Ohio Probate Process: the Probate Court, Letters, the Six Month Claims Bar and the Account

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

This guide follows Title 21 of the Ohio Revised Code from the first filing to the final account. Each rule is cited to its section as it read on codes.ohio.gov on October 4, 2026, and the acts of the 136th General Assembly were checked for amendments to every section cited. It describes Ohio law in general terms and is not advice about any one estate.

The court: the probate division of the court of common pleas

The Supreme Court of Ohio's description of the judicial system says there is a court of common pleas in each of the 88 counties, and that specific courts of common pleas may be divided into separate divisions by the General Assembly, including general, domestic relations, juvenile and probate divisions. The Ohio Constitution of 1851 provided that probate courts were to be established as separate independent courts with jurisdiction over the probate of wills and supervision of the administration of estates and guardianships; in 1968, under the Modern Courts Amendment, the probate courts became divisions of the courts of common pleas. Probate divisions also issue marriage licenses and hear adoptions and competency matters. The statute calls the court the probate court and gives it exclusive jurisdiction to take the proof of wills, to grant and revoke letters testamentary and of administration, to direct and control the conduct and settle the accounts of executors and administrators and order the distribution of estates, to authorize the sale of lands on petition by executors and administrators, to construe wills, to hear will contests, and to hear applications to relieve an estate from administration or for a summary release (section 2101.24(A)(1)). It shares jurisdiction with the general division over actions involving an inter vivos trust, a payable on death or transfer on death designation, or a change in title to a joint and survivorship asset (section 2101.24(B)(1)), and it has plenary power at law and in equity to dispose fully of any matter properly before it (section 2101.24(C)). The Supreme Court's list of trial courts names the Columbus court the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Probate Division; the Columbus page describes that office.

Where the will is probated

A will is admitted to probate in the county in which the testator was domiciled at the time of death (section 2107.11(A)(1)). If the testator was not domiciled in Ohio, the will may be admitted in any Ohio county where real or personal property of the testator is located, provided it has not already been admitted in Ohio or in the state of domicile (section 2107.11(A)(2)). Letters of administration for an Ohio resident who dies without a will are granted by the probate court of the county of residence at death, and when a will is admitted, letters are granted by the court that admitted it (section 2113.01). A beneficiary who knows of a will for one year after the death, has the power to control it, and without reasonable cause withholds it or neglects to offer it for probate within that year takes nothing under it; the gift passes as if that beneficiary had died first (section 2107.10(A)).

Step 1: admitting the will

The probate court admits a will if it appears from the face of the will, or from the testimony of the witnesses if the court requires it, that the execution complies with the law in force where and when it was signed, with Ohio law at the testator's death, or with the law of the testator's domicile at death (section 2107.18). The Supreme Court of Ohio's standard probate forms for this step are form 2.0, Application to Probate Will, form 2.3, Entry Admitting Will to Probate, and form 1.0, the list of the surviving spouse, children, next of kin, legatees and devisees. Within two weeks of the admission, the fiduciary or the applicant gives notice of the probate to the surviving spouse, to everyone who would inherit if there were no will, and to every legatee and devisee named in the will; the notice mentions the probate and tells a named beneficiary that he or she is named, and a copy of the will need not be included (section 2107.19(A)(1)). Anyone entitled to notice may waive it in writing (section 2107.19(A)(2)). A certificate that notice was given or waived is filed within two months after the fiduciary's appointment, or within two months after the admission if no fiduciary has been appointed, unless the court extends the time; a late certificate exposes the fiduciary to the citation and penalties in section 2109.31 (section 2107.19(A)(4)). The Franklin County court's estates page adds that a will contest must be filed within three months after the filing of the certificate that all interested persons were given or waived notice. The will signing guide covers the execution rules.

A will can be deposited for safekeeping before death. The testator, or someone for the testator, may deposit the will in the office of the probate judge of the county where the testator lives, in a sealed envelope indorsed with the testator's name and, if desired, the name of the person to whom it is to be delivered after death; section 2107.07 states a fee of twenty-five dollars for the deposit and certificate, while the fee schedule in section 2101.16(A)(26) lists deposit of will at $5.00. The deposited will is not opened until delivered to a person entitled to receive it and is not a public record until an application to probate it is filed (section 2107.07).

