Michigan Wills and the Michigan Statutory Will

Reviewed by Kelly M. Neumann, a Michigan-admitted attorney who handles the firm’s estate planning matters. Last updated July 28, 2026.

A will is the foundation of nearly every estate plan, and for many Michigan families it is the one document they most regret not having in place. Our estate planning attorneys at Neumann Law Group prepare wills that say clearly who should inherit, who should raise minor children, and who should settle the estate, so those decisions are made by the family rather than by a statute. Drafting a will is calm, deliberate work, and doing it well now prevents difficult questions later. It also fits within a larger plan, and our attorneys can show where a will alone is enough and where a trust or a deed should do part of the job.

What Does a Will Do, and What Does It Not Do?

A will performs a handful of core functions. It names the people or organizations who inherit the testator’s property, it nominates the personal representative who will administer the estate, and for parents of minor children it nominates a guardian, which is often the most important reason a young family needs a will at all. It can also make specific gifts and set the residuary, meaning who receives everything not otherwise given away.

A will has real limits that families should understand from the start. It does not avoid probate. A will is the instrument the probate court follows, so an estate passing under a will still goes through the court process, in contrast to a funded trust or a Lady Bird deed, which pass property outside it. A will also does not control assets that already have their own beneficiary, such as a life insurance policy, a retirement account, or a jointly owned home, because those pass by designation or survivorship no matter what the will says. Coordinating the will with those designations is part of a sound plan.

What Makes a Will Valid in Michigan?

Michigan sets clear formalities for a valid will at MCL 700.2502. A formal will must be in writing, signed by the testator or by another person in the testator’s name at the testator’s direction and in the testator’s conscious presence, and signed by at least two individuals who each witnessed either the signing or the testator’s acknowledgment of the signature or the will. The testator must be at least 18 and of sound mind. These requirements exist so that, years later, a court can trust that the document truly reflects the testator’s wishes.

Michigan also recognizes a holographic, or handwritten, will under MCL 700.2502(2). A holographic will is valid even without witnesses if it is dated and if the testator’s signature and the material portions of the document are in the testator’s own handwriting. While the law honors these wills, they are the source of a large share of will disputes, because handwriting can be ambiguous, an amateur phrasing can misfire, and the absence of witnesses invites challenges to authenticity. A will can also be made self-proving by adding a notarized affidavit from the witnesses, which lets the court accept it without tracking the witnesses down years later.

The Michigan Statutory Will Explained

The Legislature created the Michigan statutory will at MCL 700.2519 to give residents a simple, standardized way to make a basic will without drafting one from scratch. The statute publishes an approved fill-in-the-blank form, and a will completed on that form and executed with the required signatures and two witnesses is a valid Michigan will. The form lets a person make specific cash gifts, leave the balance of the estate to a spouse or children, and nominate a personal representative and a guardian for minor children.

The statutory will is genuinely useful for the situation it was built for, a modest estate with a straightforward distribution, and it is far better than having no will at all. Its strength is also its limit. Since it is a fixed form, it cannot do the things many families actually need, such as creating trusts for young or vulnerable beneficiaries, planning around blended families, addressing a family cottage that several children will share, or coordinating with tax and long-term care planning. A person whose wishes do not fit the boxes on the form is usually better served by a will drafted for their circumstances.

What Happens if You Die Without a Will in Michigan?

A person who dies without a valid will dies intestate, and Michigan’s intestacy provisions within EPIC then decide who inherits. The statute distributes the estate along fixed lines, generally to the surviving spouse and the descendants in shares the law sets, and it can produce results a person would not have chosen. A common surprise is that when there is a surviving spouse and children, or a spouse and the decedent’s parents, the spouse does not automatically take everything, and the estate is divided according to a statutory formula.

Dying intestate has two further costs beyond the loss of choice over who inherits. The estate still goes through probate, so intestacy saves nothing there, and the court appoints the personal representative from a statutory priority list rather than letting the family choose. For parents of minor children, dying without a will means no nominated guardian, leaving that decision to a court. A will, even the statutory form, removes each of these problems.

A Spouse’s Right to an Elective Share

Michigan limits a person’s freedom to disinherit a spouse. Under MCL 700.2202, a surviving spouse who is left little or nothing by the will may instead claim an elective share of the estate, taking a statutory portion rather than what the will provided. This protection means a will cannot simply cut a spouse out, and it is one of the reasons blended-family planning benefits from professional drafting, since a plan that ignores the elective share can be partially undone after death. Where the goal is to provide for both a current spouse and children from an earlier marriage, the plan has to be built with the elective share in mind.

