After the Personal Representative Has Been Appointed – Administering an Estate

Once appointed, the Personal Representative has many duties which are required by law.  It is the Personal Representative’s responsibility to ensure they are complying with all applicable laws and court rules.  The Court cannot advise the Personal Representative how to probate an estate.  

Administering the estate may include:

• Collecting estate assets
• Preparing an inventory of estate assets
• Paying the inventory fee
• Paying taxes for the decedent
• Paying eligible creditor’s claims
• Paying bills of the estate
• Accounting to the interested persons
• Distributing estate assets according to the law

Forms you may need:

• Notice to Creditors (PC 574):  Publishing for creditors may be required even if you don’t believe there are any creditors.
• Notice of Appointment and Duties (PC 573):  Within 14 days of appointment, Personal Representative must provide notice to interested persons in the estate of the appointment.
• Notice to Friend of the Court (PC 618):  Within 28 days of appointment, Personal Representative must give notice to the Grand Traverse County Friend of the Court of the decedent's surviving spouse, devisees, and heirs (if any).
• Notice to Known Creditors (PC 578):  Notice to known or potential creditors of the estate may be required to be given. 
• Inventory (PC 577):  Within 91 days of the date on your Letters of Authority, the Personal Representative must prepare an inventory of all of the decedent's property and its approximate value, serve a copy of the inventory on all interested persons, and submit the inventory to the Court.  The Personal Representative must list the value of the assets as of the date of death.  Real property must be valued by using the State Equalized Value times two for the year of death, or an appraisal or market analysis.  If an appraisal or market analysis is used to determine the value, this must be included with the inventory when filing it with the Court.   If there are any liens against any property listed on the inventory, the lien must be listed on the form.   However, only liens against real property can be deducted from the value of the property.
• Inventory Fee:  Within one year of the appointment, the Personal Representative must pay to our Court an inventory fee based on the inventory that the Personal Representative had provided.  The inventory fee is mandated by state law.  The Court accepts: cash, checks, or money orders.  Checks or money orders must be made payable to Probate Court.
• Inventory Fee Calculator:  Please click the link to determine the amount of inventory fee you will owe.
• Notice of Continued Administration (PC 587):  If you do not close the estate within one year of appointment, and you wish to keep the estate administration open, you must serve interested persons with a notice explaining why the estate is still open, and then file the notice with the Court.
• Account of Fiduciary (PC 583 or PC 584):  The Personal Representative must account to the interested persons once a year.  This account is not required to be filed with the Court in unsupervised estates, but the Personal Representative can file it with the Court if they choose to.  The fee to file this with the Court is $20.

Closing the Estate:

There are different ways to close an estate.  The following are forms that may be used depending on your situation:

• Closing the Estate informally: Sworn Statement to Close, PC 591:  Once the personal representative has completed all duties of the personal representative, including the proper notification to creditors, dealing with any claims filed against the estate, and distributing estate assets, they may seek to close the estate. A copy of the Sworn Statement to Close is required to be served on “all distributes and to all claimants whose claims are neither paid nor barred and to all demandants.”  After 28 days pass following the filing of the Sworn Statement to close, if there are no objections from any interested parties, a Certificate of Completion (PC 592) will be entered and the case will be closed.
• Closing the Estate formally: Petition for Complete Estate Settlement, PC 593:

1. Petition for Complete Estate Settlement, PC 593
2. Schedule of Distributions and Payment of Claims, PC 596
3. Account of Fiduciary, PC 584

Court forms are available on the Michigan Courts website:

www.courts.michigan.gov/SCAO-forms/Estates-Trusts/

Please visit the Michigan Legal Help website for assistance:

michiganlegalhelp.org

THIS IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE, NOR CAN COURT STAFF ADVISE YOU.  IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROBATE PROCESS, OR HAVE A COMPLICATED CASE, YOU SHOULD TALK TO AN ATTORNEY.