Step 2: who is appointed and how

When a will is approved and allowed, the court issues letters testamentary to the executor named in the will if that person is suitable, competent, accepts the appointment and gives bond if one is required (section 2113.05). If no executor is named, or the named executor dies, declines, resigns or is disqualified, letters of administration with the will annexed go to a suitable devisee or legatee who would have been entitled to administer an intestate estate, unless the will indicates otherwise, and failing that to some other suitable person (section 2113.05). A named executor who refuses the trust, fails to appear after notice, or neglects for twenty days after probate to give a required bond is passed over for the other named executor or, if there is none, for an administrator with the will annexed (section 2113.12).

Without a will, administration is granted first to the surviving spouse, if a resident of Ohio, and then to one of the next of kin resident in Ohio (section 2113.06(A)). If those persons neither take nor renounce, the matter is set for hearing with notice to them (section 2113.06(B)); if none is entitled, suitable or timely, the court commits the administration to some suitable Ohio resident, who may be a creditor, or to the attorney general when the department of medicaid is seeking to recover the cost of medicaid services (section 2113.06(C)). An administrator must be an Ohio resident and is removed on proof that he or she has moved away (section 2109.21(A)). An executor named in a will may be a nonresident if related to the testator by blood or marriage, a private or family trust company, or a resident of a state whose law would appoint an unrelated nonresident; such an executor may not be refused or removed solely for nonresidence, though the court may require that the assets in the county stay there until distribution (section 2109.21(B)(1), as amended by House Bill 33 of the 135th General Assembly effective October 3, 2023).

Every applicant files an application stating the names and addresses of the surviving spouse and all known next of kin, a general statement of what the estate consists of and its probable value, and any debt the applicant owed the decedent; persons with priority either sign a waiver or are served notice so the court can learn whether they wish to take or renounce administration (section 2113.07). No letters of administration issue on an intestate estate until the applicant files a statement that he or she knows of no will (section 2113.07). The standard forms are form 4.0, Application for Authority to Administer Estate, form 4.3, Waiver of Right to Administer, and form 4.5, Entry Appointing Fiduciary and Letter of Authority. When there is delay in granting letters, the court may appoint a special administrator to collect and preserve the assets for the executor or administrator later appointed (section 2113.15).

Step 3: the bond

Unless otherwise provided by law, order or local rule, every fiduciary files, before letters issue, a bond in a penal sum fixed by the court of not less than double the probable value of the personal property and the annual real property rentals that will come under the fiduciary's control, signed by two or more personal sureties or one or more approved corporate sureties (section 2109.04(A)(1)). If the will dispenses with bond, the court appoints the fiduciary without bond unless it believes the interest of the estate demands one, in which case it may set any amount (section 2109.04(A)(2)). Even when letters are granted without bond, the court may later require one on its own motion or an interested party's application, and a fiduciary who fails to give it is removed (section 2109.04(C)). The standard form is form 4.2, Fiduciary's Bond.

Step 4: the inventory

Within three months after appointment, unless the court grants an extension for good cause, the executor or administrator files an inventory of the decedent's interest in Ohio real property and of the tangible and intangible personal property to be administered that has come to the fiduciary's possession or knowledge, with values as of the date of death (section 2115.02). An asset whose value is readily ascertainable need not be appraised but must be included (section 2115.02). The standard forms are form 6.0, Inventory and Appraisal, and form 6.1, Schedule of Assets; form 3.0 appoints an appraiser. A fiduciary who neglects to file the inventory, an account, the certificate of notice of probate or a report when due may be cited, and on failure to file by the appearance date the court may remove the fiduciary, deny fees, assess a penalty of one hundred dollars and twenty-five dollars in costs, or hold the fiduciary in contempt (section 2109.31).

The surviving spouse: the allowance and the election

A surviving spouse, minor children, or both are entitled to receive, in money or property, the sum of forty thousand dollars as an allowance for support; if the spouse selected more than one automobile under section 2106.18 the allowance is reduced by the value of the lowest valued automobile selected, and the property set off is considered an estate asset (section 2106.13(A)). The allowance goes entirely to the spouse when there are no minor children or when all the minor children are the spouse's; otherwise the court divides it in equitable shares, and the fiduciary must apply for that allocation within five months of appointment (section 2106.13(B) and (D)). The fiduciary pays the allowance unless the person entitled waives it (section 2106.13(E)). Separately, a surviving spouse may select one or more of the decedent's automobiles not otherwise passing by survivorship, transfer on death designation or specific bequest, up to a total value of sixty-five thousand dollars; those automobiles are not estate assets and are not inventoried (section 2106.18(A)).

