whole framework sits inside Michigan’s Estates and Protected Individuals Code, usually called EPIC, which governs wills, intestacy, and estate administration.²

The representative’s powers begin the moment the court makes the appointment, and they relate back in time. Beneficial actions taken before the paperwork went through, like paying the mortgage or securing the house, can be treated as though they happened after the appointment.³

Restricted vs. Unrestricted

Not every set of letters carries the same authority. The court can restrict a representative’s powers, and any restriction has to appear on the face of the letters themselves. Unrestricted letters allow the representative to sell property, access accounts, and settle debts without going back to court for each transaction. Restricted letters may limit the representative to certain tasks or require court permission before significant actions like selling real estate. If you are a beneficiary, reading the letters carefully tells you what the representative can do on their own signature and what still needs a judge.

How to File for Letters of Authority

You file at the probate court in the county where the deceased person lived. The core packet includes:

The application or petition, which lists the deceased person’s name, date of death, and the heirs or beneficiaries. For informal probate, this is the Application for Informal Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative.
The original will, if one exists. The court needs the original, not a copy.
A certified copy of the death certificate.
The $150 filing fee to open the estate. Later filings during the case are $20 each.¹

The court then decides whether the proposed representative is suitable. Priority generally goes first to the person named in the will, then to the surviving spouse, then to other heirs. Once the appointment is approved, the court issues the letters.

A practical point that saves time: request several certified copies at the counter. Every bank, brokerage, insurer, and agency will want its own, and many will only accept letters dated within a recent window, often 60 days. Before you visit a financial institution, call and ask whether they accept an electronically certified copy or insist on a wet-sealed original, and whether they have their own freshness rule. Transferring securities usually adds a Medallion Signature Guarantee, which has to be done in person with the letters and the death certificate in hand.

Informal or Formal Probate

Michigan offers two routes to the appointment, and which one applies depends on whether anyone is objecting.

Informal Probate

Informal is the faster, cheaper track and handles most straightforward estates. You file the application with the probate register rather than a judge. If the paperwork is in order, there is no hearing. This is the standard path when the will is valid, no one is contesting the appointment, and the proposed representative has clear priority.

Formal Probate

Formal probate involves a judge, a hearing, and notice to interested parties. Michigan defines a formal testacy proceeding as litigation to determine whether the deceased left a valid will.⁴ You take this route when someone challenges the will, disputes who should serve, or wants to unwind an informal probate that has already occurred. An interested person can also petition for a formal proceeding specifically about the priority or qualification of a proposed representative.⁵ Once a formal proceeding is filed, any pending informal application is automatically stayed.

When Letters May Not Be Needed at All

If the estate is small enough, a full probate and letters of authority may not be required. When the gross estate is $50,000 or less, after deducting up to $250,000 in mortgage debt on real property, the court can order the property turned over to the surviving spouse, or to the heirs if there is no spouse, without a full probate. The court needs satisfactory evidence that funeral and burial expenses have already been paid. The dollar threshold is adjusted periodically under the code.⁶

What the Letters Let You Do

Once issued, the letters give the personal representative broad authority to run the estate. The overriding duty is to settle and distribute the estate as quickly and efficiently as the circumstances allow, acting in the best interests of the estate and beneficiaries. The main jobs include:

Collecting and securing assets: bank accounts, investments, real property, and personal belongings.
Preparing and filing an inventory and appraisal of estate assets with the court.
Selling or leasing property when administration requires it.
Paying valid debts, administration costs, and funeral expenses in the order Michigan law sets.
Filing the final personal income tax return, any estate income tax returns, and estate tax returns if applicable.
Distributing what remains to beneficiaries under the will, or to heirs under Michigan’s intestacy rules.

The representative can also ratify actions others took on behalf of the estate before the appointment, so long as those actions would have been proper if a representative had been in place at the time.³

Duties That Come With the Appointment

Creditor Notice

The representative must publish a notice to creditors in a local newspaper. The notice runs once and must include the deceased person’s name, the representative’s name and address, the court where the case is filed, and a statement that claims will be permanently barred unless presented within four months after publication.

