We’re going to walk you through the timeline to commence and administer a probate estate in Royal Oak, or anywhere in Michigan. Every probate estate is different. This timeline offers a general overview of how the process typically unfolds in Michigan. We will be speaking specifically about a full probate administration that occurs, and we strongly urge you to work with a skilled probate lawyer because certain parts of it are not always intuitive.
The beginning of the probate administration timeline is an important step. You must decide whether you’re going to do it by petition, in the formal probate process, or by application, in the informal probate process. Both of those require very careful consideration. Is everyone harmonious and collaborating? Or are there problems and complexities that require an adjudication of your petition in front of a judge?
Informal probate occurs through the court register. Formal probate occurs through a judge, which means there will be an adjudication on the opening of the estate, the appointment of a personal representative, the admission of a will, and the identification of the heirs and/or devisees.
The next major part of the probate administration timeline is publishing a probate notice for creditors. There are two basic types of creditors. First, there are known creditors, which requires the personal representative to give notice to creditors they know of, or reasonably should have known, and there’s a particular statute that governs that entire creditor process.
Then, there are the unknown creditors, whom you may not know about. The neighbor down the street, the visa company, or maybe the medical provider can all be unknown creditors, and publication serves to give notice to them.
The next step is the issuance of letters of authority, which you obtain through the court system to have the legal authority to administer the estate, and access bank accounts, enter the apartment building, sell the house, and liquidate assets. There may be restrictions on those letters of authority, but that is the golden ticket to move forward with the administration.
Next, the personal representative must notify the heirs, the Friend of the Court, and provide notices regarding duties and attorney compensation.
The next phase of probate administration in Royal Oak is to gather and identify the assets the person may have owned. Some assets are identified through probate, while others are not. For example, assets that are not part of probate would have a named beneficiary. Think of a life insurance policy with a named beneficiary or a joint asset with survivorship rights.
When we’re talking about probate assets, we mean assets only in the decedent estate with no named beneficiary or joint owner. We typically tell people to get a sense of each asset, and identify how it’s titled and owned, to see if there’s any joint owners or after-death beneficiaries.
Lastly, there is the approximate valuation, and identifying any liens (debt attached to that particular asset) with a requirement to either present or file an inventory with the probate court. An inventory is just a snapshot of a decedent’s probate-worthy assets for purposes of administering the estate, as of the date of death.
You can either present the inventory to the court if there’s no supervision, or file the inventory with the court. The court then assesses a gross inventory fee based on the value as reflected on the inventory. The decision to present or file is also important regarding whether you want that information made public.
The next major step in the probate timeline is administering the estate assets, which can involve selling the house, liquidating a bank account, selling a vehicle, and simply cleaning out the house of valuables. The personal representative administers all of the assets and settles the affairs of the decedent.
Then they must resolve the debt. Usually, you start resolving and addressing the debt in totality at the conclusion of the creditor period, when no more creditors can come forward. Those creditors could be secured creditors, like a mortgage or IRS tax obligation, and they could be unsecured creditors, like medical bills, and you must follow the prioritization statute and creditor claim statutes to resolve them.
We use the word ‘resolve’ rather than ‘pay,’ because not all debts must be paid, as certain exemptions and legal allowances may apply.
There’s a lot of nuance here, and our attorneys know how to navigate it by following the statutes and case law for resolving an estate debt. At some point after you’ve addressed all this, you’ll start distributing according to the will. We call that “testate,” while the lack of a will means you follow “intestate” statutes, which determines who gets assets based on their relationship. You must also make sure you distribute correctly to the right people because it’s very hard to get that money back after it’s been distributed.
Finally, the last task on the probate administration timeline is to close the estate. In most cases in Michigan, there’s a requirement that the probate file remain open for a minimum of five months.
Again, this just gives you a broad stroke of the Royal Oak probate administration timeline, and there are so many little details not mentioned here. We recommend you call the competent professionals at The Probate Pro to help with this crucial task.