Ohio Trust Terms, Defined

Reviewed against the Ohio Statutes on 2026-10-15. General information, not legal advice; the official text controls.

Ohio Trust Code: Ohio's enactment of the Uniform Trust Code — R.C. Chapters 5801 to 5811, which may be cited as the Ohio trust code (R.C. 5801.011), in force since January 1, 2007. The common law of trusts and principles of equity continue to apply except as the code modifies them (R.C. 5801.05), and the terms of a trust prevail over the code except for the rules R.C. 5801.04(B) lists. Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee Duties After Death
Probate court: The probate division of the court of common pleas in each of Ohio's eighty-eight counties (R.C. 2101.01(B)). It has exclusive jurisdiction over wills, estates, guardianships and testamentary trustees (R.C. 2101.24(A)) and concurrent jurisdiction with the general division, with the same powers at law and in equity, over any action that involves an inter vivos trust (R.C. 5802.03(A); R.C. 2101.24(B)(1)(b)). Guide: Ohio Probate, Explained
Settlor: A person, including a testator, who creates or contributes property to a trust; where more than one person does, each is the settlor of the portion attributable to that person's contribution (R.C. 5801.01(S)). A settlor's capacity to create, amend or revoke a revocable trust is the capacity to make a will (R.C. 5806.01).
Trustee: The person who holds and administers the trust property — an original, additional or successor trustee or a cotrustee (R.C. 5801.01(X)). On accepting a trusteeship, a trustee administers the trust in good faith, in accordance with its terms and purposes and the interests of the beneficiaries (R.C. 5808.01), as a prudent person would, with reasonable care, skill and caution (R.C. 5808.04). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee Duties After Death
Successor trustee: The trustee who fills a vacancy — when a designated trustee rejects, cannot be identified, resigns, is disqualified or removed, dies, or has a guardian appointed (R.C. 5807.04(A)). A vacancy that must be filled is filled by the person the terms designate, then by a person someone the terms name appoints, then by the qualified beneficiaries' unanimous agreement, then by the court (R.C. 5807.04(C)); a successor's responsibility for the prior administration is governed by R.C. 5815.24 (R.C. 5808.12). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee: Accepting the Role
Acceptance of the trusteeship: A designated trustee accepts by substantially complying with the instrument's method or, where none is exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance (R.C. 5807.01(A)); a designee who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation is deemed to have rejected (R.C. 5807.01(B)). The acceptance notice runs sixty days from it (R.C. 5808.13(B)(2)). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee: Accepting the Role
Letters of trusteeship: The Ohio Trust Code provides none for the trustee of a living trust: an inter vivos trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it (R.C. 5802.01(B)), and the trustee furnishes a certification of trust to third parties instead of the instrument (R.C. 5810.13). A testamentary trustee under the probate court accounts to it (R.C. 2109.303).
Beneficiary: A person with a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent, a person who in a capacity other than trustee holds a power of appointment over trust property, or a charitable organization the terms expressly designate to receive distributions (R.C. 5801.01(C)).
Current beneficiary: A beneficiary that, on the date the beneficiary's qualification is determined, is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal (R.C. 5801.01(F)). Ohio's two notices, the duty to keep beneficiaries informed and the trustee's report run to the current beneficiaries (R.C. 5808.13(A), (B), (C)); any other beneficiary who has requested notice also receives it (R.C. 5801.09(A)).
Qualified beneficiary: A beneficiary who, on the date of determination, is a distributee or permissible distributee of trust income or principal, would be one if the current distributees' interests ended that day without ending the trust, or would be one if the trust terminated that day (R.C. 5801.01(Q)). The qualified beneficiaries receive a trustee's resignation notice (R.C. 5807.05(A)), appoint a successor when the instrument does not (R.C. 5807.04(C)(3)), and receive notice before an uneconomic trust is terminated or trusts are combined or divided (R.C. 5804.14(A), 5804.17).
