Michigan Just Raised the Split Limit on a 10-Acre Parcel From Four Lots to Ten. If Your Deed Doesn’t Print a Number, You Get Zero.
There’s one sentence that’s supposed to appear in the deed on every piece of unplatted land sold in Michigan, and I’d bet most people who own acreage up here have never read it on their own deed.
It goes like this: “The grantor grants to the grantee the right to make [zero, a number, or all] division(s) under section 108 of the land division act.”
If that sentence isn’t there, Michigan doesn’t shrug and split the difference. Under MCL 560.109(3), the divisions stay with whatever the seller kept. You bought the twenty acres. He kept the right to make lots out of it.
Your Split Count Was Decided by a Parcel That Existed in 1997
Michigan doesn’t give division rights to people. It gives them to a parcel, and specifically to a “parent parcel,” which the Land Division Act defines as a parcel lawfully in existence on March 31, 1997.
That parcel got a finite allowance of splits on that date, and every division taken since draws the balance down. Sell off a corner in 2004, carve one out for a kid in 2011, and the bank is smaller than the listing implies.
Nobody is required to hand you that balance. Michigan’s seller disclosure form doesn’t ask about available divisions, and the number doesn’t live at the register of deeds. It lives in the assessor’s records at the township or city that reviews divisions.
What Changed in December, and What Doesn’t Change Until Next March
On December 23, 2025, Governor Whitmer signed Senate Bill 23 into law as Public Act 58 of 2025, the first meaningful rewrite of Michigan’s split formula in a long time. It has two dates, and the gap between them is exactly where we’re sitting right now.
The headline change is that the first 10 acres of a parent parcel goes from a maximum of four resulting parcels to ten. That does not take effect until March 24, 2027. As of today, the answer on a 10-acre parent parcel is still four.
The other change is already live. Section 108(6) took effect March 24, 2026, and it lets any municipality or county with division authority adopt an ordinance permitting more divisions than the state formula allows. Not fewer. More.
So for the next seven months, how many lots you can carve off a Northern Michigan parcel depends partly on whether your township decided to move early. That is a phone call, not an assumption.
The old ceiling is also a big reason so much of the newer housing around Traverse City got built as a site condominium instead of a plain land split. Different statute, different headaches, same underlying reason.
The Township Floor Usually Beats the State Ceiling Anyway
Here’s the part that keeps this from being the land rush a few people think it is. Section 108 sets a ceiling. Section 109 sets the floor, and the floor is local.
MCL 560.109 requires that every resulting parcel meet the minimum width and the minimum area in the local ordinance before a division gets approved. A lot of the agricultural and forestry zoning across Leelanau County runs one home per five acres.
Do the math on that and the new law changes nothing there. Ten acres under a five-acre minimum is two lots in 2027 exactly like it’s two lots today. The state raised a ceiling the township floor was already holding down.
Where Public Act 58 actually bites is the places with smaller minimums. Village edges, the residential districts closer to town, and the townships that have been rewriting ordinances to get more housing built. That is a very different map than “rural acreage.”
The Two Bonus Splits Almost Nobody Claims
If the parent parcel is 20 acres or more, MCL 560.108(3) hands out two additional parcels beyond the base formula if either of two things is true.
One: because you’re building one or more new roads, none of the resulting parcels create or require a new driveway onto an existing public road. Two: one of the resulting parcels is at least 60% of the parent parcel’s area.
That second one is quietly useful. Keep the bulk of the farm intact, take your two bonus splits off the edge, and you’ve preserved the thing that made the land worth buying in the first place. It’s also the opposite of what most people assume the law rewards.
There’s a long-game version too. A parcel can be split again without going through platting once 10 years have passed since it was recorded, though the reset is modest: two parcels for the first 10 acres, plus one for each additional whole 10 acres.
“Approved” Does Not Mean “Buildable”
This is the one I’d underline twice. MCL 560.109(6) says out loud that approval of a division is not a determination that the resulting parcels comply with any other ordinance or regulation.
A township can approve your split and the health department can still tell you the back lot won’t pass a perc test. Two separate governments, two separate answers, and only one of them is printed on your approval letter.
Working in this market, that’s the gap that costs people real money. They price the land on lot count and find out later the soils only support half of them.
A few other mechanics worth knowing. The municipality has 45 days to approve or disapprove a complete application, and if it disapproves it has to give you all the reasons in writing. Five years of property taxes and special assessments have to be paid and certified by the county treasurer. And a municipality with a population of 2,500 or less can hand division authority over to the county, which describes a lot of Northern Michigan townships, so make sure you’re calling the right building.
The Parent Parcel Test
Five questions, before the offer, on any acreage purchase up here.
First, what does the deed say? Find the section 108 sentence. If there’s no number in it and the seller is keeping a remainder, you’re buying zero divisions. That’s negotiable, but only before you sign.
Second, how many divisions are actually left? Call the assessor or the designated land division officer at the township or city and ask for the balance on the parent parcel. Get it in writing.
Third, what’s the minimum lot area and width in this zoning district? Then divide. That number, not the state formula, is usually your real answer.
Fourth, has this township adopted a Section 108(6) ordinance? They’ve been allowed to since March 24, 2026. Some will, most won’t, and it’s the difference between four lots and ten on the same ten acres.
Fifth, does the land actually perc? A division approval is a paperwork event. Soil is a physical one.
Why This Lands Harder Up Here Than Downstate
We’re in a market where a big share of the inventory is land. Grand Traverse County alone has had a few hundred undeveloped parcels listed at any given point this year, with per-acre pricing that swings hard depending on what a buyer thinks they can do with the ground.
And “what you can do with it” is exactly the variable this statute controls. Two identical 20-acre parcels a mile apart can be worth meaningfully different numbers because one carries divisions and one doesn’t. That difference doesn’t show up in a photo, an aerial, or a listing sheet.
Over 25 years, Janel has watched families buy the back forty assuming they could peel off a lot for a kid someday, and then find out someday isn’t available. It’s never a dramatic problem. It’s a boring paperwork problem that surfaces a decade late.
The good news is that all five questions get answered in about two phone calls, and both of them happen before you’re under contract. Deed language is a negotiation. Deed language after closing is a memory.
If you’re looking at acreage in Leelanau, Antrim, Benzie, Kalkaska or Grand Traverse County, or you already own a piece and you’re wondering what’s actually left in the tank, I’m happy to run the parent parcel question with you before you get emotionally attached to a plan. It’s a good problem to solve early. Browse what’s on the market right now and bring me one to look at.
Taylor Brown, Realtor
Taylor@taylorbrownrealtor.com
