Letter asking for the balance on the date of death in Ohio

A short letter that asks a bank or other holder for the value of the person's accounts on the date of death. Banks usually want this before the estate is settled.

Required when you mail the letter.

It goes into the letter only. It is never saved or sent to us.

It goes into the letter as you type it. You can add a ready-made sentence:

Other formats

Do not send original documents unless the holder asks; keep copies. Sign the letter and keep a copy.

What to expect

A bank may ask for a certified death certificate and proof that you are allowed to ask. The bank decides what it will release and when.

Bank accounts after a death in Ohio

A payable-on-death account goes to the named beneficiary, and a joint account with right of survivorship goes to the surviving owner, without probate. For an account in the person's name alone, the bank needs a probate court order, such as an entry releasing the estate from administration or a summary release order with a certified copy of the application. Ohio has no statute letting a bank pay a small account to family on an affidavit alone.

Law: Ohio Rev. Code 2131.10, 2131.12, 2113.03, 2113.031(E)

Source: Official page

Do bank accounts count toward the small estate limit?

Kind of propertyHow it is treatedDetails
Bank accounts in the person's name alone
Counts

Bank accounts in the person's name alone, with no payable-on-death beneficiary, are estate assets.

Law: R.C. 2113.03; R.C. 2113.031(C)(2)(d)(ii)

Joint or payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts
Left out

A payable-on-death account is paid to the named beneficiary by contract with the bank, and an account held with right of survivorship goes to the survivor; they are not estate assets.

Law: R.C. 2131.10, 2131.12

Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) in Ohio

Bank account (POD)

Yes

Law: Ohio Rev. Code 2131.10

Source: Official page

Death certificates in Ohio

Certified death certificates are available from the Ohio Department of Health, Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 15098, Columbus, OH 43215-0098, or from local health departments. The CDC directory lists the state fee as $21.50 per copy; check the current fee with the office.

Where to get it
Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics, or a local health department
Official page
Official page

Surviving spouse in Ohio

A surviving spouse can take the person's cars, up to $65,000 combined, and one boat, boat trailer and outboard motor, by affidavit at the clerk of courts title office; these are not estate assets. The spouse (and minor children) are entitled to a $40,000 allowance for support from the estate, reduced by the value of the lowest-valued car if the spouse took more than one. The release from administration limit is $100,000 when the spouse receives everything, and the spouse can apply for summary release when the estate is no more than the $40,000 allowance plus up to $5,000 for funeral costs. An employer may pay the person's wages to the spouse.

Law: R.C. 2106.18, 2106.19; R.C. 2106.13; R.C. 2113.03, 2113.031; R.C. 2113.04

Release from administration (Application to Relieve Estate from Administration)

A short probate court case for an estate worth $35,000 or less. The court orders the bank accounts, other personal property and real estate delivered or transferred to the people entitled to them, without appointing an executor or administrator.

Limit

Up to $35,000 (deaths on or after November 9, 1994)

Date of deathLimit
On or after November 9, 1994
$35,000
October 20, 1987 to November 8, 1994
$25,000
January 1, 1976 to October 19, 1987
$15,000

The estate's assets can be worth up to $35,000 for a death on or after November 9, 1994. The limit is $100,000 if the surviving spouse is entitled to all of the estate (see the next procedure). Form 5.0 also lists older limits: $25,000 for deaths on or after October 20, 1987, and $15,000 for deaths on or after January 1, 1976. If assets are not money, stocks, bonds or other property with a readily known value, an appraiser chosen by the applicant and approved by the court values them.

What counts

The value of the assets of the estate (property that would otherwise go through probate). Debts are listed separately on Form 5.1. Cars the surviving spouse takes under R.C. 2106.18 are not estate assets and are left out.

Waiting period

The law sets no waiting period before you apply. The court decides how long notice must be given to the surviving spouse and heirs, and notice by newspaper publication may be required unless the court waives it. Creditors have six months after the death to present claims.

Who can use it

Any interested party, such as a family member, heir or beneficiary, may apply. The surviving spouse, heirs, legatees and devisees can sign a waiver of notice on the back of Form 5.0. If there is a will, it must first be admitted to probate.

Court or where to file

The probate court of the county where the person lived at death.

Papers to attach
  • Form 5.0 Application to Relieve Estate from Administration
  • Form 5.1 Assets and Liabilities of Estate to be Relieved from Administration (with the appraiser's certification if any assets were appraised)
  • Form 1.0 Surviving Spouse, Children, Next of Kin, Legatees and Devisees
  • The will, if there is one (it must be admitted to probate)
  • If there is real estate: an application for a certificate of transfer
  • Certified copy of the death certificate (courts usually ask for one)
  • Medicaid estate recovery notice form, if the person or their spouse received Medicaid (due within 30 days of filing)
Steps
  1. List the estate's assets and their values, and the known debts, on Form 5.1. Leave out cars the spouse takes by affidavit.
  2. Have an appraiser value assets that do not have a readily known value, if the court requires it.
  3. If there is a will, file it for probate first.
  4. File Form 5.0 with Forms 5.1 and 1.0 at the county probate court, with any waivers of notice.
  5. Give the notice the court orders, or have the people entitled to notice sign waivers.
  6. At the hearing, if the court is satisfied, it signs an entry releasing the estate and directing who receives each asset.
  7. Give certified copies of the court's entry to banks and others; real estate transfers by certificate of transfer.
Fee

Filing fees are set by each county probate court; ask the probate court. The appraiser, if one is used, is paid under R.C. 2115.06. Publication in a newspaper, if required, costs extra.

Debts and responsibility

Property delivered under a release from administration is subject to creditors' claims presented within six months after the death. A court order releasing the estate protects an innocent buyer of the real estate from unsecured creditors' claims.

What the bank or holder must do

The court's entry directs delivery of personal property and transfer of real property to the people entitled to them. The statute does not list a separate release of liability for banks.

Law: Ohio Rev. Code 2113.03, 2113.01, 2117.06, 2117.061

Source: Official page

Who inherits with no will in Ohio

If there is no will and there is a surviving spouse, the spouse gets everything if all the person's children are also the spouse's children, or if there are no children. If some children are not the spouse's, the spouse gets the first $20,000 or $60,000 (depending on whose children they are) plus one-half or one-third of the rest, and the children share the remainder. With no spouse, children (or their descendants) inherit; then parents; then brothers and sisters; then grandparents and their descendants; then other next of kin and stepchildren.

Law: Ohio Rev. Code 2105.06

Source: Official page

Good to know in Ohio

  • Ohio's release from administration is a probate court procedure, not an affidavit handed to a bank: the estate limit is $35,000, or $100,000 when the surviving spouse receives everything.
  • A surviving spouse can take cars worth up to $65,000 combined by affidavit at the title office, outside the estate (R.C. 2106.18; BMV 3773).
  • Creditors' claims against an Ohio estate are barred if not presented within six months after the death, even when the estate is released from administration.

Related pages

Free help in Ohio

A court self-help center or a legal aid office can check whether the estate qualifies, free of charge or at low cost.