Beneficiary surrogate: A person other than a trustee whom the settlor designates in the trust instrument to receive the notices, information and reports otherwise owed to a current beneficiary (R.C. 5801.01(D)). Designating a surrogate is the only way the settlor may waive or modify the existence and acceptance notices and the duty to respond to a current beneficiary who has attained twenty-five (R.C. 5801.04(B)(8), (9), (C)); the surrogate acts in good faith to protect that beneficiary's interests.
Representation: Notice to a person who may represent and bind another has the same effect as notice to the other (R.C. 5803.01(A)): absent a conflict of interest, a guardian of the estate or person, an agent with authority over the question, a trustee for the beneficiaries, a personal representative for the persons interested in an estate, and a parent for a minor or unborn child (R.C. 5803.03); a person with a substantially identical interest may represent a minor, incapacitated, unborn or unknown person (R.C. 5803.04); the court may appoint a representative (R.C. 5803.05).
Revocable trust: A trust revocable at the time of determination by the settlor alone or with the consent of a person without an adverse interest, whether or not the settlor has capacity (R.C. 5801.01(R)); unless the terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it (R.C. 5806.02(A)). While the settlor lives, the trustee's duties — including the duties to inform and report — are owed exclusively to the settlor (R.C. 5806.03(A)). Guide: The Ohio Revocable Living Trust, Explained
Irrevocable trust: A trust that cannot be revoked — because its terms say so (R.C. 5806.02(A)) or because the settlor has died. Within sixty days after the trustee acquires knowledge of the creation of an irrevocable trust, or that a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable, the trustee notifies the current beneficiaries of its existence (R.C. 5808.13(B)(3)); the trustee's report follows at least annually and at the termination (R.C. 5808.13(C)). Guide: The Ohio Irrevocable Trust, Explained
Acceptance notice: The first of Ohio's two notices: within sixty days after accepting a trusteeship, notice to the current beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee's name, address and telephone number (R.C. 5808.13(B)(2)) — for a trustee who accepts on or after January 1, 2007 (R.C. 5808.13(F)), and owed to the settlor alone while the settlor of a revocable trust lives (R.C. 5808.13(G)). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee: Accepting the Role
Existence notice: The second of Ohio's two notices: within sixty days after the date the trustee acquires knowledge of the creation of an irrevocable trust, or knowledge that a formerly revocable trust has become irrevocable by the settlor's death or otherwise, notice to the current beneficiaries of the trust's existence, the identity of the settlor or settlors, the right to request a copy of the trust instrument and the right to a trustee's report (R.C. 5808.13(B)(3)). The clock is the trustee's knowledge, not the event; a beneficiary surrogate may receive it in a current beneficiary's place (R.C. 5801.04(C)). Guide: Successor Trustee After a Death in Ohio: First Steps
Trustee's report: What a trustee sends the current beneficiaries, and other beneficiaries who request it, at least annually and at the termination of the trust: a report of the trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee's compensation, a listing of the trust assets and, if feasible, their market values (R.C. 5808.13(C)). On a vacancy, unless a cotrustee remains, the former trustee reports for the period served. Guide: Ohio Trust Accounting Requirements
Duty to inform: A trustee keeps the current beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration and the material facts necessary to protect their interests, and, unless unreasonable under the circumstances, promptly responds to a beneficiary's request for information related to the administration (R.C. 5808.13(A)); on request the trustee promptly furnishes a copy of the trust instrument — redacted to the provisions relevant to the beneficiary's interest unless the whole is expressly requested (R.C. 5808.13(B)(1)). Guide: Ohio Trust Accounting Requirements
Waiver of the report: A beneficiary may waive the right to a trustee's report or other information the statute requires, and may withdraw a waiver previously given as to future reports and information (R.C. 5808.13(D)); the trustee may provide information to beneficiaries it is not required to inform (R.C. 5808.13(E)). Guide: Ohio Trust Accounting Requirements
Court account (testamentary trustee): What a testamentary trustee under the probate court renders at least once in each two years, at any other time the court orders for good cause, and finally within thirty days after completing the administration: an itemized statement of receipts, disbursements and distributions, verified by vouchers, and of the funds, assets and investments at the period's end, principal and income separately identified (R.C. 2109.303(A)). A fiduciary whose account is thirty days late after the court's notice may be removed (R.C. 2109.24).
