Title 700, ESTATES AND PROTECTED INDIVIDUALS CODE

Sec. 1105. As used in this act: (a) "Incapacitated individual" means an individual who is impaired by reason of mental illness, mental deficiency, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, or other cause, not including minority, to the extent of …

Sec. 1106. As used in this act: (a) "Mental health professional" means an individual who is trained and experienced in the area of mental illness or developmental disabilities and who is 1 of the following: (i) A physician who is licensed to practice medicine or osteopathic medic…

Sec. 1107. As used in this act: (a) "Register" or "probate register" means the official of the court designated to perform the functions of register as provided in section 1304. (b) "Revised judicature act of 1961" means the revised judicature act of 1961, 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.10…

Sec. 1108. As used in this act: (a) "Ward" means an individual for whom a guardian is appointed. (b) "Will" includes, but is not limited to, a codicil and a testamentary instrument that appoints a personal representative, revokes or revises another will, nominates a guardian, or …

Sec. 1201. This act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which include all of the following: (a) To simplify and clarify the law concerning the affairs of decedents, missing individuals, protected individuals, minors, and legal…

Sec. 1202. (1) Notwithstanding anything in this act to the contrary, the act of signing or witnessing the execution of a document or instrument under this act, including, but not limited to, a will under article II, a disclaimer under section 2903, a funeral representative design…

Sec. 1203. (1) Unless displaced by the particular provisions of this act, general principles of law and equity supplement this act's provisions. (2) This act is a general act intended as a unified coverage of its subject matter and a part of it shall not be considered impliedly r…

Sec. 1205. (1) The court may order a person to appear before the court and be examined upon the matter of a complaint that is filed with the court under oath by a fiduciary, beneficiary, creditor, or another interested person of a decedent's or ward's trust or estate alleging any…

Sec. 1207. In addition to the rules of evidence in courts of general jurisdiction, the court shall determine death or status in accordance with the following: (a) Death occurs when an individual is determined to be dead under the determination of death act, 1992 PA 90, MCL 333.10…

Sec. 1208. (1) The procedure to establish the death of an individual who is an accident or disaster victim and whose remains have disappeared or are unidentifiable is as follows: (a) If an accident or disaster occurs that apparently causes the death of the individual described in…

Sec. 1209. For the purpose of granting consent or approval with regard to the acts or accounts of a personal representative, including relief from liability or penalty for failure to post bond or to perform other duties, the sole holder or all coholders of a presently exercisable…

Sec. 1210. (1) The specific dollar amounts stated in sections 2102, 2402, 2404, and 2405, and the specific dollar amounts stated in sections 3982 and 3983 before those sections were amended by the amendatory act that added section 1215, apply to decedents who die before January 1…

Sec. 1211. Court personnel shall not provide or offer to provide legal advice or legal counsel to a fiduciary or an interested person and shall not complete a form, petition, or document for a fiduciary or interested person. This section does not prohibit the court from providing…

Sec. 1212. (1) A fiduciary stands in a position of confidence and trust with respect to each heir, devisee, beneficiary, protected individual, or ward for whom the person is a fiduciary. A fiduciary shall observe the standard of care described in section 7803 and shall discharge …

Sec. 1213. If an individual includes a provision in a will, trust document, or beneficiary designation that is designed to reduce federal estate tax liability to zero or the lowest possible amount payable by describing a portion or amount measured by reference to the unified cred…

Sec. 1214. Unless the governing instrument expressly authorizes such a transaction or investment, unless authorized by the court, except as provided in section 3713, 5421, or 7802, or except as provided in section 4405 of the banking code of 1999, 1999 PA 276, MCL 487.14405, a fi…

Sec. 1215. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a person has knowledge of a fact if 1 or more of the following apply: (a) The person has actual knowledge of it. (b) The person has received a notice or notification of it. (c) From all the facts and circumstances known to the person at t…

Sec. 1216. (1) Any part of a governing instrument that directly or indirectly makes a substantial gift to an attorney who drafted the governing instrument or a person related to the attorney who drafted the governing instrument is void unless the attorney who drafted the governin…

Sec. 1301. Except as otherwise provided in this act, this act applies to all of the following: (a) The affairs and estate of a decedent, missing individual, or protected individual who is domiciled in this state. (b) A nonresident's property that is located in this state or prope…

Sec. 1302. The court has exclusive legal and equitable jurisdiction of all of the following: (a) A matter that relates to the settlement of a deceased individual's estate, whether testate or intestate, who was at the time of death domiciled in the county or was at the time of dea…

Sec. 1303. (1) In addition to the jurisdiction conferred by section 1302 and other laws, the court has concurrent legal and equitable jurisdiction to do all of the following in regard to an estate of a decedent, protected individual, ward, or trust: (a) Determine a property right…

Sec. 1304. If this act specifies that the probate register perform an act or order, the probate judge, or the probate register or a deputy probate register if authorized in accordance with section 834 of the revised judicature act of 1961, being section 600.834 of the Michigan Co…

