Lawrence County, OH Probate Information

A Lawrence County fiduciary carries the statewide Ohio duties, which the Ohio state page covers, plus a set of local obligations the court enforces through its compliance rule. These are the additions worth putting on your calendar.

Lawrence 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 51.1 makes their use mandatory wherever a statewide form exists. Local Rule 51.2 then prescribes Lawrence County Probate Court forms to implement the local rules, and the court reserves discretion to refuse any other form in their place even if it purports to contain the same information.

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) with Form 6.1 (Schedule of Assets), Form 7.0 (Certification of Notice to Administrator of Medicaid Estate Recovery Program), Form 12.0 (Application for Certificate of Transfer) and Form 13.0 (Fiduciary's Account). Lawrence County's accounting rules also lean on Form 13.2 (Assets Remaining in Fiduciary's Hands), Form 13.8 (Application to Extend Administration) and Form 13.10 (Notice to Extend Administration), and Form 4.1 (Supplemental Application for Ancillary Administration) is the entry point where the decedent lived outside Ohio (R.C. Chapter 2129). Confirm the current version on the Supreme Court of Ohio forms page before you file, because numbering and titles are revised from time to time.

Two Lawrence County local forms are required in an ordinary estate. LC Form 78.2 is a statement of intent that must accompany the original filing to tell the court which type of proceeding you are starting (Local Rule 78.2(B)(1)). LC Form 75.1 is a self-representation acknowledgement that every person acting without an attorney must sign and file with the initial filings, confirming they understand that the court and its deputy clerks cannot give legal advice and that self-represented filers are held to the same standards as attorneys (Local Rule 75.1(B) and (C)). Other local forms appear where the rule they implement applies: LC Forms 56.1-A through 56.1-H for extensions of time by case type, LC Forms 60.1-A through 60.1-F and LC Form 60.2-A for the special administrator and wrongful death appointments, LC Forms 62.2-A and 62.2-B for a summary insolvency, where the court states it will accept no other forms, and LC Form 64.2-B for the status report filed with every partial account or waiver, with LC Form 64.2-C as the annual status report in an estate opened only for a wrongful death or survival claim.

The local forms are not posted on the court's website. Local Rule 52.1(C) tells preparers to check the court's website for the most recent version of the local prescribed forms, but the site publishes no forms library, so request the current LC forms from the Probate Clerk's Office at (740) 533-4343, and if you use third-party probate software confirm with the court that its version of a local form is current before you rely on it. Presentation matters here: one sided printing on eight and one-half by eleven inch paper with no backing, 12 to 14 point type, no alterations to a prescribed form's wording or blank lines, originals unstapled, and a proposed entry with every application (Local Rules 52.1, 57.2, 57.3 and 57.5).

Lawrence County Probate Court does not publish a dollar cost or deposit schedule for estates on its website or in its local rules. Local Rule 58.1(A) and (B) place both schedules in the Probate Clerk's Office: a schedule of the cost of each filing or service, and a schedule of the required deposit for various proceedings, each subject to periodic change. The court requires advance payment of the full amount of costs anticipated for the type of proceeding being filed, will not accept a document for filing or perform a service until all amounts due are paid in full, and charges anything later filed in the same case as it happens. So the only reliable number is the one the deputy clerks give you on the phone at (740) 533-4343 or at the counter, and this page prints no estate deposit figure for Lawrence County rather than guess at one.

What the statute fixes is the item list. Ohio sets most probate fee items statewide: $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), effective September 30, 2025). Any Ohio probate court's local-rule advance deposit for costs is capped at $125.00 (R.C. 2101.16(E)), and a court may add a computerization charge and a dispute resolution charge (R.C. 2101.162, R.C. 2101.163). Those statutory items are the floor; the county's own deposit is what you actually hand over.

Two practical Lawrence County rules cost people time. First, payment method: under Local Rule 58.2(B) the court does not accept personal checks and does not currently have the ability to accept credit cards or debit cards, so bring cash, a money order, a certified or bank cashier's check, or an ordinary business check, and marriage license charges must be cash or money order (Local Rule 58.2(A)). An ATM is on the first floor of the building. If a payment is dishonored the payor must pay in cash within three court days and reimburse the court's bank charges, or the filing may be stricken. Second, compliance costs and sanctions under Local Rule 77.4 are the personal responsibility of the fiduciary and the attorney and may never be paid from, reimbursed by or charged against the estate.