Certification of trust: A statement the trustee may furnish to a person other than a beneficiary instead of the trust instrument: that the trust exists and the date it was executed, the settlor's identity, the identity and address of the currently acting trustee, the trustee's powers, the trust's revocability and anyone holding a power to revoke, and the cotrustees' authority to sign and whether all or fewer are required (R.C. 5810.13(A)). Any trustee may sign it; it states that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in a way that would make it incorrect, and need not contain the dispositive terms (R.C. 5810.13(B), (C), (D)); a person relying on it without knowledge that it is incorrect is protected (R.C. 5810.13(G)). Guide: Ohio Trustee Powers (R.C. 5808.15, 5808.16)
Memorandum of trust: An instrument executed and acknowledged by the trustee that states the trustee's name and address, the date the trust was executed and the trust's powers over the acquisition, sale, encumbrance or conveyance of real property with any restrictions on them; it is of record with the county recorder when a trustee of a disclosed trust conveys any interest in real property, and constitutes notice only of what it contains (R.C. 5301.255). Guide: The Home After a Death in Ohio
Duty of loyalty: A trustee administers the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries (R.C. 5808.02(A)); a transaction involving trust property entered into for the trustee's own account, or affected by a conflict between fiduciary and personal interests, is voidable by an affected beneficiary unless the terms, the court, the limitation period or the beneficiary's consent or release protect it (R.C. 5808.02(B)), and a transaction with the trustee's spouse, close relatives, agent or attorney, or an enterprise the trustee has an interest in, is presumed conflicted (R.C. 5808.02(C)). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee Duties After Death
Prudent administration: A trustee administers the trust as a prudent person would, considering the purposes, terms, distributional requirements and other circumstances of the trust, with reasonable care, skill and caution (R.C. 5808.04); incurs only costs appropriate and reasonable in relation to the assets, the purposes and the trustee's skills (R.C. 5808.05); and uses any special skills or expertise the trustee has or was named for (R.C. 5808.06). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee Duties After Death
Ohio Uniform Prudent Investor Act: R.C. Chapter 5809 with the sections it incorporates (R.C. 5809.01(A)): a trustee invests and manages trust assets as a prudent investor would, considering the trust's purposes, terms, distribution requirements and circumstances, with reasonable care, skill and caution, judging each decision in the context of the portfolio as a whole (R.C. 5809.02); diversifies unless special circumstances make the purposes better served without diversifying (R.C. 5809.03); reviews the assets within a reasonable time after accepting (R.C. 5809.04); and is judged without hindsight (R.C. 5809.05). Guide: Ohio Trustee Powers (R.C. 5808.15, 5808.16)
Impartiality: Where a trust has two or more beneficiaries, the trustee acts impartially in investing, managing and distributing the trust property, giving due regard to the beneficiaries' respective interests (R.C. 5808.03). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee Duties After Death
Delegation: A trustee may delegate duties and powers a prudent trustee of comparable skills could properly delegate, exercising reasonable care, skill and caution in selecting the agent, setting the scope and terms of the delegation and periodically reviewing the agent's actions (R.C. 5808.07(A)); investment and management functions are delegated the same way (R.C. 5809.06); a trustee who complies is not liable for the agent's decisions (R.C. 5808.07(C)). Guide: Ohio Trustee Powers (R.C. 5808.15, 5808.16)
Cotrustees: Trustees serving together. Three or more cotrustees may act by majority decision (R.C. 5807.03(A)); a cotrustee participates in a trustee's function unless unavailable or having properly delegated it; the remaining cotrustees act during a vacancy; each trustee exercises reasonable care to prevent a cotrustee's serious breach, except where R.C. 5815.25 applies or more than one other trustee acts by majority; a dissenting trustee who joins at the majority's direction after notifying a cotrustee is not liable (R.C. 5807.03). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee: Accepting the Role
Excluded fiduciary: A fiduciary whose instrument reserves to the grantor, or vests in an advisory or investment committee or another person, a power — such as directing investments or authorizing the fiduciary's proposed acts — to the fiduciary's exclusion; the excluded fiduciary is not liable for a loss from complying with an authorized direction or from a failure to act where it timely sought but did not obtain the required authorization (R.C. 5815.25(C)). An administrative fiduciary confined to the administrative duties the instrument names has no other duties (R.C. 5815.25(B)).
