When Can Family See the Will in Michigan
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Common Questions about Wills
Contents
This is a list of common questions almost wills.
Questions well-nigh Wills
What is a will?
A will is a legal document that says who should have your belongings or treat your children after your death.
Exercise I need a volition?
If you own whatsoever belongings or take children under 18 years of age, you may want to create a will. In your volition, you tin can choose who will receive your property. You can also choose someone you trust to deed as the "personal representative" for your estate. This person will manage the distribution of your belongings after you lot die. If y'all have children under 18, you can proper name the person you desire to be their legal guardian. If you don't have a will, those decisions volition be made for you according to state law.
Who tin make a will?
Anyone who is 18 or older with sufficient mental chapters may make their ain volition. "Sufficient mental capacity" means that the person making the will:
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Understands that making a will ways planning to distribute property after death
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Knows what property they have
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Knows who their shut relatives are (spouse and children)
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Generally understands the effect of signing a will
What if someone is pressuring me to make a will?
A will is not valid if it was made under duress (by force or threats) or the improper influence of another person. It'due south OK for someone to assist yous with preparing your volition. It's not OK for anyone to tell you what you must put in your volition or how to distribute your property.
When you execute your will, your witnesses must confirm that you have fabricated the volition of your free choice. If any interested parties suspect afterward your death that the volition was fabricated under conditions of duress, fraud, or improper influence, they tin can challenge the validity of the will. Your witnesses will be asked to prove in courtroom.
If you feel threatened, coerced, or pressured into preparing a volition against your free choice, yous may want to contact a lawyer for assistance. If you lot are over 60 years one-time, your local legal aid office may exist able to assist you. Use the Guide to Legal Help to detect the office nearest y'all.
If you are beingness abused, neglected, or you lot call up someone is taking reward of you, phone call Adult Protective Services at 855-444-3911. If you lot think the person who is abusing, neglecting, or taking advantage of you has committed a crime, call the police.
Do I need a lawyer to brand my volition?
Not necessarily. Wills can take many forms, and there are several requirements a volition has to meet to be considered valid after your death. Estate planning (preparing to transfer your property after your expiry) can exist complicated, and you may want to talk to a lawyer to ensure that your wishes are carried out.
If yous intend to leave most of your property to your nearest family and your situation is non complicated, you can set a unproblematic and effective will on your own using the Michigan statutory will. Y'all can use our Do-It-Yourself Will tool to prepare your will. If yous have a more complicated state of affairs or you determine a statutory will won't encounter your needs, y'all may desire to have a lawyer help you lot draft a volition. If you lot take a depression income and are over 60 years old or have depression income and facing a life-threatening emergency, your local legal aid office may be able to help you. Utilise the Guide to Legal Help to observe the office nearest y'all.
Do I need to brand a new will if someone listed in my current volition predeceases me (dies before me)?
It'southward always a proficient thought to have electric current data in your will. This helps avoid confusion and delays during the probate process. If someone listed in your current will predeceases you, you lot may desire to make a new will to ensure your property is distributed co-ordinate to your wishes.
What is a personal representative?
The personal representative is the person who makes sure the holding of the estate is distributed according to your wishes. They too pay any final bills you have when you die, commonly by using or selling property from the manor.
The personal representative should exist someone who is organized and careful enough to complete paperwork and keep the records that the courtroom will need. Information technology should be someone you know to be responsible about making sure that things are washed on time. Ideally, the personal representative is also someone who can settle disputes and handle things every bit you would desire. You can cull a trusted friend, a family fellow member or, if the size of your estate justifies the expense, a bank.
Enquire the person or establishment whether they are willing and/or able to serve. If yous are thinking nearly using a bank, you should inquire for an estimate of the bank'due south fees and for an honest opinion of whether or non the size of your manor justifies that added expense.
The personal representative does not have to be a Michigan resident, but information technology is much less complicated if they are.
You lot should besides name a second choice for personal representative, in case your offset choice isn't able to do it.
What if the person I named as my personal representative in my will predeceases me (dies before me)?
