Will Inquiry

How do I find out if the Court has a will on file for someone?

Wills not admitted in a probate estate:

The Court will check to see if a will has been filed for safekeeping when a death certificate is presented (in PDF form, as an attachment, if it's being emailed) to the Court. The death certificate and a written request (please include your email address) may be emailed to register@wcpc.us, faxed to (313) 967-4035, placed in the court’s onsite drop box on the 13th Floor, or mailed to:

Wayne County Probate Court
Attn: Probate Register’s Office
1305 Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
2 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226

Once the court receives notification that the testator has died, by the submission of a death certificate, and it is determined that a Will has been filed for safekeeping, you will be able to view and/or print the will from our website. If a will has only been filed for safekeeping and is not part of a probate case, the court is unable to provide a certified or exemplified copy as it is not part of an official case record.

Wills filed after death:

In certain circumstances, a will may be submitted to the Court for safekeeping after the testator died and no estate has been opened. To determine if this occurred, please check the Court’s on-line case access system. Go to Case Access on the website (www.wcpc.us) and follow the instructions: enter the testator’s name and the Court’s computer system will automatically run this inquiry for you.

Wills filed for safekeeping during lifetime:

If a will was filed by the testator prior to his/her death and the individual is still alive or if deceased, no proof of death has been submitted to the court, the on-line computer search will not reveal this information as this is non-public information. For more information, see: WCPC - Wills Filed for Safekeeping.

Wills to be transferred to another Court:

If the Wayne County Probate Court has a will filed for safekeeping and there has been no probate estate opened for the testator in Wayne County, and an estate has been opened or is being opened in a Court other than the Wayne County Probate Court, and you would like this will transferred to that Court for admission to the estate, please send a letter requesting this with a copy of the death certificate* (*if not previously submitted) to the court via email register@wcpc.us, fax to (313) 967-4035, place in the court’s onsite drop box on the 13th Floor, or mail to:

Wayne County Probate Court
Attn: Probate Register’s Office
1305 Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
2 Woodward Avenue
Detroit , MI 48226

Once this request is received, the court staff will send the original will via certified mail directly to the applicable court.

Wills admitted in a probate estate:

If a will was admitted in a probate estate with the Wayne County Probate Court (in other words, the will is filed in a DE or DA case), and you would like to obtain a copy of the will, please use the copy request process, found at WCPC - Copy Request to make arrangements. The fees are as follows:

• Standard Copy          $2.00 per page
• Certified Copy           $1.00 per page + $10.00 certification fee, per document