Power to direct: A power the terms of a trust confer on a trustee or another person — including a power to direct the trust's modification or termination; except as the terms provide, a person other than a beneficiary who holds a power to direct is presumptively a fiduciary who acts in good faith toward the trust's purposes and the beneficiaries' interests and is liable for a loss from a breach (R.C. 5808.08(C), (D)). Ohio has no directed trust act; its rule is R.C. 5815.25.
Trustee's compensation: Where the terms do not specify it, compensation reasonable under the circumstances; where they do, as specified, but the court may allow more or less if the trustee's duties are substantially different from those contemplated or the specified compensation is unreasonably low or high (R.C. 5807.08) — a power the instrument cannot remove (R.C. 5801.04(B)(7)). The trustee notifies the current beneficiaries in advance of any change in the method or rate (R.C. 5808.13(B)(4)) and is reimbursed for expenses properly incurred (R.C. 5807.09). Guide: Ohio Trustee Compensation (R.C. 5807.08)
Spendthrift provision: A term restraining both voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary's interest (R.C. 5801.01(T)) — "spendthrift trust" or words of similar import suffice (R.C. 5805.01(B)); a creditor or assignee may not reach the interest or a distribution before the beneficiary receives it (R.C. 5805.01(C)), except a child's or spouse's support judgment where distributions can be made for the beneficiary's support, and a claim of the state or the United States (R.C. 5805.02(B)); it is enforceable against a former spouse (R.C. 5805.02(C)). Guide: Ohio Asset Protection: The Basics
Wholly discretionary trust: An irrevocable trust whose distributions to a beneficiary may or shall be made only at the trustee's discretion, described as sole, absolute or uncontrolled, with no standards to guide it and no power of withdrawal, where the beneficiary is not the settlor, the trustee or a cotrustee and cannot become one (R.C. 5801.01(Y)). No creditor or assignee of such a beneficiary may reach the interest or a distribution before receipt by any means (R.C. 5805.03), and no reasonableness standard applies to the trustee's distribution decisions (R.C. 5808.14(A)). Guide: Types of Trusts in Ohio
Settlor's creditors: During the settlor's lifetime the property of a revocable trust is subject to the claims of the settlor's creditors, and a creditor of the settlor of an irrevocable trust may reach the maximum amount distributable to or for the settlor's benefit, subject to the Ohio Legacy Trust Act (R.C. 5805.06(A)); the holder of a power of withdrawal is treated as the settlor of a revocable trust to that extent (R.C. 5805.06(B)(1)). The section states no rule for the trust's liability after the settlor's death. Guide: Ohio Asset Protection: The Basics
Legacy trust: A trust under the Ohio Legacy Trust Act — evidenced by a written instrument, with at least one qualified trustee, expressly governed by Ohio law, expressly irrevocable and with a spendthrift provision covering every beneficiary's interest including the transferor's (R.C. 5816.02(K)); no creditor may bring an action against the trust's property, its trustee or the person who made or received a qualified disposition, except to avoid a qualified disposition made with specific intent to defraud that creditor, within the periods R.C. 5816.07 sets. Guide: Ohio Asset Protection: The Basics
Private settlement agreement: A written agreement among two or more of the settlor, the beneficiaries, the serving trustees and affected creditors — or their representatives — on any matter concerning the construction, administration or distributions of the trust or the investment of its property, including resolving disputes, granting the trustee powers and modifying the terms where not inconsistent with a material purpose; it may not terminate the trust early or include terms a court could not approve, and any party may ask the court to approve it (R.C. 5801.10).