The statutory volition allows you lot to proper name 2 people equally your personal representative. This is in instance the first person is unable or unwilling to do it.
Who tin witness my will?
The witnesses must be adults. It is helpful if they are people you know who could be located to bear witness well-nigh the will if necessary. A person who volition inherit from your estate later on you lot dice tin can even so serve as a witness.
You do not have to tell the witnesses nearly the contents of the will. They simply have to exist told that the document you are signing is your will and that you are asking them to witness your signature.
Does my will have to be notarized?
No. A volition does not need to be notarized. Even so, in that location must exist at least two witnesses.
Can I avoid probate past making a volition?
Whether or not your heirs will demand to use probate courtroom procedures depends on the types of property yous take to pass on. If you have avails that need to get through probate, your will tin give you more control over what happens in that process. The person you engage as "personal representative" may notwithstanding demand to go to the probate courtroom for authorisation to distribute some kinds of property.
To larn more than about heirs, read An Overview of Small Estate Processes. To acquire more about probate processes, read An Overview of Formal Probate.
Can I still give abroad or sell property later on I put it in my will?
Yeah. Your volition has no effect until you die, and people you proper name in your will have no rights to the belongings until your volition is probated. That is why you can make a new will or change the onetime one at whatsoever time. If you sell or requite the holding to someone else before you dice, that office of your will is but ignored.
If y'all do sell property or brand major gifts during your lifetime, consider updating your volition. That way you tin can make certain that it all still balances out the way yous would desire.
Questions well-nigh Statutory Wills
What is a statutory volition?
The statutory will is a form created by Michigan law. When the course is properly filled out and executed (signed by you and 2 witnesses), it becomes a valid volition. The form has a fill-in-the-blanks format. This limits how you can distribute your property. However, using the statutory will has some advantages. You can fix and execute it without help from a lawyer. If y'all draft a will from scratch, you might brand mistakes that could make the will invalid.
Y'all can use our Do-It-Yourself Will tool to prepare a Michigan statutory will.
Does the statutory will piece of work for everyone?
No. Only Michigan residents tin can use the statutory will. As well, if you take a lot of valuable property or if your estate or family situation is complicated, you may want to have a lawyer assistance you make a will. Those complications may include:
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Children from previous relationships
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Children with special needs
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Wanting your property to go to nonrelatives instead of your relatives
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Not wanting your children to inherit equally
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Owning a business
If you fit whatever of these categories, you can still use the statutory will, only it may non meet all your needs.
You can utilise our Practice-It-Yourself Will tool to prepare a Michigan statutory volition.
Can my spouse and I make a joint statutory volition together?
No. Yous can't make a articulation statutory will. You should each complete your own.
What can I do using the statutory will?
You can:
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Name a personal representative to manage the distribution of your property during the probate process
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Proper name a guardian and conservator for your minor children, if any
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Make gifts of cash to one or 2 people or charities
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Distribute your personal and household items to whatever number of people you choose
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Distribute the rest of your property to your spouse, if yous have one, or else to all your children as
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If you don't have a living spouse, child, or grandchild when you dice, your holding will get to your heirs at law. To learn more about heirs, read An Overview of Pocket-sized Estate Processes.
In a statutory will, you can't:
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Make gifts of cash to more than two people or charities
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Leave the rest of your property (subsequently cash gifts and personal items) to a nonrelative
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Alter the way the rest of your belongings (after greenbacks gifts and personal items) gets distributed to your family
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Transfer title to any assets you own jointly with another person
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Alter any retirement program benefits
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Alter a beneficiary you named in a life insurance programme
Yous can use our Practice-It-Yourself Volition tool to fix a Michigan statutory will.
Which of my children volition inherit under a statutory volition?
All of your children volition inherit equally nether the statutory will. Your children include those born outside of marriage or adopted by you lot.
Why practice I need to list the names of my children?
One reason is convenience to the court in the time to come. Besides, if there is a question of your mental land (capacity) when you signed the will, this helps to show the gauge that you could identify your close relatives.
