Do you need a real estate attorney to close in Michigan?

What the law requires

We searched the Michigan Compiled Laws sections on deeds, recording, real estate licensing and the Seller Disclosure Act. None of the sections we read says a buyer or seller must hire an attorney. That does not rule out private requirements: a lender, your contract or a title company may impose its own steps.

What the statutes do require:

• A written deed, acknowledged. A deed signed in Michigan must be acknowledged before a judge, court clerk or notary public, who adds a certificate and the true date (MCL 565.8).
• A recordable document. The register of deeds may not accept an instrument unless it meets the rules in MCL 565.201. These include the printed name under each signature, the grantee’s address, a statement on the first page naming the recordable event, margins, 10-point type, and an English translation of any foreign-language text.
• A named drafter. An instrument executed after January 1, 1964 must contain “the name and business address of the person who drafted the instrument” (MCL 565.201(1)(i)).

Who may prepare legal documents?

Michigan reserves the practice of law to licensed lawyers. MCL 600.916(1) says a person “shall not practice law or engage in the law business” unless “regularly licensed and authorized to practice law in this state.” A violation is contempt of the supreme court and the circuit court. MCL 600.901 gives State Bar of Michigan members the exclusive right to call themselves attorneys and counselors.

Where the line falls between a clerical task and legal advice is a legal question we do not answer here. The State Bar’s ethics committee addressed a closely related issue in opinion RI-298 (August 1997). It declined to rule on whether a title company’s non-lawyer employees practiced law when drafting deeds, saying it does not issue opinions on non-lawyers’ conduct. It did rule that a lawyer may not agree to be named as a deed’s drafter if the lawyer takes no part in drafting it and does not review it before signing.

For you as a buyer or seller, that means: if a lawyer’s name appears as drafter on your deed, that lawyer should actually have prepared or reviewed it.

Who conducts closings in practice?

The Michigan laws we read do not name who must run a closing. Closings are arranged through the purchase agreement and the lender’s instructions, and the parties may use a title company, a lender or an attorney. Ask early who will:

• prepare the deed and who is listed as drafter;
• collect the money and record documents with the county register of deeds;
• send you the lender’s Closing Disclosure.

Our guide to closing costs explained lists the fees you will see, and the title insurance guide explains the policy a title company issues.

Typical attorney fee

We found no official Michigan source that sets or reports a typical fee for a residential closing, so we do not quote one. Lawyers set their own rates and may charge a flat fee or by the hour. Ask for the fee in writing, and what it covers, before you hire anyone.

When an attorney is worth it anyway

The law does not require a lawyer, but some situations carry more legal risk than a standard sale:

• Sales that skip the seller disclosure form. Transfers from an estate, between family members, after a divorce, by a trustee, or out of foreclosure are exempt from the Seller Disclosure Act (MCL 565.953). The buyer then has less written information. See our seller disclosure guide.
• Installment land contracts. The Act covers them (MCL 565.952), but they follow different rules from a standard mortgage purchase.
• A foreclosure purchase. The foreclosure buyer’s deed can be voided if the borrower redeems during the redemption period (MCL 600.3240). See our foreclosure guide.
• Title problems or contract disputes. If a survey, title search or contract raises a question about who owns what, a lawyer can advise on your specific facts.
• Questions an agent cannot settle. Michigan real estate brokers and salespersons are licensed under the Occupational Code to sell, list and negotiate real estate (MCL 339.2501). That license is not a license to practice law.