Probate and Trust Administration

The Ohio Probate Court Process

After a close relative passes away, you may be responsible for handling their estate. You are left in charge of dealing with what they left behind, including their home, car, personal effects, bank accounts, retirement savings, and investments. The first thing you should do is contact our probate law attorneys to guide you in beginning the process and seeing it through.

Filing an Application for Probate

To begin with, we will determine whether your loved one passed away with or without a will. If there is a will, then this must be submitted to the probate court. If there was not a will, then your loved one’s probate assets will be distributed by Ohio’s intestate laws. These simply define who is a legal heir and the percentage of the estate they receive.

Next, we identify the court with jurisdiction over your relative’s estate. This is usually the county where your loved one lived. Next, we will file the Application for Probate. We know how to fill out these forms and all of the court’s filing requirements, including supplying multiple certified copies of the Death Certificate.

Notifying Heirs

The next step of the probate process is notifying your relatives heirs and beneficiaries of the process. Our probate lawyers know the rules regarding how heirs must be lawfully served. Or, we can work with your relatives to obtain Waivers of Notice, which means they agree not to be formally served the court documents. We will submit proof to the court that the heirs were properly served or signed waivers.

Proving the Will

The probate court must verify the will is valid. At this stage, a family member or other interested party may contest the will and claim it is not valid. They may claim there is a more recent will, that the individual was not mentally fit at the time of signing the will, or that the decedent was subject to undue influence by someone else.

Receiving Letters of Authority

The probate court will issue Letters of Authority to the individual named as executor in the will. If no one is named or the individual does not accept, then the court will appoint someone else as the administrator of the estate.

Letters of authority give you the right to act on behalf of the decedent’s estate, including taking care of your loved one’s property, receiving and making payments, handling the estate taxes, and more. You will need proof of your authority to deal with places like the post office, banks, lenders, and investment companies.

Identifying Probate Assets

You must identify the assets that are subject to probate versus assets exempt from probate. Assets that are solely in the decedent’s name go through probate before they can be distributed to someone else.

Non-probate assets are not controlled by the court process and go directly to the designated beneficiary. These generally include but are not limited to:

• Assets payable on death: If they had an asset, like a savings account, that is paying or transferable on death, then it will go directly to the person your relative specified.
• Assets owned through contracts and payable to a beneficiary: Your loved one may have had ownership of certain assets through contractual agreements, like insurance policies, annuities, and 401(k)s, and these are payable upon their death to the designated beneficiary.
• Jointly owned assets: If your loved one owned property with others—as joint tenants with rights of survivorship—then that property passes directly to the remaining owner(s).
• Tenancy by entirety: If your loved one owned real estate with a spouse, and between Feb. 9, 1972 and April 3, 1985, they formed a tenancy by the entirely with their spouse, then this asset avoids probate. These types of deeds can no longer be created in Ohio.
• Assets in trusts: Any assets your loved one transferred to a revocable trust during their life will avoid probate.

One of the benefits of working with our probate lawyers is efficiently identifying probate versus non-probate assets and handling each appropriately.

Completing the Settlement and Administration of the Estate

To end the probate process, you must fully administer and settle the estate, which requires you to

• Identify all of the probate assets,
• Care for any property that needs maintenance during probate,
• Obtain any necessary asset valuations,
• Sell certain assets,
• Identify outstanding debts,
• Investigate validity of debts and other claims,
• Pay valid debts,
• File the decedent’s final taxes and pay any tax liability, and
• Distribute remaining assets based on the decedent’s will or intestate laws.

Once all of these tasks are completed, you can ask the court to terminate the probate proceeding and discharge you from your responsibilities as the executor.

We Offer Trust Administration Services

If your loved one passed away leaving behind a trust, or their will called for the creation of a trust, we recommend you contact our trust administration attorneys right away.

There are several steps that go along with administrating a trust in Ohio. Assets that were placed in a trust during your loved one’s life and are meant to be passed down to relatives and friends are not automatically transferred. You still need to take steps to ensure the proper transfers of ownership take place, and we can help you do that.

Your relative may have intended for the trust to continue after their death and produce income for certain beneficiaries. There must be someone in charge of the trust. The trustee ensures it is maintained or invested wisely and that your loved one’s wishes are upheld.

Our attorneys are highly experienced in administering trusts. We routinely represent trustees in making wise investment decisions, protecting the trust, distributing income when appropriate, and supplying appropriate reports and statements to beneficiaries.

If your loved one’s will called for the creation of a trust upon their death, we can help you form the trust, including opening a bank account and obtaining a tax identification number.

We Handle Probate for Small Estates

In Ohio, estates valued at less than $35,000 are entitled to go through a streamlines process, also called small estate probate. This an unsupervised probate process.

You also can benefit from this process if your loved one’s estate is valued at $100,000 or less and the entire estate is left to their surviving spouse. To determine whether or not your loved one’s estate qualified for the small estate probate process, call our probate lawyers today.

When you qualify, we will discuss obtaining a Release From Administration. We will help you fill out the application, including reporting all of the assets of the estate. After filing application, we will ensure all interested parties are notified of your application. Then, you and your lawyer will attend a probate court hearing during which a judge can approve or deny your application for release.

We Handle Guardianship Administration and Litigation

Another purpose of the probate court in Ohio is to deal with guardianship matters. A guardian is a person who is appointed to make decisions for a minor or incompetent adult, known as a ward. In many cases, guardianship is for someone who has disability and is unable to make decisions about their own care and finances.

We can represent you if you believe it is necessary to file a petition in the probate court to become another person’s guardian. Depending on the circumstances, this can be a relatively smooth or contentious process. If it is clear that the other person is disabled and incompetent, and no other family members contest your appointment, then the judge may grant you guardianship.

Even if you do not expect any problems, guardianship is still a specific process that requires completing certain forms, serving certain parties with notice, and providing proof of the individual’s incompetency. You will benefit from working with our probate law attorneys throughout this process.

If you are appointed as someone else’s guardian, we can represent you in guardianship administration matters, including keeping records of your decisions and properly caring for the ward’s finances.

We also represent individuals who wish to contest a proposed guardianship. If you believe a person is seeking guardianship over a loved one who is not incompetent, or you believe that person is not an appropriate guardian for a relative, call us right away.

Questions About Guardianship, Trusts, or the Probate Process?

Our highly experienced probate lawyers at Arenstein & Andersen Co., LPA are here to help you with any legal matters pertaining to the probate court, whether you need help administering your loved one’s estate, have been named a trustee, or are in the midst of a guardianship dispute. We are well-versed in Ohio law as well as the probate court processes for Franklin, Delaware, and Union counties.

To schedule an appointment, call us at (614) 602-6550 or use our online contact form.