Michigan
Yes, when the amount is reasonable in relation to the possible loss and not grossly unfair or excessive. Michigan has no statute on this for a service, so the courts decide, and the closest published case upheld a cancellation charge of 65 percent of a resort booking’s room, food and beverage revenue, because the formula was reasonable against the resort’s potential loss. A deposit sized to what the booked appointment stands to lose, with any timing tiers and the cancellation terms agreed up front, is the shape of the clause the Court of Appeals upheld; a charge far above that loss is the excessive case.
Does a non-refundable deposit hold up in Michigan?
The law’s word for a set sum agreed in advance is liquidated damages.
Michigan has no statute on liquidated damages for a service, so the common law, the rules courts build case by case, governs. In UAW-GM Human Resource Center v. KSL Recreation Corp., a cancelled resort booking for a convention, the Court of Appeals upheld a clause setting damages at 65 percent of the room, food and beverage revenue for a cancellation 90 to 180 days out, finding the formula reasonable in relation to the resort’s potential injury and not a penalty. The Attorney General’s consumer alert on cancelling contracts says the same in plain words: a contract may set what a buyer pays to cancel, and a term setting unreasonably large liquidated damages is likely void as a penalty.
“The courts are to sustain such provisions if the amount is 'reasonable with relation to the possible injury suffered' and not 'unconscionable or excessive.'” UAW-GM Human Resource Center v. KSL Recreation Corp., 228 Mich. App. 486 (1998) · Michigan Attorney General, Contract Cancellation Information for Consumers
Showing your refund policy
No refund-policy disclosure statute was found. Every prohibited practice listed in the Michigan Consumer Protection Act was read, along with the Attorney General’s consumer alert on cancelling contracts, and a search was run for a Michigan return-policy posting law; none requires a posted refund or cancellation policy.
Body-art rules and money
Nothing about deposits or refunds in Part 131 of the Public Health Code or the Body Art Facilities rules filed September 11, 2025. Their only money is the facility’s yearly license fee and the invoices or purchase orders kept as the record of instruments, jewelry and inks, and the client record covers consent, the design, its location, the procedure and the technician, not payment.
Read: Mich. Public Health Code, Part 131 (MCL 333.13101 to 333.13112) · Body Art Facilities rules (R 333.13101 to R 333.13121)
This page summarizes public law in plain language, with the source each point comes from, read at the source on 2026-09-23. It is not legal advice.