LMFT Licensure in Michigan: Requirements, Hours and Exams

Michigan's pre-licensure rung is a license, not a registration.

The educational limited license issues under section 16903(3) of the public health code, and R 338.7203 conditions it on the same degree proof and supervised practicum the full license requires — so you qualify once your education is done and your post-degree hours are not.

It is renewed annually and may not be renewed more than 5 times.

The LARA guide tells applicants that if the 1,000 hours are completed in Michigan, an educational limited license should be held while accruing the experience, and the license doubles as the practical exam gateway: to sit for the national exam you must hold or have previously held one, or have applied for and met all the other full-license requirements.

Documentation already accepted for the limited license does not need to be resubmitted with the full application.

The degree statute offers two routes.

The first is a master's or higher degree from an accredited training program in marriage and family therapy approved by the board; the LARA guide reads this as a COAMFTE-accredited program.

The second is a master's or higher from an approved college or university plus five course blocks: three courses in family studies, three in family therapy methodology, and three in human development, personality theory, or psychopathology, each block totaling at least 6 semester or 9 quarter hours, plus at least 2 semester or 3 quarter hours each in ethics, law, and standards of professional practice and in research.

Either route also needs the 16909(1)(b) practicum—a graduate clinical practicum or a postgraduate institute program acceptable to the board—obtained over not less than 8 consecutive months, with not less than 300 direct client contact hours, at least half of them with families, couples, or subsystems of families physically present in the therapy room, and not less than 60 hours of concurrent supervision at one hour per five hours of direct client contact.

The post-degree requirement is a minimum of 1,000 direct client contact hours in supervised marriage and family therapy experience, at least 1/2 of which was completed with families, couples, or subsystems of families physically present in the therapy room.

The statute counts direct client contact hours only, so every hour you log toward the 1,000 is client-facing work, and the relational floor means a caseload skewed to individuals can leave you short even at 1,000 hours.

The hours must follow the degree (on the coursework route, they must also come during or after the five course blocks), or be earned as part of a doctoral MFT program, which may include practicum experience.

They are verified by the supervising licensed marriage and family therapist, and no minimum number of months is stated for the post-degree phase: the clock is the supervision ratio, not a calendar.

Subsection (2) waives both the practicum and the 1,000 hours for a graduate of an accredited doctoral training program in marriage and family therapy approved by the board.

Michigan adopts a single examination.

R 338.7209 approves and adopts the Marital and Family Therapy National Examination conducted and scored by AMFTRB, and sets the passing score at whatever AMFTRB establishes; the rules read name no second, state-specific exam.

Eligibility runs through the education rather than the hours: R 338.7207 requires that you have satisfied the degree and practicum requirements under either the limited-license rule or the full-license rule.

The LARA guide translates that into practice — you must hold or have previously held an educational limited license, or have applied for and met all the other requirements for a full license — and then you notify the board, apply through Professional Testing Corporation, and arrange for score results to reach LARA directly from PTC.

The 200 supervision hours run concurrent with the 1,000: not less than 100 hours must be individual supervision with no more than 1 other supervisee present, and the remaining supervision may be group supervision involving no more than 6 supervisees with 1 supervisor.

For the post-degree hours the verifier is the supervising licensed marriage and family therapist, so choose that person before you start counting — a supervisor who is not an LMFT cannot verify the 1,000.

The practicum is looser: 16909(1)(b)(iii) accepts a supervisor who is a marriage and family therapist, a certified or registered social worker, a licensed professional counselor, a physician practising in a mental health setting, a fully licensed psychologist, or an AAMFT approved supervisor or supervisor-in-training approved by the board.

The statute requires that supervision be given in face-to-face contact, and video is not addressed in the sources read, so confirm any remote arrangement with the board before counting it.

LARA's 1000 Hour Supervision Evaluation Form documents the post-degree experience.

Endorsement asks for a current and full marriage and family therapist license in another state or a province of Canada, and a passing score on either the examination adopted under R 338.7209 or the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist California Clinical Examination — so a therapist who qualified in California on that state's own clinical exam can carry that score to Michigan, while AMFTRB passers carry the national one.

An applicant licensed in a Canadian province must also verify education completed in Canada or the United States.

Every endorsement applicant must disclose any health-profession license ever held in another state, the US military, the federal government, or another country, and obtain verification from the issuing entity that disciplinary proceedings are not pending and sanctions are not in force at application, as MCL 333.16174 requires; if licensure is granted and sanctions surface, the disciplinary subcommittee may impose sanctions.

There is no MFT compact — Michigan's door is this endorsement rule.

The renewal cycle is 3 years — the guide's FAQ says the initial license is good for 3 years and every renewal after it is too.

The renewal checklist carries no general continuing-education requirement, and the guide states the law for marriage and family therapy does not require CE for renewal.

Two trainings stand in that space.

Licensees complete 1 hour of implicit bias training for each year of their license or registration cycle, which the guide stresses is not a one-time requirement, and certify a one-time training in identifying victims of human trafficking.

R 338.7219 requires the fee and a completed renewal application; the LARA guide says to file it through MiPLUS no sooner than 90 days before expiration.

A licensee lapsed more than 3 years who does not hold a current, unrestricted MFT license in another state or a Canadian province must pass the AMFTRB examination for relicensure.

The operative changes are administrative.

R 338.7203 (limited license), R 338.7205 (licensure requirements), R 338.7207 (exam eligibility), R 338.7213 (endorsement) and R 338.7219 (renewal) all carry amendments effective 2023-11-16 (2023 MR 22), while the exam-adoption rule R 338.7209 was last amended effective 2021-12-16 (2021 MR 24).

The degree statute itself is old — MCL 333.16909 was last amended by 1997 PA 188, effective December 30, 1997 — so a source citing only the statute misses the current limited-license and endorsement rules, including the California-exam option.

The two quirks that define Michigan practice, accepting the California clinical exam for endorsement and renewing with no general CE, are rules-level facts, and the LARA guide (revised January 26, 2026) reflects them.

Alongside the profession-specific rules, the LARA guide lists requirements for all applicants.

A criminal background check follows the submitted application, with instructions emailed in the application confirmation letter, and good moral character questions require documentation if answered yes.

Applicants document a one-time human trafficking training (required since March 17, 2021, to the standards of R 338.7202) and, for initial issuance, 2 hours of implicit bias training within the 5 years immediately preceding issuance — note that this initial dose differs from the 1-hour-per-cycle-year renewal requirement.

A Social Security number or affidavit is required, as is verification of licensure from every state or country in which you hold or ever held a license, showing no pending proceedings or in-force sanctions.

Professional education documentation and English language proficiency — an English-taught program, 60 college-level credits from an English-speaking school, or an approved proficiency exam — complete the file.