Michigan

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 95 out of 100

Michigan judges divide marital property and set spousal support by weighing factors that include each spouse’s conduct during the marriage, with no formula or time limit for support. Fee shifting is narrower: a spouse must show need and the other’s ability to pay, or misconduct. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Michigan ranks 45 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	15 / 20	The court divides the marital estate by weighing factors, the division ‘need not be equal’ but must be equitable, and separate property can be reached only if the awarded estate is insufficient for a party’s support or the other spouse contributed to its acquisition or improvement. MCL 552.19, 552.23(1), 552.401; Sparks v. Sparks, 440 Mich. 141 (1992)
Alimony	20 / 20	Spousal support is awarded ‘as the court considers just and reasonable’ after considering the ability to pay, ‘the character and situation of the parties, and all the other circumstances of the case’, with no formula or durational limit. MCL 552.23(1); Olson v. Olson, 256 Mich. App. 619 (2003)
Fault	20 / 20	The Michigan Supreme Court lists ‘past relations and conduct of the parties’ as a property-division factor that may be weighed but not given disproportionate weight, and the Court of Appeals lists the same factor first among spousal-support factors. Sparks v. Sparks, 440 Mich. 141 (1992); Olson v. Olson, 256 Mich. App. 619 (2003)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	A party seeking fees must show that they cannot bear the expense of the action and the other party is able to pay, or that the fees were caused by the other party’s refusal to obey a court order or discovery violations. MCR 3.206(D)(2); MCL 552.13(1)
Second opinion	20 / 20	No rule was found that lets a divorce party remove the assigned judge without cause, and property and support are decided by the circuit judge without a jury. None located (not yet checked against the source)

Getting in

A 3-day wait. Apply to the clerk of the county where either partner lives, or the county of the ceremony if both live out of state. Both must be 18. The clerk cannot deliver the license within 3 days, counting the application date, but may deliver it at once for good cause and an added county fee. It is void unless used within 33 days of application.
MCL 551.101, 551.103, 551.103a

Who can marry you. Judges, district court magistrates, mayors, county clerks, and clergy or religious practitioners ordained or authorized under their denomination’s usages may officiate. Quakers and other denominations with their own mode of marrying may follow it, which for Quakers means no officiant. At least 2 adult witnesses must attend an ordinary ceremony. The statute does not address online or mail-order ordination.
MCL 551.7, 551.9, 551.17, 551.103(2)

Common-law marriage: Closed to new couples. Since January 1, 1957, consent alone has not created a marriage in Michigan; a license and ceremony are required. Michigan courts honor a common-law marriage validly formed under the law of a state that allows one, though occasional visits to such a state may not be enough.
MCL 551.2; Poindexter v. Chambers, 194 Mich. App. 196 (1992)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Michigan is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. What either spouse earns until the divorce judgment is marital, even after moving out or filing. Inherited or premarital property kept apart is separate. Growth from active management or the other spouse’s help can be marital; passive growth stays separate. A judge may also reach separate property if the other spouse needs support or contributed to it.
MCL 552.19, 552.23(1), 552.401; Byington v. Byington, 224 Mich. App. 103 (1997); Reeves v. Reeves, 226 Mich. App. 490 (1997); Dart v. Dart, 460 Mich. 573 (1999)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It depends on what the owner meant. An inheritance kept apart stays separate. Once it is commingled with marital money and treated as marital, it becomes marital, as happened with funds put in a joint savings account and used toward the family home. Joint title alone does not decide the question; the court looks at how the couple actually treated the money.
Cunningham v. Cunningham, 289 Mich. App. 195 (2010); Pickering v. Pickering, 268 Mich. App. 1 (2005); Dart v. Dart, 460 Mich. 573 (1999)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Generally, you don’t owe your spouse’s bills. The Michigan Supreme Court abrogated the common-law necessaries doctrine and held that neither a husband nor a wife is liable, absent express agreement, for necessaries supplied to the other.
North Ottawa Community Hospital v. Kieft, 457 Mich. 394 (1998)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse of a testate decedent may elect one-half of the intestate share, reduced by one-half of the value of all property the spouse received from the decedent at death by means other than testate or intestate succession; the share comes from the probate estate, and nonprobate assets passing to others are not added back.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 700.2202(2)(b)

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under case law (Rinvelt 1991); Mich. Comp. Laws § 557.28. A prenuptial agreement may be set aside if it was obtained through fraud, duress, mistake, misrepresentation or nondisclosure of a material fact, if it was unconscionable when executed, or if the facts and circumstances changed after execution so that enforcement would be unfair and unreasonable; parties also cannot contract away the court’s statutory power to invade separate property under MCL 552.23(1) and 552.401. Postnuptial agreements can be enforced, but an agreement by a couple still maintaining a marital relationship that anticipates and encourages separation or divorce is void as against public policy.
Rinvelt v. Rinvelt, 190 Mich. App. 372 (1991); Allard v. Allard, 318 Mich. App. 583 (2017); Wright v. Wright, 279 Mich. App. 291 (2008); Mich. Comp. Laws § 557.28

What an agreement needs. An agreement made upon consideration of marriage must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged; no statute requires notarization, witnesses, a waiting period, or counsel. A waiver of elective-share and other death rights must be written, signed, and made after fair disclosure; a court may still invade separate property under MCL 552.23(1) and 552.401 despite the agreement.
Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 566.132(1)(c), 700.2205; Allard v. Allard, 318 Mich. App. 583 (2017)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Support is divided by each parent’s share of combined net income. A court may order it past 18 only while the child attends high school full time and lives with the recipient or at an institution, ending by 19 years and 6 months. Support beyond that, including for college, is enforceable only if the parents agreed to it.
2025 Michigan Child Support Formula Manual § 3.01(B); MCL 552.605b

Moving away with a child. Every custody order bars moving a child’s home out of Michigan without the judge’s approval. Unless one parent has sole legal custody, a parent also cannot move the child’s legal residence more than 100 miles without consent or court permission. The moving parent must show the statutory factors favor the move, and if it changes an established custodial environment, must also show best interests by clear and convincing evidence.
MCL 722.31; MCR 3.211(C); Rains v. Rains, 301 Mich. App. 313 (2013)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: one year. The general rule is 180 days in Michigan and 10 days in the filing county. One year in Michigan applies instead when the cause arose elsewhere, or when the other spouse is not domiciled in Michigan and the couple never lived together there. A spouse who moves in alone therefore usually waits a year. The place of marriage does not matter.
MCL 552.9, 552.9e, 552.9f; Michigan Judicial Institute, Divorce Checklist (updated Nov. 8, 2022)

How long it takes. One spouse can obtain a divorce by presenting evidence in open court that the marriage has broken down, even if the other spouse denies it. No separation period applies. No testimony may be taken until 60 days after filing, or 6 months if there are minor children; a judge may shorten the 6 months to 60 days for unusual hardship.
MCL 552.6, 552.9e, 552.9f

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 425 days from arrival to a final decree (365 days of residence + 60-day wait; 545 with minor children (6-month wait)). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Michigan and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Michigan lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Michigan” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.