No. A revocable living trust is not filed with any Michigan court, and it is not registered with the Secretary of State, the county, or any other agency. There is no trust registry to appear in. Nothing about the trust becomes public when you sign it, when you move your house or your accounts into it, or when you die.
That is the short answer, and for most people it is the whole answer. But Michigan does have a trust registration statute on the books, which is where the question usually comes from, so it is worth knowing what it is, why almost nobody uses it, and what actually does put a trust in front of a judge.
Michigan Trusts Run Without the Court by Statute
A will has to go to the probate court, a trust does not, and the Michigan Trust Code says so in terms. A trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it. MCL 700.7201(2).
The same subsection goes further and lists what happens without a judge: the management and distribution of the trust estate, the submission of an account or report to beneficiaries, the payment of the trustee’s fees and other trust obligations, the acceptance and change of trusteeship, and any other aspect of trust administration all proceed “free of judicial intervention, and without court order or approval or other court action.” The court rule for probate judges says the same thing from the bench’s side. MCR 5.501(B).
This is the practical difference people are buying when they choose a trust. A probate estate is a court case with a file number, and the file is a public record. A trust administration is not a case at all until someone makes it one.
There Is an Optional Registration and It Does Not Put the Document on File
Here is the provision that causes the confusion. A trustee of a trust administered in Michigan may register the trust with the court where the trust says to register, or where the trust is principally administered. MCL 700.7209(1). May, not must. There is no penalty for never registering and no deadline to miss.
Even if a trustee does register, the trust document stays private. Registration is a one-page statement giving the trustee’s name and address, acknowledging the trusteeship, saying whether the trust is registered somewhere else, and identifying the trust by the names of the settlors and the original trustee and the dates of the instrument and its amendments. MCL 700.7210(1)(b). And then the statute says it outright, “The trust instrument is not required to be filed with the court as part of the registration of a trust.” MCL 700.7210(2). Who your beneficiaries are and what they receive is not in the registration, because the terms are not in the registration.
Registration is optional and it does not put your trust terms in a public file. What it does do is hand a Michigan court personal jurisdiction over the trustee and fix the venue for any future fight.
That is the reason to think twice. By registering, the trustee submits personally to the jurisdiction of Michigan courts in any matter involving the trust, MCL 700.7202(1), and venue for a later proceeding sits in the place of registration, MCL 700.7204(1)(a).
Registration buys a settled venue and, for an oral trust, evidence that the trust exists. For an ordinary written family trust it buys very little, and a trustee who registers and regrets it has to petition to release the registration. MCL 700.7201(3)(g).
One exception is worth knowing, because it is a duty rather than a choice. If the trust document itself requires the trustee to register, and the settlor or a beneficiary makes a written demand, a trustee who does not register within 28 days is subject to removal, to denial of compensation, or to surcharge. MCL 700.7202(2). Read your own instrument before you decide registration is irrelevant to you.
What Actually Puts a Trust in Front of a Judge
Three things do, and none of them is the trust itself.
- Your will. A trust-based plan still includes a pour-over will, and a will is not private after death. Whoever has custody of a will must forward it to the probate court with reasonable promptness after the testator dies, personally or by registered mail, and neglecting that duty without reasonable cause creates liability for the damages it causes. MCL 700.2516. A will deposited with the court during life is publicly opened after death. MCL 700.2515(2). This is why a funded trust matters. The pour-over will is a safety net that should catch nothing, and a will that disposes of nothing tells a reader nothing.
- A dispute. A petition to remove a trustee, settle an account, construe a term, or contest the trust is filed in the probate court, and the trust comes into that record with it. MCL 700.7201(3); MCL 700.7208. Registration is not a prerequisite. Anyone entitled to petition can do it whether or not the trust was ever registered. MCR 5.501(C).
- Real estate. A deed into or out of a trust is recorded with the register of deeds and is public. The deed is public; the trust behind it does not have to be, which is what the next section is about.
How the Terms Stay Private When a Bank or Title Company Asks
The bank, the title company, and the brokerage will all want proof that the trustee can act. Michigan lets the trustee prove it with a certificate of trust rather than the document itself: a sworn summary confirming the trust exists and has not been revoked, identifying the current trustee, and stating the powers being used for the transaction at hand. MCL 700.7913(1), (3). It does not have to disclose the dispositive terms, which is to say it does not tell anyone who inherits what. MCL 700.7913(4).
The recipient can ask for the excerpts that name the trustee and confer the power being used, MCL 700.7913(5), and that is the limit of what it can insist on. A person who demands the whole trust instrument anyway, without a legal requirement to demand it, is liable for the damages, costs, expenses and legal fees the court finds. MCL 700.7913(8). That last provision is worth quoting to an institution that will not take a certificate.
Frequently Asked Questions About Michigan Trust Filing and Privacy
No. There is no state trust registry and no filing requirement. Michigan has an optional court registration a trustee may use, MCL 700.7209(1), but a trust does not need to be registered in order to be valid, to hold your assets, or to be administered after you die.
No, not by itself. The document is private, and it stays private even if the trustee registers the trust, because the instrument is not filed as part of a registration. MCL 700.7210(2). It becomes visible only if someone brings a court proceeding involving it, or if an unfunded asset forces a probate that puts your pour-over will in the court file.
No. A certificate of trust gives an institution everything it is entitled to, and it does not have to include who gets what. MCL 700.7913(1), (4). An institution that demands the full instrument without a legal requirement to do so can be liable for the resulting fees and costs. MCL 700.7913(8).
Talk to a Michigan Estate Planning Attorney About Keeping Your Plan Private
Privacy is one of the real reasons to build a plan around a trust rather than a will, and it is the one clients underestimate until they read a neighbor’s probate file and find the inventory, the creditors, and the name of every person who took a share. A trust keeps that out of the record, but only if it is actually funded, because the asset you forget is the asset that opens the probate you were trying to avoid.
If you have a trust already, the questions worth answering are whether everything is titled where it belongs and whether anyone has asked you for a document a certificate of trust would have covered.
Our estate planning work is statewide for Michigan residents, and a review is a shorter conversation than most people expect. To schedule a consultation, call Boroja, Bernier & Associates at (586) 991-7611.
About the Author
Daniel Boroja, Esq. is a founding partner of Boroja, Bernier & Associates PLLC, where he leads the firm’s estate planning, probate and trust administration, and elder law practice. He has practiced Michigan estate and trust law since 2013 (Bar No. P77079).
