Akron Living Trust: Summit County Probate Court and Deed Recording

By Rozsa Gyene, California estate planning attorney, State Bar of California #208356. Published October 4, 2026. Last reviewed October 4, 2026.

Which county this page covers

This page covers Summit County. The Summit County Probate Court gives its address as 209 South High Street, Akron, and the Fiscal Office's main office as the Ohio Building, 175 South Main Street, Akron, so both offices an Akron family deals with are in the city. Under Ohio Rev. Code 2107.11 a will is admitted to probate "In the county in this state in which the testator was domiciled at the time of the testator's death", and a memorandum of trust is recorded "in the office of the county recorder of any county in which real property that is subject to the trust is located" (5301.255). An Akron address that lies in another county is served by that county's probate court and recorder.

The Summit County Probate Court

The court's estates page, "My Loved One Has Passed", explains what it handles: "When a person dies, some assets automatically transfer to named beneficiaries like life insurance or investment accounts; others can transfer outside of probate, such as joint and survivorship real estate or property recorded to transfer on death. All other property, real or personal, must be transferred through Probate court." It adds that "the Court recommends that all fiduciaries seek legal counsel". The statutory basis is Ohio Rev. Code 2101.24(A)(1), which gives the probate court exclusive jurisdiction "To take the proof of wills", "To grant and revoke letters testamentary and of administration" and to hear applications "for an order relieving an estate from administration under section 2113.03" or "granting a summary release from administration under section 2113.031".

Deposits for court costs (Appendix A)

The court's Court Costs page says "Appendix A lists all Court costs related to Probate filings", that the court "accepts cashier's check, money order, in-state checks, e-checks, cash and credit cards (no American Express)", and, on the home page, that "A filing fee of $10 must be paid for each adversarial motion filed in any case in the Court." Appendix A, "Deposits for Court Costs", effective January 1, 2015 and amended through March 18, 2024, lists:

These are deposits, not the statute's line items. Ohio Rev. Code 2101.16, amended by House Bill 96 of the 136th General Assembly (effective September 30, 2025), fixes the probate court's charges at $15.00 for "Probating will", $60.00 for relieving an estate from administration under 2113.03 or granting a summary release under 2113.031, $5.00 for "Deposit of will" and $7.00 for the "Transfer of real property, application, entry, and certificate", and its division (E) allows a court rule requiring "an advance deposit for costs, not to exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars" when an executor or administrator applies or a will is presented. The court's Will Deposit page prices the safekeeping deposit at $25.00, says "If you use a credit card, a 3% charge will be added", and that "There is no fee for removing a deposited will."

Which estate filing applies

The estates page says "The value of each estate's assets determines the type of estate filing that is required" and sorts them this way: a "Short Form Release from Administration" when "the deceased person's estate is valued at $4,500 or less, and the funeral bill is paid"; a "Summary Release from Administration" when the estate is under the lesser of $5,000 or the funeral and burial expenses and the applicant paid or must pay the funeral bill, or when "there is a surviving spouse, assets are under $45,000, and the decedent's funeral and burial expenses have been prepaid, paid by the surviving spouse (or the spouse is obligated in writing to pay the funeral bill)"; a "Release from Administration" when "there is no surviving spouse and assets are under $35,000 or there is a surviving spouse and assets are under $100,000"; and "Full Administration" above those figures or when "a Wrongful Death/Litigation Action has been filed with the Court".

The release figures come from Ohio Rev. Code 2113.03 (effective January 13, 2012, Senate Bill 124 of the 129th General Assembly): an estate may be released when "The value of the assets of the estate is thirty-five thousand dollars or less", or when it "is one hundred thousand dollars or less" and the decedent left all of it by will to the surviving spouse, or died intestate and the spouse "is entitled to receive all of the assets of the decedent's estate under section 2105.06". The court "may enter an order relieving the estate from administration and directing delivery of personal property and transfer of real property to the persons entitled". For a full administration the page lists the steps, from the notice of death and application to administer through the inventory, "due ninety (90) days after appointment", payment of creditors and the final account, and says "The average estate should be finalized within thirteen months of the date of appointment of the fiduciary." Real estate may be valued from "a printout from the County Fiscal Office of the property tax appraisal for the year of the decedent's death" or by an appraiser from the court's list. The Ohio release from administration guide covers the forms.

The allowance for support

Ohio Rev. Code 2106.13 (effective August 17, 2021, House Bill 7 of the 134th General Assembly) gives a surviving spouse, minor children or both "the sum of forty thousand dollars as an allowance for support", paid "one hundred per cent to the surviving spouse" when the decedent left no minor children or only the spouse's children, and otherwise in shares the court fixes. The allowance "shall be considered estate assets", and the summary release for a spouse under 2113.031 is measured against it: the spouse qualifies when the estate does not exceed the allowance plus up to $5,000 of funeral and burial expenses, which is the $45,000 figure on the court's page.

Filing by e-mail

The court's eFiling page says documents "shall be transmitted to the court by e-mail in PDF format" to eFiling@summitohioprobate.com, but that "Any pleading or document necessary to commence a proceeding" and "Any document filed by e-mail that requires a fee at the time of filing" (unless funds are on deposit) may not be filed that way, so a new estate is opened at the counter or by mail.

