Ohio Summary Release From Administration

Two court-order tracks, kept apart

Ohio's two shortcuts are both court procedures, and each has its own gate, its own verbs, and its own machinery. Summary release uses "shall" once its conditions are found. Release from administration uses "may." The appraiser rule, the commissioner, and the publication rule belong to release from administration only. The certificate-of-transfer rules run in opposite directions on the two tracks. This guide keeps every element in its own lane.

Track 1: summary release, section 2113.031

Section 2113.031, effective October 12, 2006, has no day-count waiting period anywhere in its text. No creditor-notice or publication division exists in the section either. Do not import either from section 2113.03.

The section defines "funeral and burial expenses" as expenses in a funeral director's bill, funeral expenses not in such a bill that the probate court has approved, or both. It defines "surviving spouse" narrowly: a spouse of a decedent leaving a spouse and no minor children, or a spouse of a decedent leaving a spouse and minor children all of whom are children of the decedent and the surviving spouse. A spouse with a minor stepchild who is not the spouse's child is not a "surviving spouse" under this definition. Never carry the ordinary meaning in.

The non-spouse fork applies where the estate value does not exceed the lesser of $5,000 or the funeral and burial expense amount, and the applicant is not a surviving spouse and has paid or is obligated in writing to pay the funeral and burial expenses, including a person described in section 2108.89. The spouse fork applies in two forms. Where funeral and burial expenses were prepaid, the estate value must not exceed the section 2106.13(A) allowance for support distributable under section 2106.13(B)(1) or (2), plus an amount not exceeding $5,000 for funeral and burial expenses. Where expenses were not prepaid, the spouse must have paid or be obligated in writing to pay them, and the estate value must not exceed the same total. The $40,000 allowance plus up to $5,000 in expenses is therefore allowance-plus-expenses arithmetic, not a freestanding $45,000 estate cap. Never state "Ohio's cap is $45,000" without the two-component fork.

The court shall order summary release only if all of the following are found. First, the applicant meets the non-spouse fork or the spouse fork. Second, the application describes all assets known to the applicant, is in the Supreme Court prescribed form, is signed and acknowledged by the applicant in the presence of a notary public or a deputy clerk of the probate court, and sets out, per asset type, the detail the section requires: for a motor vehicle, year, make, model, body type, manufacturer vehicle identification number, certificate of title number, and date-of-death value; for a financial-institution account, institution name, complete identifying number, and date-of-death balance; for stocks and bonds, total number and total date-of-death value, plus per share or bond the serial number, issuer name, date-of-death value, and transfer agent name and address if any. Third, the application is accompanied by all that apply: a receipt, contract, written declaration under section 2108.70, or other document confirming payment or obligation, or prepayment for a spouse; an application for a certificate of transfer under section 2113.61 if an interest in real property is included; and the fee required by section 2101.16(A)(59). Fourth, at determination, no administration proceedings and no section 2113.03 relief proceedings are pending. Fifth, at determination, no known assets exist other than those described.

If those conditions are satisfied, the court shall issue an order granting summary release, specifying that the estate is relieved from administration, that personal property is delivered to the applicant with title, that title to any real-property interests included is transferred to the applicant, and that the need for a tax commissioner's written consent under section 5731.39(A) to (F) is eliminated. A certified copy of the order plus a certified copy of the application is sufficient authority for a section 5731.39 entity or person, or for a clerk of a court of common pleas, to transfer title to an asset listed in the application to the applicant.

The support allowance, section 2106.13

Section 2106.13, effective August 17, 2021, states the allowance that the spouse fork uses. Where a person dies leaving a surviving spouse and no minor children, a spouse and minor children, or minor children and no spouse, the spouse, minor children, or both are entitled to $40,000 as an allowance for support, in money or property, subject to the distribution rules. If the surviving spouse selected more than one automobile under section 2106.18, the allowance is reduced by the value of the lowest-value automobile selected. Money or property set off as allowance is considered estate assets.

Distribution follows four cases: spouse with no minor children, 100 percent to the spouse; spouse with minor children all of whom are the surviving spouse's children, 100 percent to the spouse; spouse with minor children not all of whom are the spouse's children, equitable shares fixed by the court; minor children with no spouse, equitable shares fixed by the court on needs. The section 2106.18 automobile-selection rules were not opened and are not stated here.

Track 2: release from administration, section 2113.03

Section 2113.03, effective January 13, 2012, permits release where either the value of assets is $35,000 or less, or the value is $100,000 or less and the spouse-takes-all conditions hold. The $100,000 fork requires either that the decedent devised or bequeathed in a valid will all assets to the person named in the will as the decedent's spouse, survived by that person, or that the decedent survived by a spouse, died without a valid will, and the spouse is entitled to all assets under section 2105.06, or under section 2105.06 plus section 2106.13(B)(1) or (2). A $100,000 estate split among heirs does not qualify. Never state "$100,000 cap" unqualified.

On application of any interested party, after notice of filing given to the surviving spouse and heirs at law in the manner and for the length of time the probate court directs, and after notice to all interested parties by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, unless the notices are waived or found unnecessary, the court, when satisfied that the value test is met, may enter an order relieving the estate and directing delivery of personal property and transfer of real property to the persons entitled. Notice length is court-directed, not a statutory day count. Publication is the default unless waived or found unnecessary.

