How is Someone Appointed as Fiduciary?

MCLA §700.3203 sets up the following priority for appointment as Estate Personal representative, in order:

1. The person nominated in the decedent’s will;
2. the decedent’s surviving spouse, as long as he/she is a devisee of the decedent (in other words he/she has been named in the will as receiving property, upon the decedent’s death;
3. Other devisees;
4. The decedent’s surviving spouse (named twice on this list; in this category, the surviving spouse has priority after other devisees, even if he/she has not been named in the will;
5. Other heirs of the decedent (in other words, intestate heirs, who have not been named in the will; this also applies where there is no will at all)
6. A Public Administrator, as long as:
7. No interested person has requested the appointment of an Estate PR within 42 days after the decedent’s death;
8. The decedent died apparently leaving no known heirs; or
9. There is no spouse, heir or beneficiary under a will, who is a US resident, and also entitled to participate in the decedent’s estate.