Ohio Probate Lawyer Blog

It goes without saying that being abandoned by a spouse is a devastating event. If your spouse abandoned you, your feelings toward him or her may be very complicated. You may have imagined confrontations with your spouse, but one thing you may not have considered is what would happen if you died before the spouse who abandoned you. If your spouse abandoned you, can they still inherit from your estate?

How Abandonment Affects the Right to Inherit

Ohio law is clear that a parent is barred from inheriting from a minor child they abandoned. Because a minor cannot legally execute a will, a minor who dies necessarily dies intestate (without a will). This statute makes it clear that a parent who abandoned a child, perhaps when the child was very young, cannot swoop back in years later and profit from the child's death.

The Ohio Revised Code does not have an analogous provision for spouses, however. This may be because, while a child cannot divorce a parent, an abandoned spouse has grounds for divorce in Ohio. One of these is willful… Read More

When most people think of prenuptial agreements, they think of planning for the possibility of divorce. However, a prenuptial agreement, or "prenup," can also have an impact on inheritance in the event of a spouse's death. There are a number of reasons you might want a prenup.

Why would someone create a prenup intended to limit a spouse's inheritance? Actually, this is not an uncommon motivation, especially in second marriages or late-in-life marriages. One spouse may have significant assets acquired before the second marriage, as well as children from a first marriage. Should that spouse die, their surviving spouse may inherit most of their assets. Then, when the surviving spouse later dies, those assets will be passed on to his or her children, leaving the children of the first spouse out in the cold.

This seems like an unfair result to most people. After all, the first spouse accumulated those assets before the second spouse… Read More

Receiving an inheritance is often bittersweet: on the one hand, you've likely lost someone dear to you, but are receiving some tangible remembrance of them. How long do you have to claim? And can you wait too long to claim your inheritance?

Chances are, you won't have to do much at all in order to receive what you are entitled to. The executor of the deceased person's estate is required to notify you if you are named in the will. If the deceased died without a will or estate plan, the administrator of the estate is required to notify you if you would inherit from the deceased under Ohio intestacy law.

If your whereabouts are known and you are entitled to inherit, the executor or administrator will distribute your share to you in order to be able to do a final accounting and close the estate. You don't have to affirmatively request it. Understand that even if you were bequeathed a certain amount, you may receive less than that if the estate didn't have enough assets to both satisfy creditors' claims… Read More

We've all seen them: the TV ads featuring actors from our favorite shows of past decades, now a bit grayer and more mature—just like us. We liked them then, and we like them now, as they impart more wisdom, this time about reverse mortgages and how they can relieve financial worries for older Americans. At some point, the camera pans to smiling senior citizens who are now able to enjoy their golden years unburdened by financial stress.

If this sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Let's talk about reverse mortgages, what they are, and how they can affect your family at your death (or sooner).

What is a Reverse Mortgage?

In essence, a reverse mortgage is a home equity loan. Unlike a typical home equity loan, in which you borrow a sum of money using your home as security and then pay it back over time, With a reverse mortgage, your home still secures the loan, but you receive a lump sum amount or possibly a line of credit. At your death, or the death of the last surviving borrower who uses the home as a principal residence, the reverse mortgage becomes due and payable. The amount due will be greater than the amount of disbursements, in order to cover… Read More

If you own a timeshare, you probably purchased it so your family would have a place to vacation together and create lasting family memories. For many people, the timeshare is a place they envision their family returning to year after year. But what happens when the owner of a timeshare dies?

How Your Timeshare is Deeded Matters

To know what will happen to your timeshare when you die, take a look at the deed. If it is in your sole name, or in your name as "tenants in common" or "joint tenants" with another person, without any survivorship rights mentioned, it will have to go through probate. If it's yours alone, that's one thing; if it's held together with someone else, it gets even messier.

If you own your timeshare together with someone else, say, a sibling, with no rights of survivorship, then if one of you dies, that person's interest in the timeshare goes through probate. So if your brother dies, you may find yourself owning a half-interest in the timeshare, while his half-interest passes through probate to his children.

On the other hand, if you have a Read More

Much of estate planning is aimed at minimizing or eliminating the need to probate a deceased person's (decedent's) estate. Probate can be time-consuming as well as tying up estate assets. And while as a general rule probate is less complicated than it used to be, the cost of the process does consume some estate assets.

That said, there are some good reasons to go through probate, and in the final analysis, doing so may actually save the estate money. You should put a decedent's estate through probate:

If Heirs Want Certainty Regarding Claims Against the Estate

In Ohio, creditors have six months from the death of the decedent to present any claims they may have against the estate. Otherwise, those claims are barred. Therefore, the probate process provides a level of certainty that unknown creditors won't pop up later, insisting on payment.

On a related note, the probate process offers heirs an opportunity and forum in which to challenge the validity of any alleged claims. If a creditor tries to col… Read More

One of the duties of an executor (also called an administrator) of an Ohio probate estate is to manage the deceased's personal property. Depending on the circumstances, this may call for liquidating or selling some property. This often takes place via an estate sale.

While estate sales may be held for other reasons besides the death of a property owner, such as a move, they are a common way of disposing of personal property when someone has passed away. What restrictions are there on executors with respect to conducting an estate sale in Ohio?

Ohio Law Regarding Estate Sales

An executor must get permission to conduct an estate sale. If the probate court is satisfied that conducting a sale would be in the best interests of the estate, it will authorize the executor to carry out a sale. The estate sale may happen at any point in the probate process, and may be private or open to the public.

So far, so good. But an executor can't put just any estate property up for sale. If there is property that has been specifically bequeathed to someone, that property may not be sold (unless estate debts are such tha… Read More

Years ago, people typically bought cars and drove them until they were no longer roadworthy (the cars, not the people). These days, it's much more common to replace your vehicle every few years, whether by purchasing or leasing a new vehicle.

An unintended consequence of this trend is that more and more people are passing away with vehicle debt. What happens to your vehicle, and the debt that's attached, when you die? Do your kids or spouse inherit your car loan or lease?

Dealing With a Car Lease After a Death

A vehicle lease is a contract, so if you're managing a deceased person's affairs, the first thing you should do with regard to a vehicle lease is to review its terms. Death may be deemed an "early termination" of the lease, and payment obligations may continue. If there is a co-signer on the lease, he or she may be liable for future payments; otherwise, they are likely to be the responsibility of the deceased's estate.

While reviewing rights and obligations under the lease, make sure that lease payments are kept up; failure to make payments can limit your… Read More