1. Hearings run Monday through Friday. Local Rule 53.3 states the court conducts hearings Monday through Friday, and no fixed weekly probate day is published. Plan to check in with a deputy clerk before your time is called: Local Rule 53.3(A) says no later than five minutes before the scheduled time and Local Rule 78.1(D)(3) says at least 10 minutes before, so allow ten. The court will not delay a hearing for a missing participant absent exceptional circumstances.
2. Not everything gets a hearing. Under Local Rule 78.1(D)(1) the court holds a hearing where the law requires one, where it orders one, or where a party requests one and explains why; otherwise it may rule on a matter without hearing. Where the court itself gives notice of a hearing it does so by email unless the law requires another method.
3. Inventory: filed within three months of appointment (R.C. 2115.02), then set for a non-oral hearing within 30 days of filing, with waivers or proof of notice to the people on Form 1.0 due from the fiduciary (Local Rule 61.4(A)).
4. A special administrator appointed to investigate the estate under Local Rule 60.1 must mail notice of the appointment within seven calendar days, and the appointment terminates automatically 90 calendar days after the entry, or earlier if letters or a release entry issue. The court grants no extensions.
5. Extensions of a filing deadline are asked for before the deadline, on the court's own local form with a proposed entry, normally at least three court days before the due date; an initial extension is generally capped at 60 calendar days and a second at 30 (Local Rule 56.1).
6. Final and distributive account or certificate of termination: due within six months after appointment and never waivable (Local Rule 64.2(A), R.C. 2109.301). To extend, file the Notice to Extend Administration (Form 13.10) no later than the day the six-month period expires where a statutory ground applies, or the Application to Extend Administration (Form 13.8) usually at least five court days before that date where court approval is needed (Local Rule 64.2(B)).
7. Where administration is properly extended, the first account or certificate of termination is due no later than 13 months after appointment, and further partial accounts follow annually on that anniversary; if an application to extend is denied, the final account is due within 60 calendar days after the six-month period expires (Local Rule 64.2(B) and (D)).
8. In a release from administration, the commissioner files a report of distribution within 30 calendar days after completing all distributions and no later than 90 calendar days after the entry relieving the estate (Local Rule 78.2(D)(5)).
9. A late required filing draws a notice of non-compliance promptly after the due date, with a 30 court day grace period that the court will not extend; filing inside the grace period cancels the citation hearing, and once it expires the hearing goes forward and the fiduciary and attorney must appear in person (Local Rules 77.2 and 77.3).
10. Exceptions to an inventory or an account are set for a pretrial conference within 30 days after they are filed (Local Rule 78.2(E)(2)), and a land sale proceeding not closed within nine months of the complaint draws a status conference with a status report due 10 court days ahead (Local Rule 65.2(C)).
11. Two lead times for records and access: allow the deputy clerks up to 10 court days to retrieve a closed file from storage (Local Rule 55.1(A)), and give the court at least five court days notice to arrange an interpreter or a disability accommodation for a hearing (Local Rule 75.4).

Ohio's smaller-estate routes are statewide, and the state page explains which one fits: a release from administration on Forms 5.0 and 5.1 (R.C. 2113.03) or a summary release on Form 5.10 (R.C. 2113.031). What is local is the paperwork Lawrence County adds to both. Under Local Rule 78.2(C) and (D) an application for either route must be accompanied by a copy of the funeral bill with proof that it has been paid, or the signed funeral services contract showing who is responsible for paying it. No bond is required in a summary release, and none in a release from administration unless the court orders it in the particular case. Notice by publication is not required in a release from administration in Lawrence County unless the court orders it, which removes a step and a cost many families expect. A release may not be filed at all if the estate is insolvent or is likely to be found insolvent by the end of the claims presentation period, so if the debts look larger than the assets, the route is a full administration with the insolvency rules in Local Rule 62. And the commissioner appointed in a release must file a report of distribution within 30 calendar days after completing all distributions, and no later than 90 calendar days after the entry relieving the estate from administration.

Two more Lawrence County points apply whichever route you take. The statement of intent on LC Form 78.2 exists precisely so the court knows which proceeding you are opening, and the court's own commentary warns that filing the wrong type of proceeding causes unnecessary costs and delay, so confirm the route with the Probate Clerk's Office at (740) 533-4343 before you file rather than after. And a release or summary release does not escape the Medicaid estate recovery notice, which is due within thirty days of the application where the decedent or the decedent's spouse was subject to the program (R.C. 2117.061(B)), and does not shorten the six-month creditor window measured from the date of death (R.C. 2117.06).

Page last reviewed: July 2026.