Ohio estate administration
Small-estate limit: $35,000
This guide explains probate in Ohio: Ohio calls its simplified procedure release from administration and provides a higher limit when a surviving spouse receives the entire estate.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
The ordinary ceiling is $35,000. It rises to $100,000 when the surviving spouse is entitled to all estate assets. A separate, smaller procedure — summary release from administration under O.R.C. 2113.031 — is available to a person who paid the funeral and burial expenses when the assets do not exceed the lesser of $5,000 or those expenses, or to a surviving spouse up to the statutory support allowance plus up to $5,000 for funeral and burial.
Release from administrationSimplified route
The ordinary ceiling is $35,000. It rises to $100,000 when the surviving spouse is entitled to all estate assets. A separate, smaller procedure — summary release from administration under O.R.C. 2113.031 — is available to a person who paid the funeral and burial expenses when the assets do not exceed the lesser of $5,000 or those expenses, or to a surviving spouse up to the statutory support allowance plus up to $5,000 for funeral and burial.
Eligibility and caveatsCourt cost
Use the selected county probate court schedule for an exact filing total.
Filing-cost detailExecutor compensation
Ohio applies a percentage schedule — 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $300,000, and 2% above $400,000 — to personal property and the proceeds of real property that is sold (O.R.C. 2113.35(A)). Section 2113.35(B) then allows a separate 1% fee on the value of real property that is not sold, and a further 1% on certain non-probate property that would have been includable for Ohio estate tax (excluding joint-and-survivorship property). Because that 1% real-property component rests on a base the asset list does not supply on its own, the schedule above is not applied to a single combined figure.
Compensation detailOhio accounting calculatorCreditor deadline
Ohio bars creditor claims six months after the decedent's death (O.R.C. 2117.06(B), (C)). The period runs from death, not from publication, actual notice, or appointment of the executor or administrator.
Ohio Rev. Code § 2117.06(B) (Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules; reviewed August 7, 2026)
Timeline and creditor detailsThese are the Ohio provisions read end to end on the enacting state’s own site, rather than summarised from a secondary source. The middle column is what reading each one actually established for Ohio — not a restatement of the topic — and the last column records the date the wording was read, so a later amendment can be spotted by comparing dates.
| Citation | What reading it established | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| Ohio Rev. Code § 2113.35 (commissions), eff. Sept. 29, 2015 | Ohio pays its executors on four different bases, and only one of them is the probate estate — representative pay note | 2026-09-17 |
| Ohio Rev. Code § 2117.06 (presentation and allowance of creditor claims) | Ohio runs its creditor bar from the death itself, not from a notice, and appointing nobody does not pause it — creditor deadline note | 2026-09-17 |
Ohio decision map
Use this map before opening a form or entering a number. It keeps the Ohio amount test, time gate, court cost, and creditor record separate so one easy figure does not stand in for the whole administration.
| Question | Recorded Ohio answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Release from administration | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value for this route. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $35,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | No universal waiting period stated; Ohio bars creditor claims six months after the decedent's death (O.R.C. 2117.06(B), (C)). The period runs from death, not from publication, actual notice, or appointment of the executor or administrator. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule. | Ask the Probate Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Ohio applies a percentage schedule — 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $300,000, and 2% above $400,000 — to personal property and the proceeds of real property that is sold (O.R.C. 2113.35(A)). Section 2113.35(B) then allows a separate 1% fee on the value of real property that is not sold, and a further 1% on certain non-probate property that would have been includable for Ohio estate tax (excluding joint-and-survivorship property). Because that 1% real-property component rests on a base the asset list does not supply on its own, the schedule above is not applied to a single combined figure. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Ohio ceiling is $35,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $26,300 sits below the Ohio figure and $43,800 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Ohio counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Ohio ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $26,300 | Below $35,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $43,800 | Above $35,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
Ohio adopts statewide standard probate forms, but each county probate court sets its own filing charges and local rules.
Source trail
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
The statutes on this page state the rule. These are the documents the court itself publishes. Every link is probed before release, and any link that stops resolving fails the build rather than staying on the page.
Standard probate form adopted for use in every Ohio probate court.
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: (A) Subject to division (I) of this section, an estate may be released from administration under division (B) of this section if either of the following applies: (1) The value of the assets of the estate is thirty-five thousand dollars or less. (2) The value of the assets of the estate is one hundred thousand dollars or less and either of the following applies:
Reviewed source note: (A) Except as provided in section 2101.164 of the Revised Code, the fees enumerated in this division shall be charged and collected, if possible, by the probate judge and shall be in full for all services rendered in the respective proceedings:
Reviewed source note: (B)(1) If the value of the assets of the decedent's estate does not exceed the lesser of five thousand dollars or the amount of the decedent's funeral and burial expenses, any person who is not a surviving spouse and who has paid or is obligated in writing to pay the decedent's funeral and burial expenses, including a person described in section 2108.89 of the Revised Code, may apply to the probate court for an order granting a summary release from administration in accordance with this section.
Reviewed source note: (A) Executors and administrators shall be allowed fees upon the amount of all the personal property, including the income from the personal property, that is received and accounted for by them and upon the proceeds of real property that is sold, as follows: (1) For the first one hundred thousand dollars, at the rate of four per cent; (2) All above one hundred thousand dollars and not exceeding four hundred thousand dollars, at the rate of three per cent; (3) All above four hundred thousand dollars, at the rate of two per cent. (B) Executors and administrators shall be allowed a fee of one per cent on the value of real property that is not sold. Executors and administrators also shall be allowed a fee of one per cent on the value of all property that is not subject to administration and that would have been includable for purposes of computing the Ohio estate tax, except joint and survivorship property, had the decedent died on December 31, 2012, so that section 5731.02 of the Revised Code applied to the estate.
Reviewed source note: (B) Except as provided in section 2117.061 of the Revised Code, all claims shall be presented within six months after the death of the decedent, whether or not the estate is released from administration or an executor or administrator is appointed during that six-month period.