Decanting: A trustee with absolute power to distribute principal to one or more current beneficiaries may distribute to the trustee of a second trust for their benefit; a trustee with a narrower power may do so only where the second trust does not materially change the beneficiaries' interests; neither may defeat a mandatory distribution right or a tax benefit; the exercise is by a signed writing, with written notice to all current beneficiaries at least thirty days before the distribution unless they waive it (R.C. 5808.18). Guide: Ohio Trustee Powers (R.C. 5808.15, 5808.16)
Uneconomic trust: An inter vivos trust whose property totals less than one hundred thousand dollars; after notice to the qualified beneficiaries, the trustee may terminate it on concluding that the value is insufficient to justify the cost of administration, and the court may modify or terminate it on the same finding, the property passing under any premature-termination provision or else equitably among the beneficiaries according to their interests (R.C. 5804.14). Guide: Ohio Trust Termination: The Trustee's Closing Steps
Judicial modification: A court may modify or terminate a noncharitable irrevocable trust on the settlor's and all beneficiaries' consent even against a material purpose, or on the beneficiaries' consent where not inconsistent with one (R.C. 5804.11); modify or terminate a trust because of circumstances the settlor did not anticipate (R.C. 5804.12); apply cy pres to a charitable trust (R.C. 5804.13); reform the terms for a proven mistake (R.C. 5804.15); and modify them to achieve the settlor's tax objectives (R.C. 5804.16). Guide: The Ohio Irrevocable Trust, Explained
Resignation: A trustee may resign on at least thirty days' notice to the qualified beneficiaries, the settlor if living and all cotrustees, or with the court's approval (R.C. 5807.05(A)); the resignation does not discharge the trustee's liability for prior acts (R.C. 5807.05(C)), and the departing trustee keeps the duties and powers needed to protect the property until it is delivered, and delivers it expeditiously (R.C. 5807.07). A court-appointed fiduciary resigns only by order after fifteen days' notice (R.C. 2109.24). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee: Accepting the Role
Removal: The settlor, a cotrustee or a beneficiary may ask the court to remove a trustee, or the court may act on its own, for a serious breach of trust, a lack of cooperation among cotrustees that substantially impairs the administration, or unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure to administer effectively where removal best serves the beneficiaries (R.C. 5807.06); the court may order protective relief under R.C. 5810.01(B) meanwhile.
Breach of trust and remedies: A trustee's violation of a duty owed to a beneficiary is a breach of trust; the court may compel performance, enjoin a breach, compel redress, order an accounting, appoint a special fiduciary, suspend or remove the trustee, reduce or deny compensation, void an act or impose a lien or constructive trust, or order other relief (R.C. 5810.01). The trustee is liable for the greater of the amount needed to restore the trust and the profit made (R.C. 5810.02). Guide: Ohio Successor Trustee Duties After Death
Exculpatory term: A term relieving a trustee of liability for breach of trust, unenforceable to the extent it relieves the trustee of liability for a breach committed in bad faith or with reckless indifference to the trust's purposes or the beneficiaries' interests, or was inserted through the trustee's abuse of a fiduciary or confidential relationship with the settlor (R.C. 5810.08) — a rule the instrument cannot displace (R.C. 5801.04(B)(10)).
