How Probate Works in Ohio

Typical steps: apply to probate the will and/or for authority to administer the estate in the county probate court; the court issues letters and the fiduciary posts any required bond; the fiduciary files an inventory and appraisal within three months of appointment; creditors present claims within six months after death; the fiduciary files a final and distributive account within six months after appointment (or a certificate of termination when the fiduciary is the sole beneficiary), subject to statutory exceptions; real estate is transferred with a certificate of transfer.

Release from administration: the probate court may relieve an estate from full administration if the estate assets are $35,000 or less, or $100,000 or less when all assets pass to the surviving spouse under the will or by intestacy. The court then orders distribution without appointing an executor or administrator.

Creditors must present claims within six months after the decedent's death, in writing to the executor or administrator (or listed counsel) or to the probate court with the case number, subject to limited exceptions in R.C. 2117.061.

An executor named in a will may be an Ohio resident or a nonresident who is related to the testator by blood or marriage (or a resident of a state that allows unrelated nonresidents to serve, or a qualifying trust company). Administrators must be Ohio residents. Before letters issue, a fiduciary generally posts a bond of at least double the probable value of the personal property and annual real estate rents under the fiduciary's control; the court may waive or reduce bond when that value is under $10,000.

Ohio does not use a small estate affidavit. Instead, the probate court may relieve an estate from administration on application (see simplified probate). A summary release from administration is available when estate assets do not exceed the lesser of $5,000 or the funeral and burial expenses, to a non-spouse who paid or is obligated in writing to pay those expenses; a surviving spouse may use it when assets do not exceed the spouse's support allowance plus up to $5,000 of funeral and burial expenses. The application must be on the Supreme Court form and signed before a notary or deputy probate clerk; real estate passes through a certificate of transfer.

Probate is handled by the county probate court, which has exclusive jurisdiction, except as otherwise provided by law, to take proof of wills, grant and revoke letters testamentary and of administration, and direct and control executors and administrators, settle their accounts and order the distribution of estates (Ohio Rev. Code 2101.24).