A will contest is one of the most stressful legal proceedings a Metro Detroit family can face. Someone you loved has died. The document everyone counted on to settle the estate is suddenly under attack, and the inheritance is bleeding legal fees by the month.

In our experience, most will contests are not won or lost in the courtroom. They are won or lost years earlier, at the kitchen table where the will was signed.

What Is a Will Contest Under Michigan Law?

A will contest is litigation to determine whether a deceased person left a valid will. Under MCL 700.3401(1), an interested person, typically an heir, a beneficiary under the contested will or a prior will, or a nominated personal representative, opens a formal testacy proceeding asking the probate court to probate a will, to set aside a will that was already informally probated, or to declare that the decedent died without a valid will.

It is a direct attack on the validity of the document itself, and under MCL 700.1302(a) the probate court of the county where the decedent was domiciled decides it.

The Grounds for Contesting a Will in Michigan

Being unhappy with the inheritance is not a ground. The contestant has to identify a legal one and, under MCL 700.3404, state the objections in the pleadings.

Lack of testamentary capacity. MCL 700.2501(2) sets the test: the ability to understand that the document disposes of property after death, to know the nature and extent of that property, to know the natural objects of one’s bounty (the family a person would ordinarily provide for), and to understand in a reasonable manner the effect of signing. Capacity is measured at signing; a dementia diagnosis does not by itself invalidate a will.

Undue influence. The most commonly alleged ground and the hardest to prove: someone overcame the testator’s free will through coercion, manipulation, or pressure so that the will reflects the influencer’s wishes. Opportunity and motive alone are not enough. Michigan courts presume undue influence when the contestant shows a confidential or fiduciary relationship, a benefit to the influencer under the will, and the opportunity to exert influence; the presumption shifts the burden of producing evidence to the proponent, while the ultimate burden stays with the contestant.

Fraud. Misleading the testator about a fact that changes the will, or about the document itself. Forgery belongs here too.

Improper execution. Under MCL 700.2502(1), a will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and signed by at least two witnesses within a reasonable time after witnessing the signature or its acknowledgment. A dated holographic will in the testator’s own handwriting is valid without witnesses under MCL 700.2502(2), and under MCL 700.2503 a document that fails the formalities can still be treated as a will on clear and convincing evidence of intent. And a will is not invalid because a beneficiary served as a witness (MCL 700.2505(2)), though it invites an undue-influence argument.

Who Has the Burden of Proof?

This is where most online articles get the law wrong. Under MCL 700.3407(1), the proponent of the will must establish prima facie proof of due execution. The contestant must establish lack of testamentary intent or capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, or revocation, by a preponderance of the evidence. That heavier lift is one of the structural reasons most Metro Detroit will contests settle or fail.

A well-drafted, properly witnessed Michigan will starts the contest with a structural advantage. The contestant has to prove the case; the will does not have to defend itself.

Where Will Contests Are Heard in Metro Detroit

The Macomb County Probate Court sits in the Macomb County Circuit Court building at 40 N. Main Street, Mount Clemens. The Oakland County Probate Court is at 1200 N. Telegraph Road, Building 12 East, in Pontiac. The Wayne County Probate Court is in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center at 2 Woodward Avenue in Detroit and carries the largest probate caseload in Michigan. Oakland requires electronic filing through MiFILE; Macomb and Wayne do not yet. Each court has its own scheduling and motion practice, which is one reason local counsel matters in a contested case.

The arc is similar everywhere: petition or written objection, notice to every interested person under MCL 700.3403, discovery, usually mediation, and an evidentiary hearing if the case does not settle. Under MCL 700.3401(4), once a formal proceeding is commenced, a previously appointed personal representative must stop making distributions.

What a Will Contest Costs

Will contests are expensive. Probate attorney rates in Metro Detroit run $300 to $500 per hour, and a contested will, with depositions, medical-records subpoenas, expert capacity testimony, and an evidentiary hearing, will typically run at least $25,000, with some cases reaching six figures. The hardest cost never shows up on the legal bill: the family relationships that do not survive the litigation.

How to Prevent a Will Contest Before It Happens

Four decisions, applied together, dramatically reduce the risk.

Use a properly drafted, properly executed document. Drafted by a Michigan attorney, signed by the testator, witnessed by two competent witnesses who take nothing under the will, and made self-proving with the notarized affidavit MCL 700.2504 allows. A handwritten will signed at the kitchen table is an invitation to a contest.

Document capacity at signing. A physician’s letter dated near the signing, the drafting attorney’s notes, witnesses who can testify to your clarity. None is required by law; each makes a capacity challenge dramatically harder. A will executed weeks before death that drastically favors a recent caregiver is the textbook undue-influence fact pattern.

Use a funded revocable trust. A funded trust distributes at death without a formal testacy proceeding. Trust contests are still possible, and under MCL 700.1302(b) they land on the same probate docket, but MCL 700.7604(1) closes the window at the earlier of two years after the settlor’s death or six months after the trustee’s notice, and an uncontested administration stays private. The key word is funded; an unfunded trust provides none of this.

Communicate the plan. Many contests are driven less by money than by feeling blindsided. A short letter kept with the documents, explaining the reasoning, takes the wind out of an undue-influence claim before it forms. A no-contest clause can deter a challenge when the beneficiary is receiving something meaningful, but under MCL 700.2518 it is unenforceable if probable cause existed for the contest (MCL 700.7113 applies the same rule to trusts).

An estate plan is not a document. It is a system: execution, capacity documentation, funding, communication, and updates over time.

Frequently Asked Questions About Michigan Will Contests

Speak With a Michigan Probate Litigation Attorney

Most of the will contests we see could have been avoided by a stronger plan years earlier. If a contest is already underway, the sooner your position is measured against the statutory burdens above, the more options you keep.

Our will contest and probate dispute attorneys and probate team help families throughout Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties and across Southeast, Central, and Mid-Michigan. Because you deserve better than an estate plan that falls apart when your family needs it most. To schedule a consultation, call Boroja, Bernier & Associates at (586) 991-7611.

About the Author

Daniel Boroja, Esq., a partner at Boroja, Bernier & Associates PLLC, admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 2013 (Bar No. P77079). Daniel focuses his practice on estate planning, probate and trust administration, and elder law and Medicaid planning for Michigan families.