Michigan's recorded instrument, Affidavit stating facts relating to matters affecting realty, rests on the general recording statute for affidavits of facts affecting title to land. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: may be received in evidence in any civil cause and by any board or officer of the state in any suit or proceeding affecting the real estate, and is prima facie evidence of the facts and circumstances it containsMCL 565.453Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. It is evidence of the facts it states, not a deed; it does not itself transfer title, and a purchaser, lender or title company decides whether to rely on it.
Who may sign, in the statute's words: any person having knowledge of the facts and competent to testify concerning those facts in open courtMCL 565.451aVerified Sep 24, 2026View source. The statute names no witness requirementMCL 565.451a-565.453 (1915 PA 123)Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. Title companies commonly ask that the affiant be someone other than an heir, or that two people who know the family sign; the office relying on the affidavit sets what it will accept. It states: Facts relating to the matters listed in § 1a, which for heirship include the birth, age, sex, marital status, death, name, residence, identity, capacity, relationship, family history and heirship of parties named in deeds, wills, mortgages and other instruments affecting real property; A description of the land, title to which may be affected by the facts stated in the affidavit (or incorporation by reference to the record of an instrument in the chain of title carrying a full and adequate description)MCL 565.451a(a); MCL 565.451cVerified Sep 24, 2026View source.
In Michigan, estates with personal property of $53,000MCL 700.3983Verified Sep 8, 2026View source or less skip probate with the Affidavit of Decedent's SuccessorMCL 700.3983Verified Sep 8, 2026View source, 28 daysMCL 700.3983Verified Sep 8, 2026View source after death. Real property cannot pass through the affidavitMCL 700.3983Verified Sep 8, 2026View source; an estate that includes real estate uses a separate process. Michigan sets the limit by the decedent's date of deathMCL 700.3983Verified Sep 8, 2026View source; an earlier death may be measured against a lower figure. An estate over the limit does not qualify, and no affidavit is prepared for it.
28 daysMCL 700.3983Verified Sep 8, 2026View source after the death. The affidavit states that the period has passed, so it cannot be signed earlier.
The state's intestacy statute sets the order: the surviving spouse and children first, then parents, siblings, and more distant relatives, with shares that differ by state. The Who Inherits Calculator applies your state's order and shows each person's share.