Recording a deed with the Summit County Fiscal Office

Summit County has no separate recorder's office. The Fiscal Office's home page says "The Summit County Fiscal Office is made up of the divisions of Auditor, Recorder, and Treasurer", and its Recorder Division page explains that "In 1991, a charter amendment was passed in Summit County to merge the Recorder's Office with the county Auditor's office beginning in 1997. In 2001, the voters passed a charter amendment to merge the county Auditor's office with the county Treasurer's office into a new office." The Recorder Division "is responsible for the safekeeping of vital records pertaining to ownership in real estate", including "deeds, mortgages, easements, plats, financial statements, releases and assignments, land contracts and condominiums".

Ohio Rev. Code 317.32 (effective October 24, 2024, Senate Bill 94 of the 135th General Assembly) sets "A base fee of seventeen dollars for the first two pages and a housing trust fund fee of seventeen dollars, and a base fee of four dollars and a housing trust fund fee of four dollars for each subsequent page", which is the $34.00 and $8.00 on the Fiscal Office's page, and lets a county also charge "A document preservation surcharge of up to five dollars". The Fiscal Office's fee page lists $34.00 and does not mention a surcharge; confirm the total with the Recording Division before you send a check.

The Recording Guide asks you to "Properly title, date and execute the document including typed names and titles beneath all signatures", to "Properly witness and/or acknowledge all documents according to the laws of the State of Ohio, including a complete and legible notary seal and expiration date", to "Include the complete legal description of the property with all initial recordings", to "Include the name and address of who prepared the documents and the address of where the documents are to be returned", to "Include applicable taxes and be sure to issue a separate check for recording fees", and to "Include a self addressed stamped envelope to ensure return of the document." The FAQ on changing the name on a deed says "a new deed must be prepared and recorded. Ohio law states only the individual requesting the change or an attorney can prepare the new deed", after which the deed "must be presented to the Fiscal Office Property Transfer Department for approval of the legal description contained in the new deed and for the transfer to the new name" before "recordation in the Recording Department".

The Property Transfer Department and the conveyance fee

The Fiscal Office's Property Transfer page says "The Property Transfer Department approves the legal descriptions contained in a Transfer of Title document as well as the conveyance of the property", and that it accepts two forms, DTE Form 100, "Real Property Conveyance Fee Statement of Value and Receipt", and DTE Form 100 (EX), "Statement of Reason for Exemption from Real Property Conveyance Fee", citing "Ohio Revised Code Sec. 319.202 and 319.54 (G)(3)". To finish the transfer the same business day, "properly prepared forms must be received by the Property Transfer Department for approval of the legal description by 3:30PM". Under 319.202 the grantee submits the statement of value or, where the transfer is exempt under 319.54(G)(3), "only a statement of the reason for the exemption", and the auditor "shall indorse each conveyance on its face to indicate the amount of the conveyance fee and compliance with this section". Among the exemptions in 319.54(G)(3) is a transfer "To a trustee of a trust, when the grantor of the trust has reserved an unlimited power to revoke the trust". That exemption covers only the (G)(3) fee; 319.54(G)(2) separately charges "fifty cents for each transfer or entry" of a lot or part of a lot, which is the lot fee the Fiscal Office's page charges "for both a non-exempt and exempt transfer".

The county's conveyance standards, adopted by the Fiscal Officer and the County Engineer under Ohio Rev. Code 319.203, have a short section on trusts: "Transfers to and from trusts that are not exempt from conveyance fees require no supporting documentation regarding the trust. If the transfer is claimed to be exempt documentation will be required as set out in the following section." That section says that when DTE Form 100 (EX) is used "Summit County may require proof of the reason for exemption". The standards also want each grantor's and grantee's full name in the form first name, middle initial if any, last name (their example of the right form is "Richard A. Smith and Linda L. Smith"), a metes and bounds description or a reference to a recorded plat "physically printed on the document", type at least as large as 12 point Times New Roman, and paper between 8 1/2 by 11 and 24 by 36 inches.

The memorandum of trust after Senate Bill 101

Senate Bill 101 of the 136th General Assembly, effective June 16, 2026, amended Ohio Rev. Code 317.08 and 5301.255 "to require a memorandum of trust or other qualifying instrument concerning real property to be recorded". Under 5301.255(A) as amended, a memorandum of trust executed and acknowledged by the trustee that states the trustee's name and address, "The date of execution of the trust" and the trustee's powers over real property "shall be of record when any interest in real property is conveyed by the trustee of a disclosed trust", and otherwise "may be presented" for recording. The recorder records it under 317.08(A)(17) if it describes specific real property or (A)(23) if it does not, on "payment of the requisite fee prescribed in section 317.32". Recording the deed into the trust does not itself require a memorandum, but a later sale or conveyance by the trustee does.

What a living trust changes for an Akron homeowner

The Summit County Probate Court sorts an estate by the value of what the decedent owned outright, from the $37.00 short-form release to the $275.00 full administration with its inventory, creditor period and final account. A home deeded to the trustee of a revocable living trust during the owner's life sits outside that sort: at death it passes under the trust document, and the probate court's jurisdiction over "Any action that involves an inter vivos trust" is concurrent with the general division and is used only if someone brings a case (2101.24(B)(1)(b)). The work is done while the owner is alive, through the Fiscal Office's Property Transfer Department with a DTE 100 (EX) and the 50 cent lot fee, then the Recording Division's $34.00 for two pages. Anything the owner leaves in his or her own name follows the steps in the Ohio probate process guide.