If you die without a Will, you are said to have died “Intestate.” A probate estate must be established for decedents dying intestate to determine:

1. who is to act as the decedent’s Personal Representative; and,
2. who is the rightful owner of assets held in the decedent’s name at the time of death.

Assets which are jointly held or that have a beneficiary designation pass by operation of law to the co-owner or the named beneficiary, and are thus not part of the probate estate. Consequently, such assets are not part of the distribution scheme described below.

The current Michigan statute governing the administration of probate estates, including the distribution of assets in the absence of a Will, is called the Revised Probate Code (“RPC”).

The Michigan legislature recently enacted a new statute governing the administration of probate estates called the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (“EPIC”), which becomes effective on April 1, 2000. The RPC rules, and the EPIC changes made to the Michigan intestacy rules, are outlined below.

Under Michigan law, if you die without a valid Will, your property (other than jointly held property and property which names a beneficiary) passes as follows:

If you are survived by a spouse and children of that marriage:

A: RPC: $60,000 and 1/2 of the balance of your estate goes to your spouse; EPIC: $150,000 and 1/2 of the balance of your estate goes to your spouse;

B: RPC & EPIC: The rest of your estate is equally divided among your children;

C: RPC: The children of a deceased child take their parent’s share; EPIC: The children of a deceased child take their parent’s share, except that if more than one of your children predecease you with children of their own, all of your surviving grandchildren will take equal shares of your estate.

If you are survived by a spouse and children not of that marriage:

A: RPC: 1/2 of your estate goes to your spouse; EPIC: $100,000 and 1/2 of the balance of your estate goes to your spouse;

B: RPC & EPIC: The rest of your estate is equally divided among your children;

If you are survived by a spouse, but have no children:

A: RPC: $60,000 and 1/2 of the balance of your estate goes to your spouse; EPIC: $150,000 and 3/4 of the balance of your estate goes to your spouse;

B: RPC & EPIC: The rest of your estate passes to your parents (or the survivor).

If you are survived by a spouse, but no children or parents:

A: All of your property passes to your spouse.;

If you die with no surviving spouse, but with children (or their descendants):

A: RPC & EPIC: Your estate is divided equally among your children;

B: RPC: The children of a deceased child take their parent’s share; EPIC: The children of a deceased child take their parent’s share, except that if more than one of your children predecease you and both had children, all of your surviving grandchildren will take equal shares of your estate.

If you die with no surviving spouse and no children:

A: RPC & EPIC: Your entire estate passes to your parents (or the survivor);

B: RPC & EPIC: If neither parent survives you, your estate goes to your brothers and sisters in equal shares. C: RPC: The children of a deceased brother or sister take their parent’s share; EPIC: All beneficiaries in a given generation take equal shares of your estate.

If you die without a surviving spouse, children, parents, brothers, sisters, or children of brothers or sisters:

A: One-half of your estate passes to your paternal grandparents or their descendants) and one-half passes to your maternal grandparents (or their descendants), except that EPIC expands the pool of other beneficiaries to include children of predeceased nieces and nephews, if you have no surviving children, parents or siblings.

If you die without any relatives who survive you:

A: All of your estate passes to the State of Michigan.

Whether a decedent is ultimately subject to Michigan’s current RPC or the new EPIC, effective for decedents dying after April 1, 2000, it is obviously preferable to prepare a Will and Trust rather than to have the State of Michigan write your estate plan.