4.3 Michigan Property Rights and Ownership

Forms of Ownership

Michigan recognizes one form of sole ownership and three forms of co-ownership. Knowing which form is the default and which carries survivorship is the heart of the state-portion questions on this topic.

Tenancy in Severalty

One person (or one entity) holds the entire title. There is full control, no co-owner, and no survivorship — at death the property passes through the estate by will or intestacy.

Co-Ownership at a Glance

Tenancy in Common — the Default

If a deed conveys to two people without specifying, Michigan presumes a tenancy in common. Owners may hold unequal shares (e.g., 70/30), each share is freely transferable, and a deceased owner's share passes through that owner's estate — there is no survivorship.

Joint Tenancy — the Four Unities

A true joint tenancy with right of survivorship requires the four unities plus express survivorship language:

1. Time — all owners take title at the same moment.
2. Title — all take by the same deed or will.
3. Interest — all hold equal fractional shares.
4. Possession — all have an equal right to possess the whole.

Severance rule: If one joint tenant sells or mortgages their share, the four unities are broken for that share, which becomes a tenancy in common. The remaining owners may still hold jointly among themselves.

Tenancy by the Entirety — Married Couples Only

Michigan strongly favors tenancy by the entirety for spouses. It carries automatic survivorship, requires both spouses to sign any conveyance, and — critically — protects the home from a creditor of only one spouse. A judgment against just the husband generally cannot force a sale of an entireties home. It is severed only by death, divorce, or joint conveyance.

Marital Property and Spousal Rights

Equitable Distribution, Not Community Property

Michigan is an equitable-distribution state. On divorce, marital property is divided fairly but not necessarily 50/50, weighing factors such as length of marriage, each party's contribution, and need. Property acquired before marriage or by gift/inheritance is generally separate and stays with its owner.

Dower and Curtesy Abolished

Michigan has abolished common-law dower and curtesy. A surviving spouse is protected instead by the probate code's elective share, homestead allowance, and family allowance — not by a life-estate dower interest.

Principal Residence Exemption (PRE)

The Principal Residence Exemption (PRE), under MCL 211.7cc/7dd, exempts an owner-occupied principal residence from up to 18 mills of local school operating tax (a legacy of 1994's Proposal A). Key facts:

Adverse Possession and Easements — the 15-Year Clock

Under MCL 600.5801, the limitations period for recovering land is 15 years, so both adverse possession and prescriptive easements ripen at 15 years in Michigan.

Exam trap: Public land owned by the state, a municipality, or a county road commission cannot be taken by adverse possession or prescription.

Worked Scenario

A brother and sister inherit a cottage "to John and Jane," with no survivorship language. They hold as tenants in common. When Jane dies, her half passes through her estate — not automatically to John. Had the deed read "to John and Jane as joint tenants with full rights of survivorship," John would take the whole property by operation of law, bypassing probate.

Land-Description and Recording Notes

Michigan land is described chiefly by the government (rectangular) survey system of townships, ranges, and sections layered over the Michigan Meridian, supplemented by metes-and-bounds and recorded plat (lot-and-block) descriptions in subdivisions. Each section is one square mile of 640 acres, so a "quarter-quarter" section is 40 acres — a figure that appears in exam math. Deeds and mortgages are recorded with the county register of deeds, and Michigan follows a race-notice recording rule: a later buyer who pays value and records first, without notice of a prior unrecorded interest, generally prevails.

This is why prompt recording protects a buyer's priority.

Mineral, Water, and Riparian Rights

Because of Michigan's lakes and rivers, riparian and littoral rights are frequently tested. An owner of land bordering a natural watercourse has riparian rights to reasonable use of the water and typically owns to the water's edge (and, on inland lakes, to a point determined by the parcel's frontage). The state holds navigable waters and Great Lakes bottomlands under the public trust doctrine, so private use cannot impair public navigation.

Mineral rights may be severed from the surface estate; a buyer should confirm whether oil, gas, or mineral interests were previously reserved, since a severed mineral owner may have surface-access rights that affect value and use.