How can I distribute my personal and household property using a statutory will?
The statutory will allows you to get out a separate listing of personal and household property, and the people you desire to receive these items. This list is optional. If you use the Do-It-Yourself Will tool, you will be asked to name these items and recipients, and the list will impress with your will and other documents.
You should be as clear as possible in describing both the item and the person who should receive information technology. For case, say "my diamond solitaire and aureate engagement band" instead of "my rings." And give the name of the person, non but "my adjacent-door neighbor" or "my nephew."
This does non demand to be a consummate inventory of your possessions. Another department of the volition says that the residue of your estate should be distributed to your heirs. The "remainder of your estate" means everything else you own that wasn't included either in the list of personal items or in the optional cash gifts.
You can update or change this list at any time. If you sell or give things away, you should accept them off the list to avoid defoliation in the futurity. Remember, people named on this list have no rights to your property until your will is probated subsequently your death.
What is jointly owned property?
Jointly owned property is property owned by more than 1 person. It is generally not included in an estate. An example of jointly endemic personal belongings is a auto whose title lists two owners or a joint bank business relationship. If you owned holding jointly with the decedent, when they died you automatically became the sole owner of that property, so it is not part of the manor. Y'all may want to take a copy of the decedent's death certificate to the bank or Secretarial assistant of State to remove the decedent'southward proper name from the account or car title.
However, sometimes joint ownership is more complex. If yous own real belongings with the decedent, or if yous own any type of property with the decedent and someone else, buying can exist hard to sympathise later a decease. Read the commodity Jointly Owned Property to larn more about this, or use the Guide to Legal Help to await for lawyers and legal services in your area.
What kinds of property do not require probate?
Some kinds of property are not part of the manor, and are not distributed through the probate courtroom. The estate does not usually include:
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Jointly owned property
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Insurance policies
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Retirement accounts, or
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Trusts that are not established past a will
If your car is worth less than $sixty,000 and in that location is nothing else in your estate that would require probate, the auto can be transferred to a spouse or next of kin through the Secretarial assistant of State's office without filing in probate.
What will happen to my assets if I don't list them in my statutory will?
The statutory volition form requires you to say who gets the "residue" of your estate. That is everything that is left once the specific gifts take been paid.
The statutory will allows you lot to distribute your property to certain family members according to a set structure. Your surviving spouse (if whatever) will inherit the residue of your manor. If you are not married when you lot dice, the rest will go to your "heirs at law" in equal shares. Your nearest "heirs at constabulary" are your children or, if they have died before you, their children. To learn more well-nigh heirs, read An Overview of Small Estates Processes.
If you lot are married now, y'all can choose to leave all your property to your heirs or to share it with your spouse's heirs. If no spouse, kid, or descendent of a kid survives y'all, you have ii choices:
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Your parents or your siblings (or their children), will inherit 100% of the residue of your estate (this is also what would happen to your property if y'all died without a will)
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Your heirs (parents or siblings or their children) will inherit l% of the residue, and your spouse's heirs volition inherit l% of the balance. (You may want to consider this option if your spouse had children from a previous relationship who would otherwise not inherit from y'all.)
If yous are non married now and no spouse, child, or grandchild survives you, your heirs will inherit 100% of the rest of your estate.
How do I finalize my statutory will?
Your will is valid as soon equally it is properly signed and witnessed. You can utilise our Do-Information technology-Yourself Volition tool to prepare your will. When you're done, your personalized will can be printed, ready to be signed and witnessed.
You must sign the volition yourself or direct someone else to do information technology in your presence if you are not able to sign it. The volition must then exist signed by at to the lowest degree two (but preferably three) other people age 18 or older. These are your witnesses. The witnesses have to sign within a short time afterwards they watch you sign the will or after yous verify to them that your signature is on the will.
The will does non have whatsoever effect on your property until y'all dice.
What is "bond," and do I need it?
