The court has exclusive legal and equitable jurisdiction of all of the following:
  (a) A matter that relates to the settlement of a deceased individual’s estate, whether testate or intestate, who was at the time of death domiciled in the county or was at the time of death domiciled out of state leaving an estate within the county to be administered, including, but not limited to, all of the following proceedings:

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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 700.1302

  • Court: means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Devisee: means a person designated in a will to receive a devise. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • 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
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fiduciary: includes , but is not limited to, a personal representative, funeral representative, guardian, conservator, trustee, plenary guardian, partial guardian, and successor fiduciary. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
  • 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.
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: means an individual or an organization. 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
  • Protective proceeding: means a proceeding under the provisions of part 4 of article V. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  (i) The internal affairs of the estate.
  (ii) Estate administration, settlement, and distribution.
  (iii) Declaration of rights that involve an estate, devisee, heir, or fiduciary.
  (iv) Construction of a will.
  (v) Determination of heirs.
  (vi) Determination of death of an accident or disaster victim under section 1208.
  (b) A proceeding that concerns the validity, internal affairs, or settlement of a trust; the administration, distribution, modification, reformation, or termination of a trust; or the declaration of rights that involve a trust, trustee, or trust beneficiary, including, but not limited to, proceedings to do all of the following:
  (i) Appoint or remove a trustee.
  (ii) Review the fees of a trustee.
  (iii) Require, hear, and settle interim or final accounts.
  (iv) Ascertain beneficiaries.
  (v) Determine a question that arises in the administration or distribution of a trust, including a question of construction of a will or trust.
  (vi) Instruct a trustee and determine relative to a trustee the existence or nonexistence of an immunity, power, privilege, duty, or right.
  (vii) Release registration of a trust.
  (viii) Determine an action or proceeding that involves settlement of an irrevocable trust.
  (c) Except as otherwise provided in section 1021 of the revised judicature act of 1961, 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.1021, a proceeding that concerns a guardianship, conservatorship, or protective proceeding.
  (d) A proceeding to require, hear, or settle the accounts of a fiduciary and to order, upon request of an interested person, instructions or directions to a fiduciary that concern an estate within the court’s jurisdiction.