Michigan Mental Health Code Guardianship

Two Guardianship Tracks, Very Different Rules

Michigan maintains two entirely separate statutory frameworks for adult guardianship, and filing under the wrong one is the single most common procedural mistake families make. The correct track depends on when the person's disability began:

Mental Health Code (Chapter 6, MCL 330.1600 et seq.) — for individuals whose cognitive or physical impairment manifested before age 22, is expected to continue indefinitely, and results in substantial functional limitations in at least three major life activities. This is the Developmental Disability (DD) track.

EPIC (MCL 700.5303 et seq.) — for Legally Incapacitated Individuals (LII), covering conditions that arose after age 22. Traumatic brain injuries, dementia, progressive neurological conditions.

For most families navigating the turning-18 transition for a child with an intellectual disability, autism, Down syndrome, or cerebral palsy, the Mental Health Code track is the correct path. It's also the more protective one — both for the family's finances and for the individual's legal rights.

The PC 658 and PC 659: The Filing Pair

The DD guardianship petition starts with SCAO Form PC 658 (Petition for Appointment of Guardian, Individual with Alleged Developmental Disability). This form identifies the individual, the proposed guardian, the specific powers being requested, and the factual basis for the petition.

But the PC 658 cannot stand alone. It must be accompanied by Form PC 659 (Report to Accompany Petition), which is the multidisciplinary evaluation report that provides the court with clinical evidence of the individual's condition.

The PC 659 has strict requirements:

• The evaluation must be completed within one year of the filing date. An evaluation from the individual's school district that's 14 months old will be rejected.
• It must cover the individual's mental, physical, social, and educational condition comprehensively — not just a single-domain assessment.
• At least one evaluator must be a licensed physician or licensed psychologist competent in developmental disabilities.
• That evaluator must be available to provide testimony at the guardianship hearing. Written reports alone aren't sufficient — the court requires live expert testimony.

If the PC 659 isn't filed alongside the petition, the court will formally order the county Community Mental Health (CMH) agency to conduct an evaluation. This adds weeks or months to the timeline and removes your control over which clinicians are involved.

Why the DD Track Is Often Better for Families

Several features of the Mental Health Code track make it the preferred path when it applies:

No filing fee for the guardianship petition. The DD track carries a $0 filing fee, compared to $175 for the LII track under EPIC. If you seek both guardianship and conservatorship under LII, the research reports list $350 total; confirm any separate conservatorship fee for a DD case with the probate court.

Mandatory court-appointed counsel. Under the Mental Health Code, the court is required to appoint legal counsel to represent the individual with the alleged developmental disability. Under the EPIC track, the court's appointment process includes a Guardian ad Litem who investigates and reports; ask the probate court or counsel about separate legal representation in the specific case.

Annual reporting uses a DD-specific form. Guardians report annually using Form PC 663 (Report on Condition of Individual with Developmental Disability), which is structured around the functional capabilities and service needs specific to developmental disabilities — rather than the more generic PC 634 used for LII wards.

The Role of Community Mental Health

Michigan's county Community Mental Health (CMH) agencies play a significant role in the DD guardianship process. CMH clinicians can:

• Conduct the multidisciplinary evaluation for the PC 659 if the family doesn't have recent clinical assessments
• Provide person-centered planning that may identify assistive technologies, behavioral supports, and community services capable of addressing decision-making challenges without court intervention
• Testify about the individual's functional capabilities and service utilization

This last point is critical. Before filing a DD guardianship petition, schedule a person-centered planning meeting with your local CMH provider. The planning process may reveal that the specific vulnerabilities driving the guardianship petition can be addressed through existing CMH services — vocational training, supported employment, day programs, home help services — without stripping the individual's civil rights.

If you do proceed with the petition, the CMH planning documentation strengthens your case by showing the court exactly which services are already in place and precisely where the gaps remain that require guardian authority to fill.

The Age-22 Boundary

The age-22 cutoff is a hard line. If the individual's condition first manifested at age 23 — even if it's progressive and now causes severe functional limitations — the Mental Health Code track is not available. The petition must go through EPIC as an LII case.

For young adults turning 18 with lifelong developmental disabilities, this boundary is rarely an issue. But for families dealing with conditions that emerged in later adolescence — a traumatic brain injury at 19, the onset of a severe mental health condition at 20 — the classification matters significantly and should be confirmed with the treating clinician before filing.

The Michigan Adult Guardianship & Alternatives Guide covers both tracks in detail, including a diagnostic flowchart for choosing the correct statutory path, annotated walkthroughs of the PC 658 and PC 659, and a timeline planner that accounts for the evaluation window, filing deadlines, and hearing scheduling.

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