Columbiana County, OH Probate Information

The statewide duties of an Ohio fiduciary are covered on the Ohio state page. Columbiana County's local rules add several requirements that catch people out, and most of them concern the estate's money. Under Local Rule 41.6 every fiduciary must deposit estate assets in a fiduciary account at a banking facility that provides check imaging or canceled checks, and unless the court orders otherwise that account must be maintained at an institution within the boundaries of Columbiana County, with all assets remaining in the state of Ohio unless a judgment entry authorizes otherwise. Local Rule 41.7 goes further: fiduciaries are not permitted to use ATM machines or debit cards for estate accounts. If you want to hold estate funds somewhere else, ask the court first.

Three more local duties are worth writing down. Local Rule 15.2 provides that except for good cause shown estate assets are not to be sold, transferred or distributed until the inventory, or the inventory and appraisement, has been filed and approved by judgment entry, so plan distributions after that entry, not before. Local Rule 8.4 requires the fiduciary to file a notice of litigation with the court on the filing of any legal action that affects the estate, a trust or a guardianship, and the rules attach a form for it. Local Rule 17.2 requires every fiduciary to apply to the court for authority to compromise or settle any claim on behalf of the estate, including a personal injury claim of the decedent, and Local Rule 17.3 requires the fiduciary's written consent, filed with the court, before settlement funds are transferred electronically.

Finally, the court supervises deadlines actively rather than waiting for a complaint. Local Rules 41.1, 41.2 and 41.4 have the court issue citations setting status conferences where the certificate of service of notice of probate of will, the inventory or the account is late, with removal and the appointment of a successor fiduciary as the stated consequence, and Local Rules 15.1 and 19.1 provide that except for good cause the cost of those citations is deducted from the fiduciary's compensation. Local Rule 19.2 lets the court refuse to appoint a delinquent fiduciary to another office of trust, and Local Rule 12.4 makes failure to pay court costs cause for removal. Reimbursement requests must be itemized and supported by vouchers, and a request for $500.00 or more is set for hearing unless the court receives an affidavit from the attorney for the estate confirming the estate is solvent and all heirs have waived hearing (Local Rules 11.1, 17.4).

Columbiana County uses the statewide Standard Probate Forms and adds its own. Ohio has one set of Standard Probate Forms prescribed by the Supreme Court of Ohio and used in all 88 counties, and Local Rule 5.1 requires filings before this court to conform to them wherever a standard form has been prescribed, with the Ohio Civil Rules or a form prescribed by the local rules filling any gap. Unlike many small Ohio counties, Columbiana also publishes a real local form library, hosted by the Columbiana County Law Library and headed Probate Court of Columbiana County, Ohio.

The load-bearing statewide items for a decedent's estate are Form 1.0 (Surviving Spouse, Children, Next of Kin, Legatees, and Devisees), Form 2.0 (Application to Probate Will), Form 4.0 (Application for Authority to Administer Estate), Form 4.5 (Entry Appointing Fiduciary; Letter of Authority), Form 5.0 (Application to Relieve Estate From Administration) with Form 5.1 (Assets and Liabilities of Estate to be Relieved from Administration), Form 5.10 (Summary Release From Administration), Form 6.0 (Inventory and Appraisal), Form 7.0 (Certification of Notice to Administrator of Medicaid Estate Recovery Program), Form 12.0 (Application for Certificate of Transfer) with Form 12.1 (Certificate of Transfer), and Form 13.0 (Fiduciary's Account). Confirm the current version on the Supreme Court of Ohio forms page before you file, because form numbering and titles are revised from time to time.

The county's own forms are worth knowing about because one of them opens a shorter path. CCPC Form 34.2 A (Release from Administration: Real Property Only), Form 34.2 B (Filing Information Real Estate Only) and Form 34.2(C) (Entry Real Estate Only) implement R.C. 2113.61(D): where the decedent's sole probate asset is real estate, the decedent was not subject to Medicaid estate recovery, the funeral bill is paid in full, more than six months have passed since the death with no creditor claims, and no administration has been had or is contemplated, the court may approve an Application for Certificate of Transfer without a full administration or a release from administration. The court states that approval is discretionary. Form 34.2 B lists exactly what to attach, including Form 1.0, Forms 12.0 and 12.1, the Auditor's valuation or an appraisal at the date of death, a copy of the paid funeral bill, a copy of the death certificate, and Form 7.0 or a letter or email from the Ohio Attorney General confirming there will be no Medicaid claim. The library also publishes an Application to Extend Administration, an Application to Extend Time to File, waivers of notice of hearing on inventory and on account, a motion to obtain release of information, a subpoena form, a marriage license application and a guardians' booklet.

