Title 21, Title 21. Courts-Probate-Juvenile

No agreement to make a will or to make a devise or bequest by will shall be enforceable unless it is in writing. The agreement shall be signed by the maker or by some other person at the maker's express direction. If signed by a person other than the maker, the instrument shall b…

(A) An existing document, book, record, or memorandum may be incorporated in a will by reference, if referred to as being in existence at the time the will is executed. That document, book, record, or memorandum shall be deposited in the probate court when the will is probated or…

No person under eighteen years of age shall witness a will executed pursuant to section 2107.03 of the Revised Code or an agreement to make a will or to make a devise or bequest by will pursuant to section 2107.04 of the Revised Code.

A will may be deposited by the testator, or by some person for the testator, in the office of the judge of the probate court in the county in which the testator lives, before or after the death of the testator, and if deposited after the death of the testator, with or without app…

During the lifetime of a testator, the testator's will, deposited according to section 2107.07 of the Revised Code, shall be delivered only to the testator, to some person authorized by the testator by a written order, or to a probate court for a determination of its validity whe…

(A) If real property is devised or personal property is bequeathed by a will, the executor or any interested person may cause the will to be brought before the probate court of the county in which the decedent was domiciled. By judicial order, the court may compel the person havi…

(A) No property or right, testate or intestate, shall pass to a beneficiary named in a will who knows of the existence of the will for one year after the death of the testator and has the power to control it and, without reasonable cause, intentionally conceals or withholds it or…

(A) A will shall be admitted to probate:(1) In the county in this state in which the testator was domiciled at the time of the testator's death;(2) In any county of this state where any real property or personal property of the testator is located if, at the time of the testator'…

When a will is presented for probate or for a declaratory judgment of its validity pursuant to Chapter 5817. of the Revised Code, persons interested in its outcome may contest the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the application. Preceding a hearing of a contest as to juris…

If a devise or bequest is made to a person who is one of only two witnesses to a will, the devise or bequest is void. The witness shall then be competent to testify to the execution of the will, as if the devise or bequest had not been made. If the witness would have been entitle…

(A) When offered for probate, a will may be admitted to probate and allowed upon such proof as would be satisfactory, and in like manner as if an absent or incompetent witness were dead:(1) If it appears to the probate court that a witness to such will has gone to parts unknown;(…

When a witness to a will, or other witness competent to testify at a probate or declaratory judgment proceeding, resides out of its jurisdiction, or resides within it but is infirm and unable to attend court, the probate court may issue a commission with the will annexed directed…

The probate court shall admit a will to probate if it appears from the face of the will, or if the probate court requires, in its discretion, the testimony of the witnesses to a will and it appears from that testimony, that the execution of the will complies with the law in force…

If it appears that the instrument purporting to be a will is not entitled to admission to probate, the court shall enter an interlocutory order denying probate of the instrument, and shall continue the matter for further hearing. The court shall order that not less than ten days'…

(A)(1) Subject to divisions (A)(2) and (B) of this section, when a will has been admitted to probate, the fiduciary for the estate or another person specified in division (A)(4) of this section shall, within two weeks of the admission of the will to probate, give a notice as desc…

When admitted to probate every will shall be filed in the office of the probate judge and recorded, together with any testimony or prior judgment of a court declaring the will valid pursuant to division (A)(1) of section 5817.10 of the Revised Code, by the judge or the clerk of t…

If real property devised by will is situated in any county other than that in which the will is proved, declared valid, or admitted to probate, an authenticated copy of the will and the order of probate or the judgment declaring validity shall be admitted to the record in the off…

(A)(1)(a) When a will has been admitted to probate by a probate court and another will of later date is presented to the same court for probate, notice of the will of later date shall be given to those persons required to be notified under section 2107.19 of the Revised Code, and…

(A) If a document that is executed that purports to be a will is not executed in compliance with the requirements of section 2107.03 of the Revised Code, that document shall be treated as if it had been executed as a will in compliance with the requirements of that section if a p…

When an original will is lost, spoliated, or destroyed before or after the death of a testator, the probate court shall admit the lost, spoliated, or destroyed will to probate if both of the following apply:(A) The proponent of the will establishes by clear and convincing evidenc…

(A) When application is made to the probate court to admit to probate a will that has been lost, spoliated, or destroyed as provided in section 2107.26 of the Revised Code or a document that is treated as a will as provided in section 2107.24 of the Revised Code, the party seekin…

If a will is lost, spoliated, destroyed, mislaid, or stolen, after it has been admitted to probate but before it has been recorded, upon notice being given to the persons as provided by section 2107.27 of the Revised Code, the probate court may hear testimony. If the court is sat…

When the record of a will is destroyed, a copy of the will or a copy of the will and its probate may be recorded by the probate court if it appears to the court's satisfaction that the record has been destroyed and if it appears, by reason of a certificate signed and sealed by th…

When the record of a will has been destroyed, the original will may again be admitted to probate and record.

