Michigan Laws 700.3401 – Formal testacy proceedings; nature; commencement
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(1) A formal testacy proceeding is litigation to determine whether a decedent left a valid will. An interested person or a person that has a right or cause of action that cannot be enforced without administration may commence a formal testacy proceeding by filing 1 of the following:
(a) A petition described in section 3402(1) in which the petitioner requests that after notice and hearing, the court enter an order probating a will.
Terms Used In Michigan Laws 700.3401
- 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
- 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
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- 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
- Probate: Proving a will
- Proceeding: includes an application and a petition, and may be an action at law or a suit in equity. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
- Special personal representative: means a personal representative as described by section 3614 to 3618. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
- Testacy proceeding: means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
(b) A petition to set aside a will’s informal probate or to prevent a will’s informal probate that is the subject of a pending application.
(c) A petition in accordance with section 3402(2) for an order that the decedent died intestate.
(2) A petitioner may seek formal probate of a will without regard to whether the same or a conflicting will has been informally probated. A formal testacy proceeding may, but need not, involve a request for appointment of a personal representative.
(3) During the pendency of a formal testacy proceeding, the register shall not act upon an application for informal probate of a will of the decedent or an application for informal appointment of a personal representative of the decedent.
(4) Unless a petition in a formal testacy proceeding also requests confirmation of the previous informal appointment, after receipt of notice of the commencement of a formal probate proceeding, a previously appointed personal representative shall refrain from exercising the power to make any further distribution of the estate during the pendency of the formal proceeding. A petitioner who seeks the appointment of a different personal representative in a formal proceeding may also request an order restraining the acting personal representative from exercising that office’s powers and may request the appointment of a special personal representative. In the absence of a request under this subsection or if the request is denied, the commencement of a formal proceeding has no effect on the powers and duties of a previously appointed personal representative other than those relating to distribution.