Occasionally, Ohio probate attorneys have to deal with an estate in which another attorney made an error when drafting a trust or a will. Sometimes there are mathematical errors. To resolve an error in a trust or will, the probate lawyer assisting the executor or administrator must open a case in Ohio probate court.

In a recent case I was involved in, a client's father had a trust prepared back in 1994 for the family's 200-acre farm. Unfortunately, the trust documents contained an error that wasn't discovered until the father died several months ago.

Here, we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about probate court and probate laws that we receive at our Dayton, Ohio probate attorneys' office.

In this part of the series we'll answer the following basic questions about probate:

• What is a testate estate?
• What is an intestate estate?
• What is a joint tenancy and how does it avoid probate?
• What are POD accounts and how do they avoid probate?

We hope that the answers provided here will be helpful. If you desire more detailed answers to questions about Ohio probate process, please look for other articles from the Ohio probate attorneys' firm of Gudorf Law Group, LLC.

Ohio probate law answers:

This article is one in a four-part series in which we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the probate process and laws that we receive at our Dayton, Ohio probate attorneys’ office.

To start the series we’ll answer the following basic questions about probate:

• What is a will?
• What is probate?
• What is an estate?
• What is an executor?
• What is an administrator?

Getting a spoiled, lost or destroyed will to be accepted by an Ohio probate court can be done, but it is a difficult process that requires testimony and other evidence to prove that the will existed and was not destroyed by the testator in order to revoke the will.

Ohio probate attorneys almost always recommend that executors have an attorney assist them when attempting to get a will accepted by a court when it has been lost, spoiled or destroyed. An experienced probate attorney can help an executor in obtaining the evidence and testimony needed to prove a spoiled, lost or destroyed will in court.

Do multiple executors of an estate have advantages over a single executor?

When making a will, many people ask their Ohio probate lawyer whether they should name more than one executor to oversee the probate of their estate. The question commonly arises because the testator (the person making the will) has two or more children and he or she does not want to slight any of the children by only naming one executor.

Our Ohio probate attorneys frequently gets asked about the requirements for creating a will. The question arises because many people have heard about cases in which someone's last will and testament was ruled as invalid and the court probated the person's assets according to statutory law rather than the terms of the will.

The executor of an estate must meet several requirements and be approved by the probate court before he or she may proceed with the probate of real estate and other assets in the estate. If the executor chosen by the decedent does not meet the requirements or is rejected by the court, the court can appoint an administrator to oversee the probate of the estate.

In Dayton and Ohio, probate attorneys usually assist executors and administrators with their responsibilities in probating the will and estate. Their experience with probate procedures can often minimize confusion and frustration for the executor of an estate. Sometimes experienced probate attorneys are named as executors or administrators to ensure proper execution of the will and the probate processes.

While power of attorney and legal guardianship can perform similar functions in some cases, they are vastly difference in terms of who is appointed, who does the appointing and how much control the appointed agent or guardian has.

Throughout Ohio, probate attorneys regularly find themselves assisting clients in applying for guardianship for loved ones who've recently become incapacitated. In most cases the loved one would have been better served by choosing the person they wanted to make decisions on their behalf and giving them power of attorney.

To avoid probate in Ohio, probate attorneys and estate planning attorneys use a variety of strategies available under probate law to transfer the ownership of assets directly to beneficiaries upon a person's death.

The most efficient and reliable way to avoid probate court is to place all assets into a trust. Because a trust is a legal entity that owns the assets rather than an individual owning them, the assets do not go through probate. Instead, the creator of the trust provides instructions for how the trust's assets are to be handled or distributed after the creator's death. Administration of a trust is handled privately, without interference from a court, and is usually less expensive than the probate process.

"Joint tenancy" and "survivorship" are terms that refer to a particular way that real estate and other assets can be titled. Joint tenancy means that the real estate is titled to two or more people jointly. Each of the owners has an equal share of the real estate and is entitled to occupy the entire premises. Spouses who put their home or other real estate in the names of both spouses usually have joint tenancy with survivorship rights of the house and real estate. However, unless the title specifically says "with survivorship rights," one half of the property will have to be probated at the first death. Worse yet, it may not even go to the surviving joint owner.