Adams v. Wayne County Treasurer

Plaintiffs commenced a class action in Wayne County Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of § 17 of Chapter 1 of Michigan’s Probate Code, MCLA 701.17; MSA 27.3178(17) as amended through 1969 (the probate inventory fee). 1 Plaintiffs claimed that the statu tory fee schedule, in which the fee was based on the size of the estate, was in fact a tax or revenue raising scheme rather than a reasonable expense of administration in probating decedent’s estates. Plaintiffs alleged that those provisions of the statute, sub-paragraphs (1) and (3) of § 17, as such a tax or revenue raising…