2.5Probate Court Subject-Matter Jurisdiction
The probate court has the jurisdiction, powers, and duties as provided by law. Const 1963, art 6, § 15. See also Manning v Amerman, 229 Mich App 608, 611 (1998) (“[t]he probate court . . . is a court of limited jurisdiction, deriving all of its power from statutes”). There must be a probate court in each county organized for judicial purposes. Const 1963, art 6, § 15.
Probate courts have jurisdiction as conferred by:
•the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC);
•the Mental Health Code;
•the Revised Judicature Act; and
•any other law or compact. MCL 600.841(1).
The probate court “has exclusive legal and equitable jurisdiction of all of the following:
(a) A matter that relates to the settlement of a deceased individual’s estate, whether testate or intestate, who was at the time of death domiciled in the county or was at the time of death domiciled out of state leaving an estate within the county to be administered, including, but not limited to, all of the following proceedings:
(i) The internal affairs of the estate.
(ii) Estate administration, settlement, and distribution.
(iii) Declaration of rights that involve an estate, devisee, heir, or fiduciary.
(iv) Construction of a will.
(v) Determination of heirs.
(vi) Determination of death of an accident or disaster victim under [MCL 700.1208].
(b) A proceeding that concerns the validity, internal affairs, or settlement of a trust; the administration, distribution, modification, reformation, or termination of a trust; or the declaration of rights that involve a trust, trustee, or trust beneficiary, including, but not limited to, proceedings to do all of the following:
(i) Appoint or remove a trustee.
(ii) Review the fees of a trustee.
(iii) Require, hear, and settle interim or final accounts.
(iv) Ascertain beneficiaries.
(v) Determine a question that arises in the administration or distribution of a trust, including a question of construction of a will or trust.
(vi) Instruct a trustee and determine relative to a trustee the existence or nonexistence of an immunity, power, privilege, duty, or right.
(vii) Release registration of a trust.
(viii) Determine an action or proceeding that involves settlement of an irrevocable trust.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in . . . MCL 600.1021, a proceeding that concerns a guardianship, conservatorship, or protective proceeding.
(d) A proceeding to require, hear, or settle the accounts of a fiduciary and to order, upon request of an interested person, instructions or directions to a fiduciary that concern an estate within the court’s jurisdiction.” MCL 700.1302.
“[B]y having set forth and retaining specific statutory authorization for the circuit court to hear and decide matters concerning rights to real property [(MCL 600.2932(1); MCL 600.3301)], the Legislature provided that its grant of exclusive jurisdiction to the probate court over the administration and distribution of trusts [does] not extend to . . . real property claims.” Schaaf v Forbes (On Remand), 338 Mich App 1, 13 (2021). “The Legislature declined to grant the probate court exclusive jurisdiction over every cause of action that might incidentally touch on such issues as a settlor’s intentions but, instead, confined that grant of exclusive jurisdiction to a proceeding that concerns the distribution of a trust; or the declaration of rights that involve a trust, trustee, or trust beneficiary.” Id. at 14 (cleaned up). “The statutory reference to ‘a proceeding’ that ‘concerns’ trust matters suggests that the exclusive jurisdiction of the probate court under MCL 700.1302(b)(vi) covers not every issue that might arise from involvement of a trust, but rather to whole causes of action fundamentally arising from issues concerning the distribution of trusts or the rights and duties of affected persons.” Schaaf, 338 Mich App at 14.
Although a petition filed under the EPIC for the removal of a trustee involved “claims relating to two family businesses,” the trust action was not “within the mandatory jurisdiction of the business court under MCL 600.8035.”1 In re Brody Living Trust, 321 Mich App 304, 309 (2017), vacated in part on other grounds, 501 Mich 1094, 1094 (2018).2. “[T]he probate court had exclusive jurisdiction over [the petitioner’s] claims under MCL 700.1302 and MCL 700.1303” because the “petition was brought under the EPIC[.]” Brody I, 321 Mich App at 314.
Committee Tip:
If a matter is brought in circuit court where exclusive jurisdiction rests in the probate court, it may be possible to appoint the circuit judge as an acting probate judge, or the matter may be removed to probate court. See MCL 600.1021 for the transfer of jurisdiction to the family division of the circuit court, effective January 1, 1998.
“In addition to the jurisdiction conferred by [MCL 700.1302] and other laws, the court has concurrent legal and equitable jurisdiction to do all of the following in regard to an estate of a decedent, protected individual, ward, or trust:
(a) Determine a property right or interest.
(b) Authorize partition of property.
(c) Authorize or compel specific performance of a contract in a joint or mutual will or of a contract to leave property by will.
(d) Ascertain if individuals have survived as provided in this act.
(e) Determine cy pres or a gift, grant, bequest, or devise in trust or otherwise as provided in . . . MCL 554.351 to [MCL] 554.353.
(f) Hear and decide an action or proceeding against a distributee of a fiduciary of the estate to enforce liability that arises because the estate was liable upon some claim or demand before distribution of the estate.
(g) Impose a constructive trust.
(h) Hear and decide a claim by or against a fiduciary or trustee for the return of property.
(i) Hear and decide a contract proceeding or action by or against an estate, trust, or ward.
(j) Require, hear, or settle an accounting of an agent under a power of attorney.” MCL 700.1303(1).
Some probate courts are under concurrent jurisdiction plans pursuant to MCL 600.401.3 MCL 600.841(2). However, there are limitations on a probate court’s jurisdiction under a concurrent jurisdiction plan:
“(a) The circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from the district court and from administrative agencies as authorized by law.
(b) The circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction and power to issue, hear, and determine prerogative and remedial writs consistent with section 13 of article VI of the state constitution of 1963.” MCL 600.841(2).
MCL 600.845 states that a circuit court with concurrent jurisdiction is not deprived of that jurisdiction when jurisdiction is granted to the probate court by MCL 600.801 et seq. Where concurrent jurisdiction exists between the probate court and another court, an action or proceeding may be removed from the other court to the probate court, “upon motion of a party and after a finding and order on the jurisdictional issue.” MCL 600.846. See also MCL 700.1303(2).
An order for transfer of jurisdiction must be entered on a SCAO-approved form. MCR 2.226(A). If the order “is not prepared as required under [MCR 2.226(A)], and the order lacks the information necessary for the receiving court to determine under which rule the transfer was ordered, the clerk of the receiving court shall refuse to accept the transfer and shall prepare a notice of refusal on a form approved by the [SCAO] and return the case to the transferring court for a proper order within seven business days of receipt of the transfer order.” MCR 2.226(B). Upon receipt of a refusal to accept a transfered case under MCR 2.226(B), the transferring court must “prepare a proper order in accordance with [MCR 2.226(A)] and retransfer the case within seven business days.” MCR 2.226(C).
Final judgments and orders issued by the probate court are generally appealable to the Court of Appeals as of right. MCL 600.308(1). See also Administrative Order No. 2016-4, 500 Mich cxlii (2016) (providing for expedited consideration of probate appeals pending in circuit court and requiring reporting of pending probate appeals in the circuit court in light of 2016 PA 186, which repealed MCL 600.863, which provided that probate appeals be made in the circuit court). Other judgments or interlocutory orders from the probate court as determined by the Michigan Court Rules are appealable to the Court of Appeals only by leave granted. MCL 600.308(2)(c).