Ohio fixes most probate fee items by statute, then lets each county probate court add its own charges and deposits, which is why the real cost differs county to county. The statutory items include $35.00 to appoint a fiduciary, $15.00 to probate a will, $60.00 to relieve an estate from administration or to grant a summary release, $10.00 for an inventory with appraisement, $12.00 for an account and $1.00 per page for certified copies (R.C. 2101.16(A)). A probate court may require an advance deposit for costs of up to $125.00 by local rule (R.C. 2101.16(E)), and may add a computerization charge and a dispute-resolution charge (R.C. 2101.162, R.C. 2101.163). Fees are waived for a member of the armed services who died while serving in a combat zone, or from wounds, disease or injury incurred there, and Local Rule 12.6 restates that exemption for the fee to file the will, for services in administering the estate, and for relief from administration and summary release.

Columbiana County publishes its own totals rather than a bare deposit, and the figures below are the court's published schedule as read on the county courts' probate court fees page in July 2026. The page carries no effective date and still links a COVID-19 notice, but the same figures appear in every archived snapshot of the page from October 2020 through May 2026, so the schedule is stable rather than abandoned. Even so, Local Rule 12.1 provides that the schedule of current court costs is available at the Probate Court, so treat the numbers below as the published baseline and confirm your total at (330) 424-9516 before you file. Two charges are set by the court without a published figure: the computerized legal research charge assessed as costs in each estate, guardianship, trust, minor settlement, civil action, name change or adoption in an amount the court determines by separate order (Local Rule 12.5), and a reasonable dispute-resolution fee in each action or proceeding (Local Rule 12.7).

1. Within 60 days of appointment on an admitted will: file the certificate of service of notice of probate of will, with waivers or certified mail cards attached. Local Rule 41.1 applies this to fiduciaries administering the estate of anyone who died with a will on or after January 1, 2002, and provides that a fiduciary who does not file it within sixty days is sent a citation setting a status conference and warning that removal may follow. Extensions are granted for good cause by judgment entry.
2. Within three months of appointment: file the inventory (R.C. 2115.02) on Form 6.0. Local Rule 41.2 has the court send the fiduciary a notice to file the inventory and, where the inventory is not filed within sixty days, a citation setting a status conference and indicating that removal may occur, with a successor appointed if the inventory is still not filed. The rule also states that the late filing of any notice, inventory or account does not delay the deadlines that follow it.
3. After the initial appointment: the court issues a citation to a surviving spouse who is living, to elect whether to exercise the rights in R.C. Chapter 2106, including the right after probate of the will to take under the will or under R.C. 2105.06 (Local Rule 41.3, quoting R.C. 2106.01). Watch for that citation in the mail.
4. Within six months of the date of death: creditors must present their claims or be forever barred, subject to the medicaid estate recovery exception (R.C. 2117.06, R.C. 2117.061). Ohio requires no newspaper advertisement of the grant of letters, so this clock runs from the death, not from any publication.
5. Within six months of appointment: render the final and distributive account unless a statutory exception applies (R.C. 2109.301, Local Rule 19.3), on Form 13.0. Local Rule 41.4 provides that where an account is not filed within six months of appointment a citation is sent scheduling a status conference and indicating that removal may occur. Extensions are granted for good cause by judgment entry, and the county publishes a local Application to Extend Administration.
6. Where the estate turns into litigation: a pre-trial conference in an adversary proceeding such as a will contest, a determination of heirs, a land sale, a concealment of assets action or an objection to an inventory or account should be set thirty days after the answer date, with notice to attorneys of record by mail at least fourteen days before the pre-trial, and the court issues a pre-trial order setting discovery, witness list and briefing deadlines and a trial date (Local Rule 42.1).

Page last reviewed: July 2026.