After the initial appointment of an administrator or executor, the court issues a citation to the surviving spouse to elect whether to exercise the rights in chapter 2106, including the right to take under the will or under the intestacy statute, section 2105.06 (section 2106.01(A)). A spouse who elects against the will takes not more than one half of the net estate, or not more than one third if two or more of the decedent's children or their lineal descendants survive (section 2106.01(C)). The election must be made within five months from the date of the initial appointment unless the court extends the time on a motion filed within that period; a spouse who does nothing is conclusively presumed to take under the will (section 2106.01(E)). The standard forms are form 8.0, Citation to Surviving Spouse to Exercise Elective Rights, form 8.1 and form 8.2 for the two elections, and form 7.1, Application for Family Allowance. The spouse's rights guide covers these rights in detail.

Claims and the six month bar

All creditors having claims against an estate, whether due or not due, secured or unsecured, liquidated or unliquidated, present them after the fiduciary's appointment and before the final account in one of three ways: in a writing to the executor or administrator or to the attorney identified as counsel in the court records, in a writing to the probate court that includes the case number, or in a writing actually received by the fiduciary or that attorney within the time allowed, whoever it was addressed to (section 2117.06(A)(1)). All claims must be presented within six months after the death of the decedent, whether or not the estate is released from administration or an executor or administrator is appointed during that period, and every claim must state the claimant's address (section 2117.06(B)). A claim not presented within six months after the death is forever barred as to all parties, including devisees, legatees and distributees, except for contingent claims under sections 2117.37 to 2117.42 (section 2117.06(C)). The fiduciary allows or rejects each claim within thirty days after presentation, though a later decision is still effective (section 2117.06(D)).

Order of payment when the estate cannot pay everything

The executor or administrator proceeds with diligence to pay the debts and applies the assets in this order: costs and expenses of administration; up to four thousand dollars of funeral expenses in the funeral director's bill or approved by the court plus up to three thousand dollars of burial and cemetery expenses; the allowance for support under section 2106.13; debts with a preference under federal law; expenses of the last sickness; up to two thousand dollars more of a funeral director's bill above the first four thousand; expenses of the decedent's last continuous stay in a nursing home, residential facility or hospital long term care unit; personal property taxes, medicaid estate recovery claims and obligations to the state or its subdivisions; debts for manual labor performed within twelve months before death, up to three hundred dollars per person; and other debts for which claims were presented and finally allowed (section 2117.25(A)). No class is paid until the preceding class is fully paid or provided for, and if the assets cannot cover a class, its creditors are paid ratably (section 2117.25(E)).

Distributing early, and the fiduciary's own risk

At any time after appointment the fiduciary may distribute any part or all of the assets to the beneficiaries under the will, if no action to set it aside is pending, or to the heirs; each recipient is liable to return the assets if they are needed to satisfy a spouse who elects against the will or if the will is set aside (section 2113.53(A)). A distributee is personally liable to a claimant who presents a valid claim within the six month period, up to the amount received (section 2113.53(B)). A fiduciary who distributes before the spouse's election period runs is personally liable to a spouse who later elects against the will; one who distributes within three months after the death is liable only to claimants who present claims within those three months; and one who distributes between three months and one year after the death is liable only to claimants who presented before the distribution and within the six months (section 2113.53(C)). When an early distribution is made, the account delivered to each distributee must warn that the distributee may have to return all or part of it if a valid claim is later presented in time (section 2117.06(K)).

Real property: the certificate of transfer and sales

When real property passes by intestate succession or under a will, the fiduciary files, after the inventory and before the final account, an application for a certificate of transfer, and within five days of a complying application the court issues a certificate for record in each county where the land lies, reciting the decedent's name and date of death, whether there was a will, the case number, the names of the devisees or heirs and their interests, and a description of each parcel (section 2113.61(A) to (C)). Land the fiduciary sells is excepted, and in an estate relieved from administration the order directing the transfer may be substituted for the certificate (section 2113.61(A)(1)). If no administration was had and none is contemplated, an heir, devisee or successor may apply for the certificate in the probate court of the county of residence or where the land lies (section 2113.61(D)). The standard forms are form 12.0, Application for Certificate of Transfer, and form 12.1, Certificate of Transfer; the court's fee for the application, entry and certificate is $7 (section 2101.16(A)(67)).