Sec. 1305. Appellate review, including the right to appellate review or interlocutory appeal and provisions as to time, manner, notice, appeal bond, stays, scope of review, record on appeal, briefs, arguments, and the power of the appellate court, is governed by the revised judic…

Sec. 1306. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this act or by supreme court rule, a document, including an application, petition, or demand for notice, filed with the court under this act is considered to include an oath, affirmation, or statement to the effect that the …

Sec. 1307. (1) Court records shall be maintained in accordance with section 832 of the revised judicature act of 1961, being section 600.832 of the Michigan Compiled Laws. Upon payment of the fee required by law, the probate register shall issue a certified copy of a probated wil…

Sec. 1308. (1) A violation by a fiduciary of a duty the fiduciary owes to an heir, devisee, beneficiary, protected individual, or ward for whom the person is a fiduciary is a breach of duty. To remedy a breach of duty that has occurred or may occur, the court may do any of the fo…

Sec. 1309. Upon reliable information received from an interested person, county or state official, or other informed source, including the court's files, the court may enter an order in a proceeding to do either or both of the following: (a) Appoint a special fiduciary to perform…

Sec. 1401. (1) If notice of a hearing on a petition is required and except for specific notice requirements as otherwise provided by supreme court rule, the petitioner shall cause notice of the time and place of the hearing on the petition to be given to each interested person or…

Sec. 1402. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a person, including a guardian ad litem, conservator, or other fiduciary, may waive notice and consent to the granting of a petition by a writing signed by the person or the person's attorney and filed in the proceeding. If eve…

Sec. 1403. In a formal proceeding that involves an estate of a decedent, minor, protected individual, or incapacitated individual or in a judicially supervised settlement relating to such matters, the following apply: (a) An interest to be affected shall be described in pleadings…

Sec. 1501. (1) This part shall be known and may be cited as the "Michigan prudent investor rule". This part prescribes the Michigan prudent investor rule. (2) As used in this part: (a) "Governing instrument" includes, but is not limited to, a court order. (b) "Portfolio" means al…

Sec. 1502. (1) A fiduciary shall invest and manage assets held in a fiduciary capacity as a prudent investor would, taking into account the purposes, terms, distribution requirements expressed in the governing instrument, and other circumstances of the fiduciary estate. To satisf…

Sec. 1503. (1) A fiduciary's investment and management decisions with respect to individual assets shall be evaluated not in isolation, but rather in the context of the fiduciary estate portfolio as a whole and as a part of an overall investment strategy having risk and return ob…

Sec. 1504. A fiduciary shall diversify the investments of a fiduciary estate unless the fiduciary reasonably determines that, because of special circumstances, the purposes of the fiduciary estate are better served without diversifying.

Sec. 1505. Within a reasonable time after accepting appointment as a fiduciary or receiving fiduciary assets, a fiduciary shall review the assets, and make and implement decisions concerning the retention and disposition of assets, in order to bring the fiduciary portfolio into c…

Sec. 1506. A fiduciary shall invest and manage fiduciary assets solely in the interest of the beneficiaries.

Sec. 1507. If a fiduciary estate has 2 or more beneficiaries, the fiduciary shall act impartially in investing, managing, and distributing the fiduciary assets, and shall take into account any differing interests of the beneficiaries.

Sec. 1508. In investing and managing fiduciary assets, a fiduciary may only incur costs that are appropriate and reasonable in relation to the assets, the purposes of the fiduciary estate, and the skills of the fiduciary.

Sec. 1509. Compliance with the prudent investor rule is determined in light of the facts and circumstances that exist at the time of a fiduciary's decision or action, and not by hindsight. The prudent investor rule requires a standard of conduct, not outcome or performance.

Sec. 1510. (1) A fiduciary may delegate investment and management functions provided that the fiduciary exercises reasonable care, skill, and caution in all of the following: (a) Selecting an agent. (b) Establishing the scope and terms of the delegation, consistent with the purpo…

Sec. 1511. The following terms or similar language in a governing instrument, unless otherwise limited or modified, authorize any investment or strategy permitted under the Michigan prudent investor rule: (a) "Investments permissible by law for investment of trust funds". (b) "Le…

Sec. 1512. The Michigan prudent investor rule applies to a fiduciary estate that exists on or is created after this act's effective date. As applied to a fiduciary estate that exists on this act's effective date, the Michigan prudent investor rule governs only a decision or actio…

Sec. 2101. (1) Any part of a decedent's estate not effectively disposed of by will passes by intestate succession to the decedent's heirs as prescribed in this act, except as modified by the decedent's will. (2) A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the right of an in…

Sec. 2102. (1) The intestate share of a decedent's surviving spouse is 1 of the following: (a) The entire intestate estate if no descendant or parent of the decedent survives the decedent. (b) The first $150,000.00, plus 1/2 of any balance of the intestate estate, if all of the d…

Sec. 2103. Any part of the intestate estate that does not pass to the decedent's surviving spouse under section 2102, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to the following individuals who survive the decedent: (a) The deced…

Sec. 2104. An individual who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is considered to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of homestead allowance, exempt property, and intestate succession, and the decedent's heirs are determined accordingly. If it is not established by …