When a decedent dies intestate, the Probate Court may order supervised administration of the estate at any time upon petition of any interested person and upon finding that supervised administration is necessary. MCL 700.3502(3).
Interested parties include family members, creditors, potential heirs or beneficiaries, depending on what estate documents, if any, the person left at the time of his or her death.
Whether supervision is necessary is up to the judge, but, in general, you will want to show the parties cannot agree, there is a history or suspicion of mishandling assets or debts of the estate or there is a conflict of interest.
Supervised administration is a single in rem proceeding to secure the complete administration and settlement of a decedent’s estate under the court’s continuing authority that extends until entry of an order approving estate distribution and discharging the personal representative or any other order terminating the proceeding. MCL 700.3501(1). A supervised personal representative is responsible to the court, as well as to interested persons, and is subject to directions concerning the estate made by the court on its own motion or on the motion of an interested person. MCL 700.3501(2). Supervised personal representatives have the same duties and powers as unsupervised personal representatives except the power to make distributions of the estate without prior court order. MCL 700.3501(3), .3504.
