This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for estate planning / probate in Michigan, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a estate planning / probate in Michigan costs on average $1,850, typically $950-$2,800 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $175 to $345 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 2-6 weeks to resolve. Common related costs include notarization fees ($10-$25) and trust registration fee ($50-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $300 | $650 | $1,100 | 1-2 weeks |
| Moderate | $950 | $1,850 | $2,800 | 2-6 weeks |
| Complex | $2,850 | $5,650 | $9,400 | 1-3 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$175 – $345/ hour
Median: $270/hr
2-6 weeks
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Estate planning and probate cost formation depends on which side of death the work happens on. Planning documents drafted while someone is alive — a will, a revocable living trust, powers of attorney — are usually flat-fee, priced by document complexity and whether a trust (which avoids probate but requires more drafting) is involved rather than a simple will alone. Probate, which happens after death when an estate moves through court, is billed differently: often hourly or as a percentage of the estate's value, and its cost tracks estate size and how many beneficiaries or disputes are involved.
The biggest cost driver in probate specifically is whether the estate is contested. An estate with a clear will, cooperative beneficiaries, and no significant debts moves through simple probate with predictable court filing fees, executor fees, and appraisal costs. A contested estate — disputed will validity, disagreements among heirs, or complex assets like a business — adds litigation-style hourly billing on top of the base probate costs, which is why complex-case figures on this page run substantially above the simple-case median.
Take a moderate-complexity estate planning / probate matter in Michigan. The recorded median total is $1,850, with reported quotes clustering between $950 and $2,800. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $310–$925, which leaves roughly $925–$1,540 of the Michigan median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes.
At $1,850, the median estate planning / probate cost in Michigan runs 5% below the $1,954 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Michigan carries 3 rows — simple, $300–$1,100 at $150–$270/hr over 1-2 weeks; moderate, $950–$2,800 at $175–$345/hr over 2-6 weeks; complex, $2,850–$9,400 at $250–$470/hr over 1-3 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$1,850 is a median, not the middle of the band — $900 above the $950 floor, $950 under the $2,800 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 46.
Michigan occupies the 32nd row of 46 for a estate planning / probate. Its $1,850 median trails the $2,075 table midpoint by $225, which is 11% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Florida ($1,850) and Tennessee ($1,850) bracket Michigan inside a $0 window — narrow enough that 32nd is close to arbitrary.
Wyoming, Florida, Tennessee record medians within three percent of Michigan's $1,850. A estate planning / probate quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
Michigan ranks 27th of 46 on hourly rate at $270 an hour and 32nd on total cost — 5 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Michigan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Minnesota | $2,000 | +$150 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | $2,000 | +$150 |
| 28 | Indiana | $1,950 | +$100 |
| 29 | Oregon | $1,950 | +$100 |
| 30 | Wyoming | $1,900 | +$50 |
| 31 | Florida | $1,850 | −$0 |
| 32 | Michigan | $1,850 | — |
| 33 | Tennessee | $1,850 | −$0 |
| 34 | Iowa | $1,750 | −$100 |
| 35 | New Mexico | $1,750 | −$100 |
| 36 | Nebraska | $1,650 | −$200 |
| 37 | Idaho | $1,600 | −$250 |
| 38 | Kentucky | $1,600 | −$250 |
Within ten percent of the Michigan figure there are 5 states above and only 2 below. $0 up or $0 down moves Michigan a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the estate planning / probate field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Pennsylvania, Indiana, Oregon, Wyoming, Florida and adding $150 to the $1,850 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Tennessee, Iowa, New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho: $250.
$750 short of Hawaii ($2,600), $500 clear of Alabama ($1,350).
The $1,850 median covers only about 7 hours at the $270 median rate, which is short enough that flat-fee and limited-scope arrangements, rather than an hourly meter, tend to describe how the work is actually billed. That rounds to the same 7 hours as the peer median, so on workload Michigan is indistinguishable from the middle of the table at this precision.
Moving from a simple to a complex estate planning / probate multiplies the Michigan total by 8.7, and almost all of that is hours rather than price: 3 hours at $200 becomes 16 hours at $345, so the workload grows 5.3x while the rate grows only 1.73x. Complexity here buys attorney time, not a premium hourly rate.
From $950 to $2,800 the moderate band is $1,850 wide, close to the $2,050 peer median. End to end that is 7 hours at $270.
By implied hours Michigan falls to 36th of 46 at 7 hours, 4 places below its 32nd on cost — the estate planning / probate total arriving on less recorded work.
61% up the $950–$2,800 band sits the $2,075 table midpoint, buying 8 hours at $270 against the 7 the local estate planning / probate median implies — 1 hour apart.
| Measure | Michigan | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $1,850 | 32nd |
| Hourly median | $270 | 27th |
| Implied hours | 7 | 36th |
| Simple median | $650 | 16th |
| Complex median | $5,650 | 31st |
$270 an hour puts Michigan between Maine ($270) and Florida ($265) — not the estate planning / probate cost pairing.
