Estate planning rules in Ohio

Wills

An Ohio will, except an oral will, must be written and signed at the end by the testator or by another person acting in the testator's conscious presence and at the testator's express direction. Ohio excludes sight or sound conveyed through telephonic, electronic or other distant communication from conscious presence.

Real property transfers at death

Ohio allows an individual owner, tenant in common or survivorship tenant to designate all or part of an interest in real property for transfer at death by affidavit. The affidavit must be recorded with the county recorder before the owner's death to take effect.

A successor trustee is treated as the beneficiary when a named transfer-on-death beneficiary is a trustee whom the owner replaced by the date of death. The rule applies to compliance with this division of Ohio law.

Powers of attorney and digital assets

An Ohio power of attorney is durable unless it expressly ends upon the principal's incapacity. The rule appears in Ohio Revised Code sections 1337.21 to 1337.64.

Ohio defines a digital asset as an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. An underlying asset or liability is excluded unless that asset or liability is itself an electronic record.

Release from estate administration

Ohio permits release of an estate from administration when the estate's assets meet the applicable statutory threshold. The threshold is $100,000 or less when additional conditions apply.

Release from administration does not remove any duty to file an Ohio estate tax return and certificate. Delivery of personal property or transfer of real property under an order relieving the estate remains subject to creditor claim limitations in divisions (B) and (C) of Ohio Revised Code section 2117.06.

Thresholds and rates change. Check the state's own current figures.

Common questions