When someone has died, his or her assets need to be collected, certain debts should be paid, persons named in the will or determined by the law shall get clear title to the properties, and the other assets should be distributed. Such procedure is called probate - the fancy word for administration of the estate of a deceased person.

    Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person, specifically resolving all claims and distributing the decedent's property under the valid will.

    Only some property interests are subject to probate. A number of sources of wealth do not pass through probate.The simple example of such property is any property owned jointly with right of survivorship, for instance house, cars, bank accounts, and investments. See the table of assets that do and do not go through probate in Ohio.

    Be careful, however, to distinguish probate avoidance from tax avoidance. Many forms of wealth that do not pass through probate are nonetheless subject to tax, for example federal gift and estate tax.

                                 methods to probate the decedent’s estate

    There three possible methods to probate a decedent’s estate depending upon the date of the decedent’s death and the assets involved.

   I. The first one is Summary Release from administration. The person who paid the funeral bill and/or is obliged in writing to pay the funeral expenses may apply to the probate court for an order for a summary release from administration.The amount of decedent’s probate estate must consist of $5000 or less in probate assets for non-spouse and $45000 or less for spouse. The applicant shall use Form 5.10 – Application for Summary Release from administration which can be found on county’s probate court web site.

   II. The second one is Relieving Estate from Administration. The estate may be relieved from administration procedure when all assets are passing to a surviving spouse and the estate has less then $100,000 in assets. The estate also may be relieved from administration if all the assets are passing to someone other then surviving spouse, and the estate is less then $35,000 in assets. The granting of a release in within the discretion of the probate court and will not be granted if it will prejudice creditors. If the decedent left a will that being used to pass an interest in property, then the will shall be probated. The applicant shall use Form 5.0 – Application to Relieve Estate from Administration.

   III. The last one is Full Administration. The opening steps in a full administration estate are:

• The appointment of a fiduciary (an executor or administrator)
  
• The admission the decedent’s last will and testament, if required;
• The appointment of an appraiser if required.
• The obtainment of a taxpayer I.D. number and opening a bank account
• The service of notice of spousal rights on any surviving spouse

    The fiduciary must be suitable and competent to accept the appointment. He or she must be a resident of Ohio. An executor or administrator may not be appointed unless they accept the appointment.

     The fiduciary may need to seek the appointment of a court-approved appraiser to assist the fiduciary in determining the value of probate assets that do not have a readily ascertainable value. You need to use Standard form 3.0 in order to obtain an order to appoint an appraiser for the estate.

   You can obtain a Taxpayer ID number from the Internal Revenue Service by filling a Form SS4.

      The surviving Spouse Spouse shall be notified of Her or His Rights. Most of the spousal rights must be affirmatively elected in the first five months form the appointment of the executor or the spousal right is forfeited.