King v. Nash (In Re Estate of Erwin)

The Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC), MCL 700.1101 et seq ., governs the distribution of an individual's property at death. Among other reasons, the Legislature enacted it "[t]o promote a speedy and efficient system for liquidating a decedent's estate and making distribution to the decedent's successors." MCL 700.1201. EPIC grants a decedent's surviving spouse certain rights. For example, the surviving spouse of a decedent who dies intestate-that is, without a will- may still take a share of the decedent's property. MCL 700.2202(1). In fact, even if the decedent dies testate-with…