Beyond the published notice, the representative also has to send individual notice to every known creditor. A creditor is “known” if the representative is actually aware of them or if their existence is reasonably discoverable by looking through the deceased person’s records for the two years before death and reviewing mail that arrives after death. Known creditors get four months from publication or one month from receiving actual notice, whichever is later, to file. After that window closes, claims are barred permanently.

Payment Priority When Money Is Short

When the estate cannot pay everyone in full, Michigan law sets the order:

Administration expenses, including court costs and attorney fees.
Funeral and burial expenses.
Federal debts and taxes, which take priority under federal law when the estate is insolvent.⁷
Family and spousal support claims.
All other claims, paid in the order they were filed.

Paying creditors out of order, or writing checks to beneficiaries before satisfying senior claims, can leave the representative personally on the hook for the shortfall.

Federal Taxes

Tax obligations often surprise new representatives. If the estate earns $600 or more in gross income during the tax year, from interest, rent, capital gains on asset sales, or similar sources, IRS Form 1041 must be filed, whether or not any tax is owed. For estates large enough to require a federal estate tax return (Form 706), an estate tax closing letter from the IRS confirms the return has been accepted. It can be requested through Pay.gov for $56, but not until at least nine months after filing unless an account transcript already shows the return processed.⁸

Distributing estate assets before paying the deceased person’s taxes, when you knew or should have known about the debt, makes you personally liable for the unpaid amount under federal law.⁷ The IRS can assess that liability the same way it would assess the underlying tax.⁹ Holding back a reserve for taxes until obligations are confirmed settled is the standard protection.

Bond

A bond acts as insurance protecting the estate if the representative mishandles funds. Interested parties can demand one, and the court can require one on its own. The amount is generally based on the estate’s total value, and the premium is paid from the estate. Many wills waive bond, and if all interested parties agree that no bond is needed, the court will usually go along. If the representative breaches their duties, beneficiaries can file a claim against the bond to recover losses.

Closing Out and Ending the Appointment

Michigan does not set a fixed deadline for wrapping up an estate, but the representative is expected to move as efficiently as the situation allows. Simple estates can close in about six months; contested or tax-heavy ones can run for years.

For estates that are not under supervised administration, the simplest way to close is to file a sworn closing statement (Form PC 590) with the probate court, affirming that the estate has been fully administered and everything has been distributed to the people entitled to it. The representative has to send a copy to all distributees and to any creditors whose claims were not paid or barred.¹⁰

After filing, interested parties have 28 days to object. If no one objects, the probate register issues a certificate stating the estate appears fully administered. The representative’s appointment formally ends one year after the closing statement is filed, assuming no pending court actions remain.¹⁰

If Things Go Wrong

Conflict during administration is more common than people expect. Disagreements over how to read the will, how to value assets, what the representative is spending, and how much each person is due can all end up before the probate judge, which has broad authority to sort them out.

The court can remove a personal representative for cause, including mismanagement, failure to perform duties, or conflicts of interest. When a formal proceeding is filed to challenge the representative and the representative receives notice, their powers are effectively frozen: they may only take actions necessary to preserve the estate unless the court says otherwise.⁵ The court can also appoint a special fiduciary temporarily, order mediation, or impose penalties on a representative who has wasted estate assets.

For beneficiaries who suspect a problem, the $20 fee to file an objection or petition is deliberately low.¹ You do not have to wait until money is missing to act. A representative who is not communicating, has not filed an inventory, or appears to be favoring certain beneficiaries gives the court enough to work with. And the representative’s own exposure is real: distributing too early, paying creditors out of order, self-dealing, or failing to keep records can all lead to removal, personal financial liability for losses, and, in cases of theft or fraud, criminal charges. Anyone asked to serve should understand that before accepting the letters.

1
Michigan Courts. Probate Court Fee Tables February 2025
2
Justia. Michigan Code Act 386 of 1998 – Estates and Protected Individuals Code
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.3701 – Time of Accrual of Duties and Powers
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.3401 – Formal Testacy Proceedings
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.3414 – Formal Proceedings Concerning Appointment of Personal Representative
6
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.3982 – Court Order Distributing Small Estate
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 31 Section 3713 – Priority of Government Claims
8
Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on the Estate Tax Closing Letter
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 26 Section 6901 – Transferred Assets
10
Michigan Courts. Sworn Closing Statement, Summary Proceeding, Small Estate