The Michigan statutory will PDF is a free, fill-in-the-blank form written directly into state law at MCL 700.2519, and you can download it from the Michigan Legislature’s website or pick up an identical copy at your county probate court.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 700.2519 – Statutory Will Filled in correctly and signed in front of two witnesses, it produces a legally valid Michigan will with no attorney involved. It also has hard limits built into it, and knowing those before you start writing saves you from discovering them after a witness has already signed.
Where to Download the PDF
The Michigan Legislature hosts the form as a PDF that mirrors the exact language required by MCL 700.2519.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 700.2519 – Statutory Will State law requires anyone who reprints or distributes it to reproduce the language word for word, so copies from county probate courts, legal aid organizations, and libraries are equally valid. If you find the form somewhere else, compare its text against the statute to confirm nothing was altered or outdated.
Read the instructions printed on the form completely before writing anything. It warns in bold language that adding words or crossing out printed language, beyond filling in the blanks, could invalidate all or part of the will.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2519 – Statutory Will
Michigan does not currently recognize electronic wills. Print the PDF, fill it out by hand or typewriter, and sign in wet ink. Do not sign digitally.
What to Gather Before You Fill It In
You will need the full legal names and current addresses of everyone you plan to name, along with exact dollar amounts for any cash gifts.
The form asks you to name a personal representative, the person who pays your debts, files estate tax returns, and distributes property after your death. You can name a primary and a backup.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2519 – Statutory Will The backup is optional but worth naming. If your first choice has moved, become incapacitated, or died by the time you pass, a named alternate spares the probate court from appointing someone you never chose.
If you have minor children, the form asks separately for a guardian, who handles day-to-day physical care, and a conservator, who manages the child’s inherited money.4Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2519 – Statutory Will
For beneficiaries, the form separates personal and household items from the remainder of the estate, and allows up to two specific cash gifts. Have the names and amounts settled before you begin.
How the Distribution Choices Actually Work
This is the section people misread most often. The Michigan statutory will does not use checkboxes. You choose a distribution option by signing your name on the line printed directly below it.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2519 – Statutory Will Sign one line only. If you sign both, sign neither, or are not married when you sign, the form applies a default fallback clause.
Where a clause says property passes “as if I did not have a will,” it follows Michigan’s intestacy rules, which route assets to family members in a fixed order.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2103 – Share of Heirs Other Than Surviving Spouse That matters for one reason: the distribution clauses can only send property to relatives. If you want to leave anything to a friend, a partner you aren’t married to, or a charity, you have to do it through the cash gift section, and if that isn’t enough, the statutory will is not the right form.
The Two Cash Gift Limit
The statutory will lets you make two cash gifts. That’s the ceiling.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2519 – Statutory Will Each requires the recipient’s full name and the dollar amount written in both figures and words, the way you fill out a check. The recipient can be a person or a charity. Transfer tax, if any, comes out of the remainder of the estate, not out of the cash gifts.
If you want to leave specific dollar amounts to three or more people or organizations, this form cannot do it, and you need a custom-drafted will. The section is optional; leaving it blank has no effect on the rest of the document.
Signing and Witnessing
A filled-in form is not a will until it is signed correctly. Michigan law requires you to sign the will (or direct someone to sign your name in your presence), and at least two witnesses must sign after watching you sign or hearing you acknowledge your signature.6Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2502 – Execution; Witnessed Wills; Holographic Wills Each witness must sign within a reasonable time after that.
Michigan does not require your witnesses to be “disinterested.” Under MCL 700.2505, a witness who inherits under the will does not invalidate the will or the gift.7Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.2505 Even so, using two adults who receive nothing under the will is the safer practice. An interested witness invites challenges based on undue influence, and defending against one costs the estate whether the will survives or not.
Making It Self-Proving
A self-proving affidavit is a separate statement, signed by you and both witnesses, that confirms the will was executed properly. It is optional. Without it, the probate court may need to track down your witnesses after your death to verify the signatures, and a witness who has died, moved, or vanished can turn that into a real problem.
MCL 700.2504 provides two ways to make a will self-proving. The traditional method uses sworn statements before a notary or other officer authorized to administer oaths. The alternative uses unsworn statements signed under penalty of perjury, with no notary required. Either version carries the same weight as live witness testimony, so the court can accept the will without calling anyone in.8Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2504 – Self-Proved Will
The statutory will form does not contain a self-proving affidavit, so if you want one you attach it separately. Notarization is cheap compared to a contested probate, and this is one of the more worthwhile additions at signing time.
Assets the Will Does Not Control
Filling out this form does not sort out your entire financial life. Some assets pass directly to named beneficiaries outside probate, no matter what your will says. The common examples are life insurance policies, 401(k) accounts, and IRAs. They transfer according to the beneficiary designations on file with the account holder or insurance company.
If your statutory will leaves everything to your sister but your ex-spouse is still listed as the beneficiary on your life insurance, the insurance company pays your ex-spouse. After you sign the will, review every account with a beneficiary designation and make sure it matches your current intentions. Bank accounts with payable-on-death designations, and real property held in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, also bypass the will.
When the Statutory Will Isn’t the Right Tool
The form is built for simple estates and straightforward wishes. It works well if you want to leave everything to a spouse, or split it among your children with a small cash gift or two. It breaks down in several familiar situations.
- You want more than two specific gifts. The form cannot hold a third.
- You want a trust for minor children. You can name a conservator, but the form cannot create a testamentary trust that releases funds in stages as a child reaches certain ages.
- You own a business. A business passed through a will goes through probate, which can stall operations for months.
- You have a blended family. The distribution clauses may not divide assets among children from a prior relationship and a current spouse the way you want.
- You want conditional gifts. The form has no space for “only if she graduates college” or “to be used for medical expenses.” Every gift here is unconditional.
In those situations, the alternative is a custom-drafted will or a revocable living trust. Custom drafting costs money, but it costs less than litigation over a form that didn’t say what you actually meant.
Storing and Revoking the Will
Store the signed original somewhere secure and accessible, and make sure your personal representative knows where it is. A fireproof home safe works. You can also file the will with your county probate court for safekeeping for a $25 fee.9Michigan Courts. Probate Court Fee Tables The form itself tells you to let your family know where to find it.1Michigan Legislature. MCL 700.2519 – Statutory Will A will nobody can find is functionally no will at all.
You have two ways to revoke it. Execute a new will that expressly revokes the prior one; the statutory will already contains that language (“This is my will and I revoke any prior wills and codicils”). Or physically destroy the original by burning, tearing, or otherwise obliterating it with the intent to revoke.10Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2507 – Revocation by Writing or by Act Crossing out lines or writing new terms on the signed document will not work, and the form’s own warning about altering printed text still applies.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2519 – Statutory Will If your circumstances change, complete and sign a fresh statutory will, or move to a custom-drafted document.