Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Michigan: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise Michigan number is estimating. What is genuinely Michigan-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: Michigan is one of the few states we can verify that publishes a complete statutory will form in its own code — a free, official starting point most states do not give you.
Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Michigan promissory note.
How to make a will in Michigan: what the statute says
Each line is a passage quoted from the Michigan statute itself; the section has the exceptions.
- Signing and witnesses. MCL 700.2502(1)(c): “Signed by at least 2 individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after he or she witnessed either the signing of the will as described in subdivision (b) or the testator’s acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will.”
- Interested witnesses. MCL 700.2505(2): “The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it.”
- Handwritten (holographic) will. MCL 700.2502(2): “A will that does not comply with subsection (1) is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if it is dated, and if the testator’s signature and the document’s material portions are in the testator’s handwriting.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: Michigan Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on Michigan pricing
We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Michigan and present the result as a Michigan figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Michigan law actually requires
This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:
- Witnesses: 2. MCL 700.2502(1)(c)
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it. MCL 700.2505
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. MCL 700.2502
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. MCL 700.2504(1)
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised, with conditions. The statute’s conditions are quoted in the statute section near the top of this page. MCL 700.2502(2)
- Electronic wills: not recognised. We could not verify this at the state’s own source, so treat it as unconfirmed.
The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.
Does Michigan give you a free form?
Yes. Michigan is one of the few states we can verify that publish a complete statutory will form in their own code: the others are California, Maine, New Mexico and Wisconsin. A statutory form is free and official, but it is deliberately rigid: it handles a simple estate and nothing more.
What skipping it costs in Michigan
Michigan sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.
Fee basis: EPIC: reasonable compensation for PR and attorneys (MCL 700.3719); no compensation percentage schedule. NOTE: Michigan does levy a value-scaled probate court ‘inventory fee’ on every estate (MCL 600.871) — see filing fees.
Small-estate threshold: $53,000 for a decedent who dies in 2026, and $51,000 for a 2025 death. The amount printed in MCL 700.3982 is a base: subsection (6) directs that it be adjusted as provided in MCL 700.1210, and the Department of Treasury certifies the figure for each calendar year. What governs is the year of the death, not the year of the claim (MCL 700.3982; Michigan Department of Treasury, Estates and Protected Individuals Code — Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Specific Dollar Amounts, signed January 30, 2026, Table B).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Michigan’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Michigan.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in Michigan
Where the estate is straightforward and none of the complications above apply, a properly executed DIY will does the job, and how it is signed matters far more than where the document came from. LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament, which you then sign and witness under the Michigan rules above.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.
Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.
Related: whether Michigan requires the executor to post a bond.
The court’s own filing fee to open probate is a separate cost from what’s on this page, see the Michigan probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Michigan.