Estates, Wills, and Trusts

eFile Updates: 

Application for Informal Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative

Same day Letters of Authority will no longer be available.

For Testate (with a Will) Estates:

A copy of the Will needs to be filed via TrueFiling along with all other opening documents.  These  documents will be placed in a hold queue until the original will is received.  You will have 14 days from the date of filing, to provide the original Will to the Oakland County Probate Court.  You will only be able to submit the original Will via mail or in person at the Probate Counter.  Once the original Will is filed, the will and the opening documents will be retrieved from hold for processing.   Failure to provide the Original Will within the allotted time will result in rejection of your filing. If the Will filed as  an “original” is a copy, it will be returned, and if the 14 days expires without the submission of the original will, your filing will be rejected.  Filing fees will be refunded if the filing is rejected, however, there will be a non-refundable 3% transaction fee. Once the documents are processed and accepted, your Letters of Authority will be available for purchase on-line via the probate court website, using Court Explorer. 

PLEASE NOTE: If you file the Original Will with the Oakland County Probate Court prior to filing your Application for Informal Probate and/or Appointment of Personal Representative, your documents will be processed and your Letters of Authority available for purchase quicker.

Inventories 

Inventory -Presented- (DE only)

An inventory may be presented or efiled for an Unsupervised estate. An inventory may be presented in person, by mail, or through efile using the “inventory submitted” code.  The fee for a presented inventory may be calculated by the Probate Fee Calculator which is found on the probate court website www.oakgov.com/probate.  However, since the gross estate fee cannot be paid at the time the inventory is presented for efiling, the gross estate fee must be paid in person or by mail at a later date.  To present and pay the gross estate fee at the same time, it must be done by mail or in person.  

Inventory – Filed (DA and DE)

An inventory must be filed in a Supervised Estate and may be filed in an Unsupervised Estate.  If the inventory is being filed and the gross estate fee paid at the same time, the gross estate fee may be paid through efile (which would include an extra processing fee).  If the gross estate fee is not paid at the time the inventory is efiled, the fee must be paid in person or by mail at a later date.