Limitation period: A beneficiary may not sue a trustee for breach of trust more than two years after being sent a report that adequately discloses the existence of a potential claim and states the time allowed for commencing a proceeding (R.C. 5810.05(A)); where that rule does not apply, within four years after the first of the trustee's removal, resignation or death, the termination of the beneficiary's interest, the termination of the trust, or the time the beneficiary knew or should have known of the breach (R.C. 5810.05(C)). Guide: Ohio Trust Accounting Requirements
Contest period: An action to contest the validity of a revocable trust made irrevocable by the settlor's death, of a lifetime amendment, revocation or transfer, is commenced by the earlier of two years after the death or six months after the trustee sends the person a copy of the instrument with a notice of the trust's existence, the trustee's name and address and the time allowed (R.C. 5806.04(A)). The trustee may distribute without liability unless it knows of a pending contest or a potential contestant's written notification is followed by a filing within ninety days (R.C. 5806.04(B)). Guide: Successor Trustee After a Death in Ohio: First Steps
Distribution on termination: On the terminating event the trustee proceeds expeditiously to distribute the trust property to the persons entitled, subject to a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses and taxes (R.C. 5808.17(B)); a proposal for distribution that states the right to object and the thirty days allowed ends a beneficiary's objection after that period (R.C. 5808.17(A)); a deceased beneficiary's share goes to the open estate's personal representative, or, on the statute's conditions, directly to the heirs or devisees (R.C. 5808.17(D)). Guide: Ohio Trust Termination: The Trustee's Closing Steps
Optional closing process: The process of R.C. 5801.20 to 5801.24, which a trustee may but need not use when concluding an irrevocable trust's administration (R.C. 5801.21): a written notice with trustee's reports for the applicable reporting period served on the necessary parties, a forty-five-day objection period, and, absent a timely objection, a bar of claims against the trustee with the preclusive effect of a court's order settling a full account (R.C. 5801.22 for terminating distributions; R.C. 5801.23 for a trustee's resignation or removal; R.C. 5801.24 for service). Guide: Ohio Trust Termination: The Trustee's Closing Steps
Methods of notice: Notice or a document under the Ohio Trust Code is given in a manner reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt — first-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the person's last known residence or place of business, or a properly directed electronic message (R.C. 5801.08(A)); not required to a person whose identity or location is unknown and not reasonably ascertainable (R.C. 5801.08(B)); the recipient may waive it (R.C. 5801.08(C)).
Persons dealing with a trustee: A person other than a beneficiary who in good faith assists a trustee, or in good faith and for value deals with one, without knowledge that the trustee is exceeding or improperly exercising the powers is protected as if the power were properly exercised, and need not inquire into the powers or ensure the proper application of assets delivered (R.C. 5810.12).
Estate creditors' claims: Every claim against a decedent's estate is presented within six months after the death, whether or not an executor or administrator is appointed, in a writing to the fiduciary or the fiduciary's attorney of record, or to the probate court with the case number; a claim not so presented is forever barred as to everyone, including devisees and distributees, except the contingent claims the chapter's own sections govern (R.C. 2117.06(B), (C)). The Medicaid estate recovery program's claim has its own period (R.C. 2117.061(D)). Guide: Ohio Probate, Explained
Medicaid estate recovery notice: The person responsible for the estate of a decedent who received Medicaid, or of such a decedent's spouse, submits the Medicaid estate recovery notice form to the program's administrator within thirty days after letters are granted or a release from administration is applied for; the program presents its claim within the later of ninety days after receiving the form or one year after the death (R.C. 2117.061). An "estate" for recovery includes property passing by survivorship, life estate or living trust (R.C. 5162.21(A)(1)).
