The Ohio Association of Probate Court Judges has issued a helpful statement on the history of probate courts and the types of cases that they handle:

• History of the Probate Court

  The term "probate" comes from the Latin word probatio, meaning "to prove", wherein matters in early English religious courts were proven before an ecclesiastical judge. Early American probate courts may be traced back to English Courts of Chancery and ecclesiastical, or religious, courts, which had jurisdiction over the probate of wills, administration of estates, and guardianships.

  The first probate court in the United States was established in Massachusetts in 1784. Similar courts were subsequently established in other states under the name of surrogate, orphan courts, or courts of the ordinary. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for the first probate judge and court in the Ohio Territory. Under the first Ohio Constitution written in 1802, the court of common pleas had exclusive jurisdiction of probate matters. The Constitution of 1851 removed probate matters from the jurisdiction of common pleas courts and created in each county a separate probate court. Subsequent amendments to the Constitution in 1912, 1951, 1968, and 1973, and changes in the codified law in 1932 and 1976, have made the probate court what it is today: a special division of the court of common pleas. Each of Ohio’s 88 counties has a probate division of its court of common pleas.

  The Ohio Revised Code places over two hundred separate duties upon the Probate Court. These duties include the administration of decedent’s estates, consent for medical treatment, the appointment of guardians for minors and incapacitated adults and the supervision of their property, civil involuntary commitments of the mentally ill, adoptions, birth record connections and registrations, changes of name, issuance of marriage licenses, supervision of testamentary trusts (those created by will) and interpretation and enforcement of intervivos trusts (those created during a person’s lifetime), land appropriations, and will constructions.

  Prepared by the Ohio Association of Probate Judges

Although the Ohio Revised Code specifies over 200 duties belonging to the probate courts, the most common areas of authority are:

• Adoption: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3107

• Change of Name

• Estates
  • Intestate (Without a Will) - Ohio Revised Code § 2105.06 is the Statute of Descent and Distribution, which specifies who will inherit when there is no will.

  • Basic Procedures for Administration of Estates (Testate or Intestate)
    • Appointment of Executor or Administrator: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2113

    • Inventory: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2115

    • Claims Against the Estate: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2117

    • Release from Administration: Ohio Revised Code § 2113.03

• Guardianships and Conservatorships: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2111
  • Appointment of Guardian, Ohio Revised Code § 2111.02

  • Guardian of Minor, Ohio Revised Code § 2111.12

• Marriages: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3101

• Wills: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2107

• PROBATE COURT HOME PAGES
  • Cuyahoga County Probate Court
    probate.cuyahogacounty.us/home.htm

  • Other Ohio Probate Court Web Pages
    Summit County Probate Court

• OHIO STATE BAR ASSOCIATION - Online Pamphlets
  • Administering an Estate without a Will

  • Guardianships

  • Probate

  • Wills

  • Law Standardizes Ohio Adoptions

  • New Property Deed Avoids Probate

• Ohio Trust Law

• Living Wills/Durable Power of Attorney

Created on: May 21, 1999 -