Maine records the same $270: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$1,850 buys 9 hours at $200, 7 at $270, 5 at $345.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Nevada | $275 |
| 26 | Maine | $270 |
| 27 | Michigan | $270 |
| 28 | Florida | $265 |
| 29 | Georgia | $260 |
The tiers rank Michigan very differently. It is 16th at the simple tier, 32nd at moderate, 31st at complex of 46 — a fall of 15 places as the matter becomes harder. The state is expensive to start a estate planning / probate in and comparatively ordinary to finish one in.
$650 is 16th of 46 on a straightforward estate planning / probate, under Maryland ($650) and over Minnesota ($650), $25 over the $625 tier midpoint.
$5,650 is 31st of 46 once contested, between Wyoming ($5,700) and Nevada ($5,600), $250 off the $5,900 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $1,100 against a moderate floor of $950 — but there is a clear gap of $50 between the moderate ceiling of $2,800 and the complex floor of $2,850. In Michigan the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Michigan | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $650 | 16th | $625 | 3 |
| moderate | $1,850 | 32nd | $2,075 | 7 |
| complex | $5,650 | 31st | $5,900 | 16 |
$650 puts Michigan 16th of 46 on straightforward matters, 16 up on its moderate position, and $25 (4%) over the $625 tier midpoint.
3 implied hours at $200: 43% of the moderate tier's 7, over 1-2 weeks.
Maryland ($650) and Minnesota ($650) bracket it — a $0 window.
13 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $650, denser than the 3 around the moderate row.
$5,650 puts Michigan 31st of 46 on contested matters, 1 up on its moderate position, and $250 (4%) under the $5,900 tier midpoint.
16 implied hours at $345: 229% of the moderate tier's 7, over 1-3 months.
Wyoming ($5,700) and Nevada ($5,600) bracket it — a $100 window.
9 states record a complex-tier median within three percent of $5,650, denser than the 3 around the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Maine | $650 |
| 15 | Maryland | $650 |
| 16 | Michigan | $650 |
| 17 | Minnesota | $650 |
| 18 | Pennsylvania | $650 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Wisconsin | $5,750 |
| 30 | Wyoming | $5,700 |
| 31 | Michigan | $5,650 |
| 32 | Nevada | $5,600 |
| 33 | Indiana | $5,550 |
Among the 8 matter types tracked in Michigan, a estate planning / probate records the smallest median at $1,850, below Real Estate Closing on the line above.
The state does not rank uniformly. Michigan is 16th of 46 for Personal Injury but 32nd for Estate Planning / Probate, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 32nd on estate planning / probate says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Divorce runs 12% above its own midpoint, while Estate Planning / Probate runs 11% below its own midpoint — 23 percentage points apart. A single "Michigan is expensive" or "Michigan is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
Michigan's practice areas fan out more than most: its largest tracked median is 5.6x its smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state. Prices here are set matter by matter rather than by one statewide level.
1 of 7 matter types rank Michigan in the upper third, 0 in the lower, 6 between; estate planning / probate is 32nd.
In percentile terms it sits at the 31th percentile of the 46 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,750 | $10,400 | $28,550 | 35 | 24th | +2% | Pennsylvania |
| Divorce | $3,250 | $9,600 | $19,900 | 33 | 18th | +12% | Illinois |
| DUI / DWI | $3,750 | $7,950 | $15,250 | 29 | 19th | +7% | California |
| Personal Injury | $1,600 | $5,100 | $15,200 | — | 16th | −2% | Georgia |
| Immigration | $2,000 | $4,750 | $10,950 | 18 | 25th | level | Arizona |
| Bankruptcy | $1,450 | $3,600 | $4,850 | 14 | 24th | level | Arizona |
| Real Estate Closing | $950 | $2,050 | $4,250 | 8 | — | −8% | — |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $650 | $1,850 | $5,650 | 7 | 32nd | −11% | Florida |
Simple tier. $650 ÷ $200 = about 3 hours — 4 fewer than the moderate tier's 7, and $1,200 less.
Work against price. $1,850 to $5,650 is a $3,800 step, mostly work: 9 more hours at $270 is $2,430, while moving to $345 across 16 hours adds $1,200. Work carries 67%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Tennessee ($1,850) is $0 light, Florida ($1,850) is $0 heavy — but the $2,075 table midpoint is out by $225, 225x the neighbour error.
Contested against simple. At Michigan's own recorded figures, $5,650 buys 8.7 matters at the $650 simple median — or, counted in time, 16 implied hours against 3, a factor of 5.3 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Michigancourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.