Surviving spouse's election: After the initial appointment of an executor or administrator, the probate court cites the surviving spouse to elect whether to take under the will or under R.C. 2105.06; the spouse electing against the will takes not more than one-half of the net estate, or one-third where two or more of the decedent's children or their descendants survive, and is treated as having predeceased for the testator's inter vivos trust unless the instrument provides otherwise; the election is made not later than five months from the initial appointment (R.C. 2106.01). Guide: Ohio Will vs. Revocable Living Trust: How They Compare
Dower: A life estate in one third of the real property of which the deceased spouse was seized as an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage, which terminates at the death except as to property the deceased spouse conveyed or encumbered during the marriage without the surviving spouse's release; in lieu of the dower that terminates, the surviving spouse takes the distributive share of R.C. 2105.06 (R.C. 2103.02). Guide: The Home After a Death in Ohio
Allowance for support: The $40,000 in money or property the surviving spouse, the minor children or both are entitled to receive from the estate as an allowance for support, considered estate assets — entirely to the spouse where there are no minor children or all are the spouse's, otherwise in equitable shares the court fixes (R.C. 2106.13). Guide: Dying Without a Will in Ohio (Intestacy)
Mansion house: The decedent's home, its parcel and, at the surviving spouse's option, the household goods and the adjacent lots or farmland used with it; the surviving spouse may elect to receive the decedent's entire interest in it as part of the intestate share and the allowance for support, valued at the appraised value less the liens, at or before the final account (R.C. 2106.10). Guide: The Home After a Death in Ohio
Release from administration: The probate court's order relieving an estate of $35,000 or less, or of $100,000 or less where the surviving spouse takes everything by will or intestacy, from administration and directing delivery of the personal property and transfer of the real property to the persons entitled (R.C. 2113.03). A summary release is available where the assets do not exceed the lesser of $5,000 or the funeral and burial expenses the applicant paid, or, for a surviving spouse, the allowance for support plus up to $5,000 of those expenses (R.C. 2113.031). Guide: Ohio Probate, Explained
Per stirpes: The division by branches of a family: the children of the intestate, or a deceased child's lineal descendants, take per stirpes (R.C. 2105.06(A)); where all the descendants are of an equal degree of consanguinity, they take in equal parts (R.C. 2105.12). For a future interest under a trust, the shares of a deceased beneficiary's descendants are determined as under R.C. 2105.06(A) (R.C. 5808.19(A)(7)). Guide: Dying Without a Will in Ohio (Intestacy)
Intestate share of the surviving spouse: The whole estate where every surviving child is also the spouse's, or where no child or descendant survives; the first $20,000 plus one-half where one child who is not the spouse's survives; and the first $60,000 (where the spouse is the parent of one but not all of the children) or $20,000 (where the spouse is the parent of none) plus one-third where more than one child survives (R.C. 2105.06(B) to (E)). Guide: Dying Without a Will in Ohio (Intestacy)
Executor or administrator: The fiduciary the probate court appoints to administer a decedent's estate; files an inventory within three months of appointment (R.C. 2115.02), gives the Medicaid notice where it applies (R.C. 2117.061), allows or rejects claims within thirty days of presentation (R.C. 2117.06(D)), and renders accounts — a final and distributive account within six months, or an account within thirteen months and yearly thereafter, and a final account within thirty days after completing the administration (R.C. 2109.301). Guide: Ohio Probate, Explained
Execution of a will: A will is in writing, signed at the end by the testator or by another in the testator's conscious presence at the testator's express direction, and attested and subscribed in the testator's conscious presence by two or more competent witnesses who saw the testator sign or heard the acknowledgment (R.C. 2107.03). Ohio has no self-proving affidavit; the court admits the will on its face or on the witnesses' testimony (R.C. 2107.18). Guide: After You Sign Your Ohio Will: What Happens Next
Declaration of validity: A judgment the probate court renders during the maker's lifetime, on the testator's or settlor's own complaint, that a will or a trust is valid — properly executed, made with capacity and free from undue influence, duress, fraud and mistake — after which the document has full legal effect unless later modified or revoked (R.C. 5817.10; R.C. 5817.02). A trust so declared valid is protected from a later contest of the facts decided (R.C. 5806.04(E)). Guide: After You Sign Your Ohio Will: What Happens Next
Deposit of a will: A testator, or another for the testator, may deposit a will with the probate judge of the county where the testator lives for a $25 fee; the judge keeps it sealed and it is not opened until delivered to a person entitled to it or the testator seeks a declaration of validity, and is not a public record until an application to probate it is filed (R.C. 2107.07). Guide: After You Sign Your Ohio Will: What Happens Next