Sections 2107.29 and 2107.30 of the Revised Code do not affect the proceedings or extend the time for contesting the validity of any will or for asserting rights thereunder. The record provided for in such sections must show that the original record was destroyed, and the time, a…

Every probate judge who admits a will or copy of a will to record under sections 2107.29 to 2107.31 of the Revised Code shall immediately after admitting the will or copy to record give notice for three consecutive weeks in two weekly newspapers of the probate judge's county if t…

(A) A will shall be revoked in the following manners:(1) By the testator by tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying it with the intention of revoking it;(2) By some person, at the request of the testator and in the testator's presence, by tearing, canceling, obliterating,…

(A) Subject to division (C) of this section, if, after making a will, a testator has a child born alive, adopts a child, or designates an heir in the manner provided by section 2105.15 of the Revised Code, or if a child or designated heir who is absent and reported to be dead pro…

An encumbrance upon real or personal property for the purpose of securing the payment of money or the performance of a covenant shall not revoke a previously executed will relating to that property.

An act of a testator that alters but does not wholly divest the testator's interest in property previously devised or bequeathed by the testator does not revoke the devise or bequest of the property. The devise or bequest shall pass to the devisee or legatee the actual interest o…

A will executed by an unmarried person is not revoked by a subsequent marriage.

If a testator executes a second will, the destruction, cancellation, or revocation of the second will shall not revive the first will unless the terms of the revocation show that it was the testator's intention to revive and give effect to the testator's first will or unless, aft…

Any fiduciary may file an action in the probate court against creditors, legatees, distributees, or other parties, and ask the direction or judgment of the court in any matter respecting the trust, estate, or property to be administered, and the rights of the parties in interest.…

(A) The title, estate, or interest of a bona fide purchaser, lessee, or encumbrancer, for value, in real property situated in this state, that is derived from an heir of a decedent and acquired without knowledge of a will of the decedent that effectively disposes of it to another…

There shall be no proceeding in this state to contest a will executed and proved according to the law of another state or of a foreign country, relative to property in this state; but if such will is set aside in the state or country in which it is executed and proved, it shall b…

When interests in real property are given by deed or will to a person for the person's life, and after the person's death to the person's heirs in fee, the conveyance shall vest an estate for life only in the first taker and a remainder in fee simple in the heirs of the first tak…

Any estate, right, or interest in any property of which a decedent had an interest at the time of the decedent's death shall pass under the decedent's will unless the will manifests a different intention.

(A) A specific devisee or legatee has the right to the remaining specifically devised or bequeathed property, and the following: (1) Any balance on the purchase price, together with any security interest owing from a purchaser to the testator at death by reason of sale of the pro…

Every devise of an interest in real property in a will shall convey all the estate of the devisor in the property, unless it clearly appears by the will that the devisor intended to convey a less estate.

(A) As used in this section: (1) "Class member" means an individual who fails to survive the testator but who would have taken under a devise in the form of a class gift had the individual survived the testator. (2) "Descendant of a grandparent" means an individual who qualifies …

No provision of a will exercises a power of appointment held by the testator unless specific reference is made to the power.

When part of the real property of a testator descends to the testator's heirs because it was not disposed of by the testator's will, and the testator's personal property is insufficient to pay the testator's debts, the undevised real property shall be chargeable first with the de…

(A) When real or personal property, devised or bequeathed, is taken from the devisee or legatee for the payment of a debt of the testator, the other devisees and legatees shall contribute their respective proportions of the loss to the person from whom the payment was taken so th…

When a part of the estate of a testator descends to a child born or adopted, or to an heir designated, after the execution of the will, or to a child absent and reported to be dead at the time of execution of the will but later found to be alive, or to a witness to a will who is …

When any of the persons liable to contribute toward the discharge of a testator's debt according to sections 2107.54 and 2107.55 of the Revised Code, is insolvent, the others shall be severally liable to each other for the loss occasioned by the insolvency, each being liable in p…

All cases arising under sections 2107.01 to 2107.62, inclusive, of the Revised Code, in which devisees or legatees are required to contribute or in which contribution is to be made among devisees, legatees, and heirs, may be heard and determined in a single action.