Estate Administration

Estate Administration or Settlement Are Court Supervised Processes

When a person dies leaving property in his or her name alone without any surviving beneficiary, certain steps must be taken to transfer the decedent’s assets. The assets generally must be transferred via probate court proceedings in the county of the decedent’s last residence. The probate court supervises the process of identifying, collecting and valuing the assets of a deceased person, paying his or her debts, and then distributing the remaining assets to the decedent’s beneficiaries.

In Ohio, there are three different administrative processes that may be used to transfer probate assets through the Probate Court.

1. Summary Release - This is the least complicated form of administration because no notice is required to be given to next of kin, beneficiaries or creditors. However, it is only available in two situations:
   1. The applicant is a surviving spouse, the assets do not exceed $45,000, and the spouse is entitled to 100% of the family allowance (and the funeral bill has been pre-paid or the surviving spouse is obligated to pay the funeral bill).
   2. A non-spouse applicant who paid the funeral bill can be reimbursed for the funeral expenses or $5,000, whichever is less.
2. Relief from Administration - This process requires more paperwork than a summary release, but less than a full administration. The decedent’s next of kin, beneficiaries, and creditors must be given notice of the proceeding, but an inventory and final account is not required. However, this process is also only available in certain situations:
   1. There is no surviving spouse (or the surviving spouse is not entitled to all assets) and the assets are $35,000 or less.
   2. There is a surviving spouse who is entitled to all the assets, and the assets are $100,000 or less.
      
3. Full Administration - If none of the above requirements are met, then a full estate administration is required. This is the most complicated of the three administrative processes. A full estate administration includes the following (at a minimum):
   1. Opening the Estate - If the decedent had a last will and testament, the original will must be presented to the probate court. All of the decedent’s next of kin and the beneficiaries under the will are notified of the filing of the will. 
   2. Appointing a Personal Representative - If the person opening the estate is the executor named in the will, he or she will be appointed the executor. If there is no will, (or there is a will, but the appointed executor is not available), then the person opening the estate applies to be the administrator. If there is no will waiving the requirement of posting a bond, then the administrator or executor generally must post a bond for twice the value of the probate assets. 
   3. Filing Inventory - The executor or administrator collects all probate assets and files an inventory that must be set for a hearing and approved by the court.
   4. Paying Debts and Filing Taxes - If necessary, the executor or administrator files an estate tax return, pays any applicable estate taxes, deals with claims and pays debts of the estate prior to making the final distribution of the remaining probate assets.
   5. Distributing Assets to Beneficiaries - The executor or administrator distributes the net probate assets to the beneficiaries.
   6. Filing Final Account - The executor or administrator files a final account with the court to verify the disbursement of the assets.

The probate court’s extensive rules can be very challenging, especially for an individual who has recently lost a loved one. An attorney can help you choose which administrative process you should use because there are situations where a full administration may be better even if a relief from administration or summary release were possible. Furthermore, an experienced attorney can save the estate and/or beneficiaries time, money, and aggravation.