The statutory will requires you to cull whether your personal representative and conservator will serve with or without bond. Bond is insurance used to protect the heirs in case the personal representative or conservator misuses or steals assets from the estate. Both the amount and price of the bond depend on the value of the assets. The bond fee is normally paid by the estate before the final distribution of belongings to the heirs.
The court will require the personal representative to buy a bond from an insurance company unless yous select "without bond."
When deciding whether or not your personal representative should be immune to serve without bail, you should consider how much you trust that person. If you have whatever doubts about the risk of misuse, information technology may be worth requiring a bond for your peace of listen. The choice is upward to you.
Will my Michigan statutory will exist valid if I move to another state?
Probably. Most states have laws recognizing the validity of wills that were properly executed in other states. However, information technology's a good idea to have a lawyer in your new country review your volition to make sure information technology will be valid in that location.
Questions most Later on You Execute Your Volition
Where tin can I continue my will when it'southward finished?
You lot can keep your volition in a locked box in your home with your other important papers, such as deeds, car titles, or insurance policies.
For a $25 fee, you may deposit your will with your county's probate court for safekeeping. The probate court clerk tin release the volition only to you lot during your lifetime. If yous need to make changes, the probate courtroom will charge the fee again when yous re-deposit your new volition. When the courtroom receives proof of your death, it volition publicly open and file your will.
You tin also store your volition in a bank prophylactic-eolith box. Before you do then, check with the bank about their policies on unlocking boxes when the possessor dies. Some banks will require a court gild and inventory before letting anyone take access to the box. This could crusade delays for your family and personal representative.
Wherever you decide to shop information technology, you should tell your family unit where the will is kept. You may want to requite a copy to the person you named in the will as your personal representative.
What if I have a child after I sign my will?
Generally, if yous have or adopt a kid after making your will and yous do not rewrite the will, the kid volition still receive a share of your estate. You tin avoid confusion by making and signing a new will that names your new child.
What if I get married after I sign my will?
If y'all already had a volition earlier yous got married, you should make and sign a new will that names your new spouse. Even if you don't, Michigan constabulary protects the inheritance rights of surviving spouses. Generally, if yous are still married when you die, and your volition was executed earlier the marriage, your spouse volition inherit from your estate as if you had died without a will.
To acquire more than nearly who inherits if you die without a will, read the "Who Will Inherit?" department in the commodity An Overview of Small-scale Estate Processes.
What if I get divorced after I sign my volition?
If you lot get divorced afterwards you lot write your last volition, your ex-spouse is not considered a surviving spouse who tin can inherit from you. Even so, information technology's nevertheless a practiced idea to make and sign a new will to reflect your changed family construction following a divorce.
What if I want to change my will?
You lot can alter your will at any time before your death, every bit long as you are legally competent.
Adding or crossing out any words on the statutory will course may brand it invalid. If yous want to brand changes to the form part of the will, you should revoke the current will and start fresh. Using the statutory will again will revoke any earlier wills. But y'all should destroy the original and any copies of a volition you want to revoke to avoid confusion.
The statutory volition allows you lot to add together a separate list of your personal and household items and who should get them after your expiry. You can make changes to this list or replace it at any time. Changing this list will have no effect on the rest of the volition.
How can I revoke (cancel) my volition?
If yous accept a volition, you lot tin can revoke or invalidate information technology at any fourth dimension. The easiest way to do this is by physically destroying information technology, such as burning or vehement, or by drawing a big "X" on the whole will or part of it.
You tin likewise revoke an earlier volition by executing a new will. The statutory will form does this expressly in its showtime line. This means that any will with an before appointment becomes invalid when you lot execute the new statutory will. Just the concluding will you executed is valid at your death.
It can exist complicated if someone dies and leaves behind more than one will, peculiarly if the wills say unlike things. When that happens, a gauge is sometimes asked to decide what the person meant to do in writing a after will. Did that person mean to replace the earlier volition, or just add together to it? For this reason, you should destroy the original and any copies of a volition you want to revoke.
Source: https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/wills-life-planning/common-questions-about-wills
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