Michigan Compiled Laws, Chapter 457. Fraternal Associations § 457.507

Sec. 7. Such articles shall be acknowledged before a notary public, and a copy thereof shall be filed with the corporation and securities bureau of the department of commerce, and thereupon the persons who shall have signed such articles of association, their associates and successors, shall be a body politic and corporate by the name expressed in such articles of association, and by that name they and their successors shall have succession, and shall be persons in the law capable to sue and be sued, to have a common seal which may be altered or changed at their pleasure, to purchase, take, receive, hold and enjoy, for themselves and their successors, estates, real and personal, and to give, grant, sell, lease, demise, and dispose of such estates: Provided, That the value of such real estate, exclusive of the building authorized by section 9 of this act,  1 shall not exceed the sum of $5,000.00, and that the proceeds, rents, and incomes thereof shall be devoted exclusively to the charitable and benevolent purposes of the fraternity known as the Ancient Order of United Workmen.