Personal Representative Deed Requirements in Michigan

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Default authority after appointment

Michigan does not make a will power of sale the ordinary gateway. Under Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 700.3701 and 700.3711, the statutory powers begin on appointment, and the representative has an absolute owner's power over title to estate property, held in trust for creditors and interested persons. Section 700.3711 expressly allows exercise without notice, hearing, or court order. Section 700.3704 similarly directs the ordinary representative to settle the estate without court adjudication, order, or direction, while preserving an optional court proceeding to resolve an administration question.

The authority remains fiduciary. Section 700.3703 requires use of the act, the will, and applicable orders in the best interests of allowed claimants and successors. An improper exercise can make the representative liable under § 700.3712, even when § 700.3714 separately protects a qualifying purchaser.

Which real property may be sold

Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.3101 says the decedent's property devolves at death to devisees or heirs, but remains subject to allowances, creditors, the surviving spouse's elective share, and administration. Under § 700.3709, the representative may take possession or control when necessary for administration and may recover possession or determine title.

Sections 700.3715(1)(f) and (y) then authorize acquisition or disposition of land in Michigan or another state, at public or private sale, for cash or credit, and a sale or mortgage for cash, credit, or both, with or without security. Those provisions do not impose a universal appraisal, minimum-price, deposit, advertising, report, or confirmation formula.

Restrictions and the public-administrator exception

The will or an order in a formal proceeding may restrict the § 700.3715 powers. A supervised representative still has the ordinary powers without an interim approval order unless the court restricts them. Under § 700.3504, a court-made restriction must be endorsed on the letters to be effective against a person dealing in good faith. If there are corepresentatives, § 700.3717 ordinarily requires all to concur unless the will or a statutory exception permits one to act.

The state or county public administrator follows a different sale route. Section 700.3715(2)(a) requires court approval after a hearing with notice to interested persons under the court rules. The court must consider evidence of value and specified county-treasurer information and find the sale in the estate's best interest.

Deed and land-record step

If the representative performs the decedent's enforceable land contract and the contract requires warranties, § 700.3715(1)(c) requires the deed to include them. They bind the estate as though the decedent made them, but do not bind the representative except in a fiduciary capacity.

For recording, Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 565.8 and 565.47 require acknowledgment. Section 565.201 requires statewide details that include the signer's printed name, the grantee's address, a single recordable-event statement on the first page, prescribed page formatting, and the drafter's name and business address. The surveyed EPIC and recording provisions impose no universal requirement to record letters or a probate order beside an ordinary domestic representative's deed.

What trips people up

A courtless sale is not a consequence-free sale. A substantial conflict between the representative's fiduciary and personal interests makes the transaction voidable under § 700.3713 unless the will or decedent's contract authorized it, the court approves it after notice, or another statutory exception applies.

The purchaser shield also has limits. Section 700.3714 protects a person who in good faith deals with the representative for value as if the power were properly exercised, and it ordinarily removes any duty to investigate the power or trace the proceeds. But actual knowledge of a will or court-order limit matters, restrictions endorsed on supervised letters remain effective, and the statute does not discharge a transfer-tax lien.

Common questions

Does the will have to give the executor a power of sale?

No. Michigan supplies the ordinary sale power by statute after appointment. The will remains important because it can restrict that power.

Must heirs consent before an ordinary estate sale?

The cited ordinary-sale statutes do not create a universal heir-consent step. Notice and a hearing become mandatory for the state-or-county-public- administrator route, and a conflicted transaction may need court approval after notice to avoid being voidable.

Does a supervised estate always need a sale order?

No. Section 700.3504 gives a supervised representative the ordinary powers without interim approval unless the court restricts them. Its express prior- order requirement concerns distributions, not every sale to a purchaser.

Why record the deed if the purchaser already closed?

Mich. Comp. Laws § 565.29 makes an unrecorded conveyance vulnerable to a later good-faith purchaser for value whose conveyance is recorded first.

Statutes and sources

• Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 700.3101, 700.3504, 700.3701, 700.3703 to 700.3704, 700.3709, and 700.3711 to 700.3717 — current official EPIC text: Michigan Legislature (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 565.8, 565.47, and 565.201 — current official deed acknowledgment and recording requirements: Michigan Legislature (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Mich. Comp. Laws § 565.29 — current official recording-priority text: Michigan Legislature (accessed 2026-08-12).