Metro Detroit wills and estate planning lawyers
Wills and powers of attorney, signed before anyone needs them.
Associate Lora McParland-Savoie focuses her practice on estate planning and probate administration. We prepare the documents that put your decisions in writing, and we help families through probate when someone dies.
Why it matters
Michigan law fills in whatever you leave blank.
Without a will, Michigan's intestacy law decides who inherits. Without a power of attorney or a patient advocate, someone may have to ask the probate court to appoint a guardian or conservator before anyone can act for you. A few signed documents keep those decisions with the people you choose.
What we prepare
The documents a plan is made of.
- Wills, signed with the two witnesses Michigan law requires
- Financial powers of attorney under the Michigan law that took effect July 1, 2024
- Patient advocate designations for medical decisions
- Funeral representative designations
- Revocable living trusts, when a trust fits what you own
- Probate administration and small estate petitions, explained below
Wills
How a Michigan will is signed.
A Michigan will has to be in writing and signed by you, or by someone signing for you in your conscious presence and at your direction. Two witnesses then sign it, each within a reasonable time after watching you sign or witnessing you acknowledge your signature or the will. Anyone 18 or older with sufficient mental capacity can make one.
There's no notary requirement. A notary only comes in if you add a self proving statement, which lets the court accept the signatures later without testimony from the witnesses. Michigan also allows that statement to be signed under penalty of perjury instead of before a notary.
A will written in your own handwriting can be valid without witnesses if it's dated and the signature and the material portions are in your handwriting. Michigan law also prints a fill in the blank statutory will, and its own notice warns that it doesn't control jointly held property, retirement benefits, or life insurance with a living beneficiary, and that adding or crossing out words can invalidate it.
Nothing has to be filed with the court while you're alive. If you want the original kept safe, you can deposit it, sealed, with the probate court in the county where you live for a $25 fee. While you're alive, the court releases it only to you or to someone you authorize in writing.
Powers of attorney
If you can't make decisions for yourself.
Financial power of attorney
Michigan's newer power of attorney law (2023 PA 187) took effect July 1, 2024. A power of attorney made under it keeps working if you become incapacitated, unless it says otherwise, but only if it's notarized or signed in front of two witnesses who also sign. Your agent can't be one of the witnesses. Before acting under it, your agent signs an acknowledgment of their duties. A power of attorney ends at your death.
Powers of attorney signed correctly under the old law are still valid, and the new law governs them too.
Patient advocate designation
A patient advocate makes medical decisions when you can't. You sign a written, dated designation in front of two witnesses who also sign. Close family, your heirs, anyone named in your will, your doctor, your patient advocate, and employees of your life or health insurer, of the facility treating you, or of the home where you live can't serve as witnesses.
Your advocate signs an acceptance before acting, and their authority starts only when your attending physician and another physician or licensed psychologist decide in writing that you can't take part in treatment decisions. A decision to withhold or withdraw treatment that could allow you to die requires that you authorized it in a clear and convincing manner.
Funeral representative designation
This names the person who makes funeral, burial, and cremation decisions, ahead of your spouse and next of kin. It's signed in front of two witnesses who also sign, or acknowledged before a notary, and it takes effect at death.
Without these documents
If someone can no longer make decisions and hasn't signed these documents, someone has to petition the probate court. A guardian, who handles personal and medical decisions, is appointed only on clear and convincing evidence that the person is incapacitated and that the appointment is necessary, and only with the powers the person actually needs. A conservator may be appointed to manage money and property.
No will
What happens without a will.
Michigan's intestacy law decides who inherits. For deaths in 2026:
- Married, and all of your children are also your spouse's children (and your spouse has no other descendants): your spouse receives the first $301,000 plus half of the rest, and your children share the other half.
- Married, and none of your children are your spouse's: your spouse receives the first $201,000 plus half of the rest.
- Not married, with children: your children share everything equally, and the children of a child who died before you take that child's share.
Your spouse receives everything only when no children, grandchildren, or parents survive you. An heir has to outlive you by 120 hours to inherit. The dollar amounts are updated every year; the figures above apply to deaths in 2026.
Probate
Probate, when a family loses someone.
Probate is the court process that settles the estate of someone who has died. Informal probate is granted by the probate register on an application. Formal testacy proceedings are litigation in front of the court over whether a valid will exists. In supervised administration, the estate stays under the court's continuing authority until the court approves distribution.
Small estates
If what's left after funeral and burial costs is worth $53,000 or less (for deaths in 2026), the court can order it turned over to the surviving spouse, or to the heirs if there's no spouse. Since January 1, 2024, debt secured by real estate is subtracted from that property's value, up to $264,000 for 2026 deaths.
Living trusts
Property in a revocable living trust usually doesn't go through probate, but only property actually moved into the trust counts. After death, trust property can still be reached for administration expenses, the person's debts, funeral costs, and allowances for a surviving spouse and children if the probate estate falls short.
Probate administration is part of Lora McParland-Savoie's focus at the firm.
Common questions
Estate planning questions, answered plainly.
Does a will have to be notarized in Michigan?
No. A Michigan will needs two witnesses, not a notary. A notary comes in only if you add the optional self proving statement, and Michigan also lets that statement be signed under penalty of perjury instead of before a notary.
Do I have to file my will with the court?
No. Nothing is filed while you're alive. You can choose to deposit the original, sealed, with the probate court in the county where you live for a $25 fee. During your life, the court releases it only to you or to someone you authorize in writing.
Is a power of attorney I signed before July 2024 still valid?
Yes, if it was signed correctly under the law at the time. Michigan's newer power of attorney law, which took effect July 1, 2024, keeps those documents valid and now governs them too. If your situation has changed since you signed it, it's worth a review.
Does my spouse automatically get everything if I die without a will?
Only if no children, grandchildren, or parents survive you. Otherwise Michigan's intestacy law splits the estate. For deaths in 2026, a spouse whose children are all from the marriage receives the first $301,000 plus half of the rest, and the children share the other half.
Does a living trust keep everything out of probate?
Only the property you actually move into it. The trustee has no duties until property is transferred to the trust. After death, trust property can still be reached for administration expenses, debts, funeral costs, and allowances for a spouse and children if the probate estate falls short.
Service area
Where we help families
Our offices are in Dearborn and Wyandotte, and we serve clients across four counties.
Free consultation
Start with a conversation.
A plan starts with what you own, who depends on you, and who you trust. A free consultation is the place to sort that out.