Will contest: An action to contest the validity of a will admitted to probate, commenced not more than three months after the filing of the certificate of notice of the admission the probate code requires — or, for a person under a legal disability, within three months after the disability is removed (R.C. 2107.76). Guide: Ohio Will vs. Revocable Living Trust: How They Compare
Transfer on death designation affidavit: An affidavit an owner of real property executes and records with the county recorder before death, verified before a person authorized to administer oaths, that names one or more beneficiaries to whom title to the interest vests at the owner's death outside probate; a spouse joins to subordinate dower, and a successor trustee stands in for a trustee named as beneficiary (R.C. 5302.22). Guide: How to Avoid Probate in Ohio
Transfer to a trustee: Personal property is transferred to a trustee by a written instrument that identifies the property and names the trustee followed by "trustee"; a beneficiary designation or other future transfer so made is a transfer to the trustee serving at the time, and a certification of trust may establish the trustee's identity and any succession (R.C. 5810.14). Guide: After You Sign Your Ohio Trust: What Happens Next
Power of attorney: A power of attorney under Ohio's Uniform Power of Attorney Act is durable — it continues through the principal's incapacity — unless it expressly says otherwise (R.C. 1337.24); it terminates at the principal's death, revocation or the other events R.C. 1337.30 lists. An agent may exercise the settlor's powers over a revocable trust only to the extent both the power and the terms expressly authorize (R.C. 5806.02(E)). Guide: Ohio Powers of Attorney & Advance Directives
Durable power of attorney for health care: An instrument an adult of sound mind executes authorizing an attorney in fact to make health care decisions whenever the attending physician determines that the principal has lost the capacity to make informed decisions — signed and dated at the end and either witnessed by two eligible adults or acknowledged before a notary public (R.C. 1337.12). Guide: Ohio Powers of Attorney & Advance Directives
Living will declaration: A declaration an adult of sound mind executes governing the use or continuation, or the withholding or withdrawal, of life-sustaining treatment in a terminal condition or a permanently unconscious state — signed at the end, dated, and either witnessed by two eligible adults or acknowledged before a notary public (R.C. 2133.02). Guide: Ohio Powers of Attorney & Advance Directives
Fraudulent transfer: A transfer made or obligation incurred with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud a creditor, or without reasonably equivalent value while the debtor's remaining assets were unreasonably small or debts beyond the ability to pay were foreseeable (R.C. 1336.04), or without reasonably equivalent value while insolvent as to an existing creditor (R.C. 1336.05) — voidable by the creditor. Guide: Ohio Asset Protection: The Basics
Exempt property: The interests an Ohio domiciliary may hold free of execution, garnishment and attachment under R.C. 2329.66 — among them the person's interest in one residence up to the indexed amount, life insurance and annuity contracts as R.C. 3911.10 exempts them, and pensions, retirement accounts and similar plans — the dollar amounts adjusted every third April by the Ohio Judicial Conference (R.C. 2329.66(B)). Guide: Ohio Asset Protection: The Basics
Ohio estate tax: Levied only on the estates of residents dying before January 1, 2013 (R.C. 5731.02(A)); no Ohio estate tax applies to a death on or after that date. A trust's or estate's Ohio income tax return is filed by its fiduciary on or before April 15 (R.C. 5747.08(C), (G)). Guide: Ohio Estate Planning: Wills, Trusts, Probate, Protection
Attorney-client privilege: An attorney may not testify about a client's communication made in that relation or the attorney's advice, except by the client's express consent or, where the client is deceased, the surviving spouse's or the executor's or administrator's — and, for a deceased client, not as to a communication relevant to a dispute among those claiming through the client over the client's competency, or fraud, undue influence or duress, in executing the document at issue (R.C. 2317.02(A)).
Practice of law: No person may practice as an attorney at law, or commence, conduct or defend an action in which the person is not a party concerned, unless admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio (R.C. 4705.01). The Supreme Court defines and regulates the unauthorized practice of law under its rules (Gov.Bar R. VII); nothing on this site is legal advice.
Breach notification law: A person that owns or licenses computerized data including personal information discloses a breach of the security of the system to each affected Ohio resident in the most expedient time possible and not later than forty-five days after discovering it, where the breach causes or reasonably is believed will cause a material risk of identity theft or other fraud (R.C. 1349.19(B)).

General information about Ohio law, not legal advice.

Ohio trust terms, defined