A will is worth getting right the first time, and a short review often prevents a costly problem later. Neumann Law Group offers a free consultation, and our estate planning attorneys prepare wills for individuals and families across Grand Traverse County and the Northern Michigan region.

The Formalities That Prove a Will

A will speaks only after the person who made it has died, so everything about it is designed to be provable later, and the execution formalities are really evidentiary rules. The writing requirement fixes the terms so they cannot be misremembered. The signature shows the testator adopted those terms as their own. The two witnesses confirm that the testator signed freely and appeared competent, and a self-proving affidavit preserves that confirmation in a form the court will accept without further testimony. When a will is contested, the fight is almost always over one of these points, whether the testator had capacity, whether the signing was properly witnessed, or whether the testator was unduly influenced.

This is why the care taken at signing matters so much. A will executed correctly, with disinterested witnesses and a self-proving affidavit, is admitted smoothly. A will executed loosely, or a handwritten note found in a drawer, invites exactly the dispute the formalities were meant to prevent, at a time when the one person who could explain it is gone.

How Neumann Law Group Prepares Wills

Our estate planning attorneys prepare wills as part of a considered plan rather than as a form to be filled in. We begin by understanding the family, the assets, and the goals, because a will for a young couple with small children solves different problems than a will for a retired couple with a cottage they want to keep in the family. We draft the will to say clearly what the client wants, coordinate it with beneficiary designations and any trust so the pieces do not contradict one another, and oversee execution so the formalities are met and the will is self-proving.

We also counsel clients honestly about when a will alone is enough and when it is not. Some clients need only a well-drafted will and a few incapacity documents. Others, particularly Northern Michigan families with lakefront property or blended families, need a will working alongside a trust. From our Traverse City office we serve clients throughout the Grand Traverse region, and the firm can meet with clients where they are when travel is difficult.

What to Do About Making or Updating a Will

Take stock of what you own and how each asset is titled, since that determines what your will actually controls and what passes another way. Decide who should inherit, who should serve as personal representative, and, if you have minor children, who should be their guardian, because those three choices are the heart of the document. If you already have a will, review it after any major life change, a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death, or a move to Michigan from another state, because an out-of-date will can be worse than none.

Do not rely on a handwritten note or a downloaded form for anything beyond the simplest estate, and do not leave beneficiary designations unreviewed, because a stale beneficiary on a retirement account can override the plan your will sets out. Store the signed original somewhere safe and tell your personal representative where it is, since a will that cannot be found is hard to probate. Then have the plan reviewed by an attorney who can confirm it does what you intend.

Neumann Law Group offers a free consultation to Michigan individuals and families who want a will that reflects their actual wishes. Our estate planning attorneys will help you decide between a statutory will and a drafted one, coordinate the will with the rest of your plan, and make sure it is executed to hold up, and we can meet with clients where they are when travel is a burden. Call (800) 525-6386 or reach us through our contact page to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions About Michigan Wills

What Is the Michigan Statutory Will?

The Michigan statutory will is a standardized fill-in-the-blank will form the Legislature created at MCL 700.2519. A person completes the approved form, signs it, and has it witnessed by two people to make a valid will. It is simple and low-cost but limited, so it suits only basic estates.

What Makes a Will Valid in Michigan?

Under MCL 700.2502, a Michigan will must be in writing, signed by the person making it or at their direction, and signed by at least two witnesses who saw the signing or the acknowledgment. The person must be at least 18 and of sound mind. A handwritten will can be valid under narrower rules.

What Happens if I Die Without a Will in Michigan?

A person who dies without a will dies intestate, and Michigan’s intestacy provisions in the Estates and Protected Individuals Code decide who inherits, generally the surviving spouse and children in shares the statute fixes. The estate still goes through probate, but the family loses the ability to choose who inherits and who administers the estate.

Do I Need a Will if I Have a Trust?

Usually yes. Even with a funded trust, a short pour-over will directs any asset the trust did not capture into the trust and names a personal representative and, for parents, a guardian for minor children. A will is the backstop that keeps stray assets from passing by intestacy.

Can I Write My Own Will by Hand in Michigan?

Michigan recognizes holographic wills under MCL 700.2502(2) if the signature and the material portions are in the person’s own handwriting, even without witnesses. Handwritten wills are risky because ambiguity and questions of authenticity often surface only after death, when they cannot be fixed.

Related Estate Planning Services

• Adult guardianship and conservatorship may be needed when no valid plan is in place for an incapacitated person.
• Asset protection planning shields assets from creditors and long-term care costs beyond what a will can do.
• Alzheimer’s and dementia planning pairs a will with the incapacity documents a progressive diagnosis calls for.
• Durable power of attorney handles decisions during life, which a will cannot address.