When a fiduciary sells real property through a court action, the sale price is applied first to the costs and expenses of the sale, including attorney fees fixed by the court and any compensation the court fixes for the fiduciary, ahead of liens; second, if the estate is insolvent or the remaining property cannot pay the costs and fees of administering the entire estate, the court may fix which of those costs and fees, up to an aggregate of five thousand dollars, are paid ahead of liens placed on or after the amendment's effective date; then to taxes and assessments due against the property and to mortgages and judgments by their lien priority; and then to legacies charged on the land and to the claims and debts of the estate in the order provided by law (section 2127.38, as amended by House Bill 55 of the 136th General Assembly, effective May 27, 2026). The fee for a petition to sell real property is $25 (section 2101.16(A)(65)).

Step 5: the account and closing the estate

Every executor and administrator renders an account at the time and in the manner section 2109.301 prescribes (section 2109.30(A)). An account showing complete administration before distribution is a final account; one filed afterward showing distribution is an account of distribution; one showing both is a final and distributive account (section 2109.30(B)). The executor or administrator must collect the assets and complete the administration within six months after appointment unless an extension of the time to file the final and distributive account is authorized under section 2109.301(B) (section 2113.25). Within six months after appointment the fiduciary renders a final and distributive account unless an Ohio estate tax return must be filed, a will contest has been commenced, the surviving spouse has elected against the will, the fiduciary is a party in a civil action, the estate is insolvent, the will provides for a posthumously born heir, or the fiduciary shows other reasons, subject to court approval, that filing would be detrimental to the estate and its beneficiaries (section 2109.301(B)(1)). In every case an account is due not later than thirteen months after appointment, and then at least once a year until the estate is closed, unless partial accounts are waived in writing by all legatees, devisees or heirs when none is under a legal disability (section 2109.301(A) and (B)(4)). Each account itemizes all receipts, disbursements and distributions for the period and lists all funds, assets and investments on hand at its end (section 2109.301(A)).

When the sole legatee, devisee or heir is also the fiduciary, no partial accounts are required, and instead of a final account the fiduciary may file, within thirty days after completing the administration, a certificate of termination stating that all presented debts and claims have been paid or settled, that any required estate tax return has been filed and the tax paid, that all attorney and fiduciary fees have been waived or paid and in what amounts, and that all remaining assets have been distributed to that sole heir (section 2109.301(B)(2)). The sole heir may remain liable to creditors whose claims are presented after the certificate but within the six month period (section 2109.301(B)(3)).

Every account is set for hearing not earlier than thirty days after it is filed, and the fiduciary gives a copy to each heir of an intestate estate or each beneficiary of a testate estate, except one whose residence is unknown or who has already received a specific bequest and receipted for it (section 2109.32(A) and (B)(1)). The court will not approve the final account until three months have passed since the death and the surviving spouse has elected or the time to elect has expired (section 2109.32(B)(3)). If the court finds the fiduciary has fully and lawfully administered and distributed the estate, it orders the account approved and settled, may discharge the fiduciary and may terminate the surety bond; unless the court orders otherwise, the fiduciary is discharged without further order twelve months after approval of the final and distributive account (section 2109.32(A)). The standard forms are form 13.0, Fiduciary's Account, form 13.3, Entry Approving and Settling Account, form 13.4, Waiver of Partial Account, form 13.6, Certificate of Termination, and form 13.8, Application to Extend Administration. The Franklin County court's estates page summarizes the whole process in nine steps: file the application for authority and admit the will if there is one, appoint the fiduciary, gather assets and obtain appraisals, file the inventory, pay creditors, file estate and income tax returns and pay any tax, distribute the remaining assets, file accounts, and close the estate.

