Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Michigan

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Who prepares the inventory and when

Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3706(1) gives the ordinary personal representative 91 days after appointment, or another time specified by court rule, to prepare the inventory. Two statutory exclusions matter: the duty does not apply to a special personal representative or to a successor when the prior representative already discharged it.

The inventory sections require preparation and distribution but do not state an oath, affirmation, notarization, or separate verification requirement.

Property, values, and encumbrances

The inventory covers property the decedent owned at death. Section 700.3706(1) requires more than a category total:

“listing it with reasonable detail, and indicating as to each listed item, its fair market value as of the date of the decedent's death, and the type and amount of an encumbrance.”

The statute therefore presents fair market value and the encumbrance information as separate required fields. It does not say to replace an item's gross fair market value with a net figure after subtracting the encumbrance.

Copies, court filing, and fee information

The distribution rule has two recipient groups. Every presumptive distributee gets a copy. Another interested person gets one only if that person requests it.

Court filing is different. Section 700.3706(2) says the representative “may also file the original” with the court, so filing is optional under the statute. But the representative must still submit timely information needed to calculate the probate inventory fee.

Optional appraisal

Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3707 permits, but does not require, a qualified and disinterested appraiser when a property's value is subject to reasonable doubt. Different specialists may value different kinds of property.

The statutory disclosure is the appraiser's name and address beside each item that person appraised. Section 700.3707 does not prescribe an appraiser oath, signature, certificate, license type, or attached appraisal report.

Supplementation and removal

Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3708 requires a supplementary inventory or appraisal when omitted property becomes known or an original value or description is erroneous or misleading. It must show the new item's date-of-death market value or the revised value or description and identify any appraiser or other data relied on.

The representative supplies the new information to people interested in it. If the original was court-filed, the supplement is filed too; otherwise the fee information goes to the court for recalculation.

The inventory provisions state no automatic inventory-specific penalty. Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3611 separately allows an interested person to seek removal for cause, including disregard of a court order, mismanagement, or failure to perform a duty of office.

What trips people up

Optional court filing does not make the inventory itself optional. The personal representative must prepare it, send the required copies, and submit the fee information even when the original stays out of the court file.

“Other interested persons” is a request-based copy class. Section 700.3706 does not require automatic delivery to every interested person; automatic delivery is for presumptive distributees.

A successor's exclusion depends on prior performance. A successor is excused only when another representative already discharged the inventory duty.

Common questions

Should an encumbrance be subtracted from fair market value?

Section 700.3706 requires both the item's fair market value as of death and the type and amount of its encumbrance. It does not direct the representative to substitute one net number for those separate disclosures.

Is an appraisal report always required?

No. Section 700.3707 makes outside appraisal optional for property with a value subject to reasonable doubt. If an appraiser is used, the statute requires the name and address to appear with the appraised items but does not require an attached report.

Who gets information about a supplementary inventory?

People interested in the new information receive copies or the information from the supplementary inventory. Court treatment then follows the original route: file the supplement if the original was filed, or submit what the court needs to recalculate the inventory fee.

Statutes and sources

• Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3706 — 91-day preparation clock, exclusions, contents, recipients, optional court filing, and mandatory fee information: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-700-3706.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3707 — optional qualified, disinterested appraisers and inventory identification. Official Michigan Legislature PDF: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-700-3707.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3708 — supplementary inventory or appraisal, recipients, filing, and fee recalculation: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-700-3708.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3611 — petition and grounds for removal. Official Michigan Legislature PDF: https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-700-3611.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).