Valuation follows a distinct rule. An estate whose value reasonably can be considered to be within the value test, and that is not composed entirely of money, stocks, bonds, or readily ascertainable property, shall be valued by an appraiser selected by the applicant, subject to court approval. The valuation is reported in the application, and the appraiser is paid under section 2115.06. The support-allowance amount for a spouse or minor children is established under section 2106.13. The court may appoint a commissioner to execute conveyance instruments, including for sale of real property under section 2127.011. The commissioner receipts for property, distributes proceeds on court order, and reports after delivery, sale, or transfer. No commissioner division exists in section 2113.031.

If the decedent died testate, the will shall be presented for probate, and if admitted, the court may relieve the estate and order distribution under the will. A release order has the same effect as administration proceedings in freeing real property in the possession or control of an innocent purchaser for value from possible unsecured-creditor claims. Delivery or transfer under a release order is subject to the creditor-claim limitations in section 2117.06(B) and (C). Release does not affect any duty to file an estate tax return or certificate under section 5731.21(A), or the probate court's duties under that division.

Creditor claims: six months from death, regardless of release

Section 2117.06, effective April 3, 2023, states that except as in section 2117.061, all claims shall be presented within six months after the decedent's death, whether or not the estate is released from administration or an executor or administrator is appointed during that six-month period. Except as in section 2117.061, a claim not presented within six months is forever barred as to all parties, including devisees, legatees, and distributees. Release from administration therefore does not cut off the six-month claim window. The section 2117.061 exception text was not opened and is not stated here, so the six-month rule is never stated as applying without exception. The 30-day allow-or-reject machinery in the section applies to an executor or administrator and is full-administration machinery, not a release-track step.

Certificate of transfer, section 2113.61: opposite rules by track

In a release case under section 2113.03, an order directing transfer of real property to the entitled person may be substituted for the certificate of transfer. In a summary-release case, the opposite applies: the certificate application must accompany the application, and section 2113.61 applies except as the court determines a provision is inconsistent with a summary-release grant. Never transfer the substitution rule into summary release.

For other cases, the executor or administrator files for a certificate of transfer after the inventory including the real property, before the final account, subject to stated exceptions. Within five days after a compliant application, the court shall issue a certificate of transfer for record in each county where real property is situated, reciting the name and date of death, testate or intestate status, case number, devisee or heir names, residences, and interests per parcel, and parcel descriptions.

Fees and forms: tiers kept separate

The fee figure is unverified at primary level and is not stated as a verified fact. A republication states the section 2101.16(A)(59) item as $60.00 for relieving an estate from administration or granting a summary release order, and the official section 2101.16 page corroborates a sixty-dollar fee only through its division (C) reference to the fee collected under division (A)(59). One fee covers either track on that tier; never state two fees. The build re-read of the current (A)(59) item, including any post-House Bill 472 effect, is owed before the $60 figure is stated as verified. The section 2101.16(E) advance deposit of up to $125 applies to executor or administrator appointment or a will presented for probate, not to the release or summary-release fee. A county $88.00 base court cost deposit is county practice, not the statutory fee.

Supreme Court probate forms on the Court's list include Form 5.0, Application to Relieve Estate From Administration; Form 5.1, Assets and Liabilities; Form 5.10, Summary Release From Administration; Form 5.11, Entry Granting Summary Release; and Forms 12.0 and 12.1 for the certificate of transfer. The full current texts of most of those forms were not opened in full and are first-opens; no form field beyond the banked snippets is carried here. County reproductions of Form 5.0 carry pre-2012 caps, including a $15,000 figure that predates Senate Bill 124. Never carry a form edition's cap instead of the current statute. The $15,000 figure is stale law for this track.

County practice is county-scoped and never statewide. Delaware County's filing list, Franklin County's form variants, and Montgomery County's checklist, including its publication-plus-hearing rule for filings within six months of death, are single-county practice. County paraphrase never overrides statute text.

What this guide does not state

No Medicaid estate-recovery rule is stated, because no Medicaid division exists in sections 2113.03 or 2113.031 as read. County forms carry Medicaid recovery forms and a 55-plus checkbox, but the current recovery rule was not opened. No vehicle title-transfer steps or fee are stated, because the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and clerk steps were not opened. The full text of section 2108.89, on liability for disposition costs, was not opened, and no category under it is named. The "assets of the estate" scope question, whether non-probate assets count toward the value tests, was not opened and is never asserted.

For small-estate procedures in other states, see the Small Estate Affidavits by State directory. For the questions each state's procedure answers, see Small Estate Affidavit Questions.

Source

Sources: Ohio Revised Code sections 2113.031, 2113.03, 2106.13, 2117.06, and 2113.61, official codes.ohio.gov texts read in full; section 2101.16 official text in part with the (A)(59) item via LawServer republication; Supreme Court of Ohio probate forms list and Form 5.10 PDF via search crawl; Delaware County Probate Court summary-release page. Facts verified 2026-10-31. Open flags: (1) the current section 2101.16(A)(59) item and any post-House Bill 472 effect were not re-read, so the $60 fee is unverified; (2) the full current texts of Supreme Court Forms 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6, 5.11, 12.0, and 12.1 were not opened; (3) section 2117.061, sections 2106.18, 2108.70, 2108.89, 2115.06, 2127.011, 5731.21, and 5731.39(A) to (F) were not opened in full; (4) the Ohio Medicaid Estate Recovery Program rule and the vehicle title-transfer steps were not opened; (5) county filing checklists were read only where noted and are county-scoped.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to the Ohio probate court or a lawyer.