What the executor is paid and what the court charges

Executors and administrators are allowed fees on the personal property received and accounted for and on the proceeds of real property sold: four percent of the first one hundred thousand dollars, three percent of the amount above that up to four hundred thousand dollars, and two percent of everything above four hundred thousand dollars (section 2113.35(A)). They are also allowed one percent of the value of real property that is not sold, and one percent of the value of property not subject to administration that would have been includable in the Ohio estate tax had the decedent died on December 31, 2012, other than joint and survivorship property (section 2113.35(B)). These fees are full compensation for ordinary services, and after a hearing the court may deny or reduce them if the fiduciary has not faithfully discharged the duties (section 2113.35(C) and (D)).

The court's own fees are fixed by section 2101.16, which the General Assembly amended in House Bill 96, the state operating budget, with the probate fee changes effective September 30, 2025. The schedule lists, among others, $15 for probating a will and $5 for proof of notice to beneficiaries, $35 for the appointment of a fiduciary, $10 for an inventory with appraisement and $7 without, $12 for an account in addition to advertising charges, $7 for an account of distribution, $5 for the election of a surviving spouse, $60 for relieving an estate from administration or granting a summary release, $25 for a petition to sell real property, and $7 for the application, entry and certificate transferring real property (section 2101.16(A)). Thirty dollars of the appointment fee and twenty dollars of the release fee go to the county's indigent guardianship fund (section 2101.16(C)). The court may by rule require an advance deposit for costs of not more than one hundred twenty-five dollars when an application for appointment is made or a will is presented (section 2101.16(E)). The Franklin County court's estates page states a minimum deposit of $125, a recommended deposit of $250, and total costs typically under $230 depending on the case; it lists the court at 373 South High Street, 22nd Floor, Columbus, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with the cashier closing at 4:30 p.m. Other counties set their own deposits; the Columbus page describes the Franklin County office.

Smaller estates: release from administration

Not every estate needs letters. The court may relieve an estate from administration when the assets are thirty-five thousand dollars or less, or one hundred thousand dollars or less when a valid will leaves everything to the surviving spouse or the spouse takes everything by intestacy (section 2113.03(A)), and may grant a summary release where a person other than the spouse paid funeral and burial expenses and the estate is worth no more than the lesser of five thousand dollars or those expenses, or where the spouse's allowance for support plus up to five thousand dollars of funeral expenses covers the whole estate (section 2113.031(B)). An employer may pay up to five thousand dollars of a deceased employee's wages directly to the surviving spouse, an adult child or a parent without letters (section 2113.04). The small estates guide covers these procedures and the standard forms 5.0 to 5.11.

What passes outside probate

Several kinds of property never come to the executor. Real property covered by a transfer on death designation affidavit recorded with the county recorder before the owner's death vests in the named beneficiary at death (sections 5302.22(B), (C)(1) and (F)); the designation does not affect present ownership, may be revoked by recording a new affidavit, leaves liens untouched, is not testamentary and supersedes any attempted transfer by will or intestacy, and if no named or contingent beneficiary survives, the land falls into the probate estate (section 5302.23(B)(1), (4), (5), (8) and (9)). Transfer on death deeds recorded before December 28, 2009 remain valid (section 5302.24). The transfer on death guide covers the affidavit. A bank, savings and loan or credit union account may be made payable on death to a named beneficiary, with the owner keeping the right to withdraw and to change the beneficiary during life (section 2131.10). A motor vehicle, watercraft or outboard motor may be titled by two persons with right of survivorship or designated in beneficiary form on the title, and in either case passes to the survivor or beneficiary on presentation of the title and the death certificate to the clerk of courts, without being an estate asset (sections 2131.12, 2131.13 and 4505.10(C) and (D)).

Property the owner moved into a revocable living trust during life is held by the trustee under the trust's terms. The Ohio Trust Code defines a trust as revocable when the settlor can revoke it alone or with the consent of a person who holds no adverse interest (section 5801.01(R)); the capacity to create, amend, revoke or fund a revocable trust is the same as the capacity to make a will (section 5806.01); unless the trust's terms expressly make it irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it (section 5806.02(A)); and on revocation the trustee delivers the property as the settlor directs (section 5806.02(D)). The probate court shares jurisdiction over any action involving an inter vivos trust with the general division (section 2101.24(B)(1)(b)).

What a living trust changes

Property that was transferred into a living trust during life belongs to the trust, so it is not inventoried, accounted for or distributed by the executor. Property left outside the trust still goes through the steps above, which is why an Ohio trust package includes a pour-over will and funding instructions. See the Ohio living trust page for what the package includes and how it is signed.