Michigan Laws 700.3705 – Appointment of personal representative; notice requirements
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 700.3705
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Application: means a written request to the probate register for an order of informal probate or informal appointment under part 3 of article III. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Attorney: means , if appointed to represent a child under the provisions referenced in section 5213, an attorney serving as the child's legal advocate in the manner defined and described in section 13a of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
- Claim: includes , but is not limited to, in respect to a decedent's or protected individual's estate, a liability of the decedent or protected individual, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise, and a liability of the estate that arises at or after the decedent's death or after a conservator's appointment, including funeral and burial expenses and costs and expenses of administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Court: means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this act as the property is originally constituted and as it exists throughout administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Heir: means , except as controlled by section 2720, a person, including the surviving spouse or the state, that is entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to a decedent's property. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: means an individual or an organization. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Personal representative: includes , but is not limited to, an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, and special personal representative, and any other person, other than a trustee of a trust subject to article VII, who performs substantially the same function under the law governing that person's status. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Petition: means a written request to the court for an order after notice. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Proceeding: includes an application and a petition, and may be an action at law or a suit in equity. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, and includes both real and personal property or an interest in real or personal property. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Settlement: means , in reference to a decedent's estate, the full process of administration, distribution, and closing. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
- Special personal representative: means a personal representative as described by section 3614 to 3618. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
- Testacy proceeding: means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
- Testate: To die leaving a will.
- Trust: includes , but is not limited to, an express trust, private or charitable, with additions to the trust, wherever and however created. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustee: includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by the court. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
(1) Not later than 28 days after a personal representative‘s appointment or other time specified by court rule, the personal representative, except a special personal representative, shall give notice of the appointment to the decedent‘s heirs and devisees, except those who have executed a written waiver of notice, including, if there has been no formal testacy proceeding and if the personal representative is appointed on the assumption that the decedent died intestate, the devisees in a will mentioned in the application for appointment of a personal representative and to the trustee of a trust described in section 7605(1) as to which the decedent was settlor. The personal representative shall give the notice by personal service or by ordinary first-class mail to each person required to receive notice under this subsection whose address is reasonably available to the personal representative. However, the personal representative is not required to notify a person who was adjudicated in a prior formal testacy proceeding to have no interest in the estate. The notice required under this subsection must be in a form approved by the supreme court and must include all of the following information:
(a) That the court will not supervise the personal representative. This statement must not be included if the appointment is made in a supervised proceeding under part 5 of this article.
(b) That, unless a person files a written objection to the appointment of the person named as personal representative in the notice or files a demand that bond or higher bond be posted, the person named in the notice is the personal representative without bond or with bond in the amount shown in the notice. This statement must not be included if the personal representative is appointed in a formal appointment proceeding.
(c) The name and address of the person appointed as the estate’s personal representative.
(d) That, during the course of administering the estate, the personal representative must provide all interested persons with all of the following:
(i) A copy of the petition for the personal representative’s appointment and a copy of the will, if any, with the notice.
(ii) A copy of the inventory.
(iii) A copy of the settlement petition or of the closing statement.
(iv) Unless waived, a copy of the account, including, but not limited to, fiduciary fees and attorney fees charged to the estate.
(v) If the personal representative is the state or county public administrator, a copy of any settlement statements from the sale of real property.
(e) That an interested person may petition the court for a court hearing on any matter at any time during the estate’s administration, including, but not limited to, distribution of assets and expenses of administration.
(f) That federal and Michigan estate taxes, if any, must be paid within 9 months after the date of the decedent’s death or another time period specified by law, to avoid penalties.
(g) That, if the estate is not settled within 1 year after the personal representative’s appointment, within 28 days after the anniversary of the appointment, the personal representative must file with the court and send to each interested person a notice that the estate remains under administration and must specify the reason for the continuation of settlement proceedings. If such a notice is not received, an interested person may petition the court for a hearing on the necessity for continued administration or for closure of the estate.
(h) The identity and location of the court where papers relating to the estate are on file.
(2) The personal representative’s failure to give the information required by subsection (1) is a breach of the personal representative’s duty to the persons concerned, but does not affect the validity of the personal representative’s appointment, powers, or other duties. A personal representative may inform other persons of the appointment by delivery or ordinary first-class mail.
(3) A personal representative shall also give notice that includes the information described in subsection (1) to the attorney general, public administration division, under any of the following circumstances:
(a) It appears from the petition that the decedent died intestate without leaving a known heir.
(b) In the administration of an intestate estate, it appears that the decedent did not leave a known heir.
(c) In the administration of a testate estate, it appears that devisees of the purported will would not be entitled to share in the estate but for the terms of the will and that the decedent died without leaving a known heir.
(4) If notice is required to be given to the attorney general under subsection (3), the attorney general, representing this state, has all the rights of an heir to be heard and to contest the validity of a claim, the appointment of a personal representative, an action of the personal representative, an order, an appointment, or an instrument purporting to be a decedent’s contract or will, and has all the rights granted or accruing to an heir, representative, or creditor by a law relating to the settlement of a testate or intestate estate in court, or by way of rehearing or appeal.
(5) Within 28 days after the personal representative’s appointment or another time specified by court rule, the personal representative, except a special personal representative, shall notify the decedent’s surviving spouse, if any, of the spouse’s right to election under part 2 of article II and of the time within which the election must be exercised.
(6) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, at the same time the notice required by subsection (1) is given, the personal representative shall give notice to the friend of the court for the county in which the estate is being administered, which notice identifies the decedent’s surviving spouse and the individuals who are, for a testate estate, the devisees or, for an intestate estate, the heirs. The personal representative is not required to notify the friend of the court of a devise to a trustee of an existing trust or to a trustee under the will. A personal representative incurs no obligation or liability to the friend of the court or to another person for an error or omission made in good faith compliance with this subsection.
(7) If the personal representative is the state or county public administrator, and if the decedent’s real property has delinquent property taxes, the personal representative shall also give written notice that includes the information described in subsection (1) to the treasurer of the county in which the real property subject to the tax foreclosure is located. The county treasurer may submit an affidavit to the court regarding the status of the real property for the court to consider in making its determination under section 3715(2)(a).