Lorain County, OH Probate Information

Sign the Fiduciary's Acceptance yourself, before the letters issue. Every executor and administrator must personally sign and file the Fiduciary's Acceptance (Loc.F. 4.0A) before the letters of authority are issued, and where there are co-fiduciaries each one signs an original (Loc.R. 60.1). This is a Lorain County step layered on top of the statewide Form 4.5 appointment entry.

Original signatures, every time, and not the lawyer's. All filings must contain original signatures and a non-attorney may not sign on behalf of an attorney (Loc.R. 57.4). Every pleading or document that law or rule requires the fiduciary to sign must carry the fiduciary's own original signature, and the attorney for the fiduciary may not sign for the fiduciary; where co-fiduciaries have been appointed each must sign, or the filing must explain why a co-fiduciary's signature is missing and what was done to get it (Loc.R. 57.5). Combined with the ban on facsimile filings (Loc.R. 57.1) and the absence of any e-filing system, this means the fiduciary's wet signature has to reach Room 611 on paper.

Show your identification and the death certificate at the counter. An applicant for authority to administer an estate who is not represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Ohio must exhibit current photo identification and proof of a current residence and mailing address in a format satisfactory to the court (Loc.R. 60.3), and the same applies to an applicant for a release or summary release (Loc.R. 75.5). With the initial filing in any estate administration where no attorney represents the applicant, a certified copy of the death certificate must be exhibited, and the deputy clerk photocopies it with the Social Security number redacted (Loc.R. 78.5).

File the court's Medicaid Recovery Acknowledgment even if the statewide notice does not apply to you. Every applicant not represented by counsel who seeks a summary release, a release of an estate from administration or the administration of any estate must file the court's completed Medicaid Recovery Acknowledgment, and where the notice itself applies must also file and serve Form 7.0(A) and file Form 7.0 (Loc.R. 62.2). The statutory notice duty under R.C. 2117.061 attaches only where the decedent, or the decedent's spouse, was subject to the Medicaid estate recovery program; the local acknowledgment is how this court records which situation you are in.

Use the county auditor's valuation if you want to skip an appraisal. No application to dispense with an appraisal is necessary where the fiduciary elects to use the Lorain County Auditor's valuation for real estate, provided the inventory notes that the auditor's valuation is being used and a copy of the parcel's property tax card or a current printout from the auditor's website is attached; the auditor's valuation is not determinative of fair market value if the court later has to approve a sale price (Loc.R. 78.1). Motor-vehicle values must be supported by an appraisal or by current trade-in valuations from Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds or the NADA Guide, with a copy of the title filed before a transfer.

Non-resident fiduciaries have three ways in, and all require an Ohio attorney. A fiduciary who does not live in Ohio must comply with R.C. 2109.21 and must have an attorney of record permitted to practice law by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and must also place assets in an Ohio depository account under R.C. 2109.13 using Loc.F. 60.2A, have an Ohio-resident co-fiduciary, or post bond (Loc.R. 60.2). A non-resident applicant must also give the court current photo identification with proof of a current residence and mailing address.

Do not expect to be paid before the final account is prepared. Unless the court approves otherwise, compensation is not paid to the executor or administrator until the final account is prepared for filing and the Calculation of Executor/Administrator Compensation form (Loc.F. 60.4A) has been filed showing the basis of the calculation (Loc.R. 60.4). The same rule adds a local commission line for a fiduciary appointed on or after January 1, 2014: 1 percent of the value of property not subject to administration that would have been includable for computing the Ohio estate tax, excluding joint and survivorship property, had the decedent died on December 31, 2012, the tax itself having been repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2013. No expenditure, sale, distribution, compensation or fee is approved while the fiduciary is delinquent in filing an account, and the court may modify or deny compensation and fees where filing deadlines are missed (Loc.R. 64.3).

Disclose every attorney fee, whoever pays it. All fees charged by an attorney representing a fiduciary must be disclosed to the court, typically on the fiduciary's account, regardless of the source of payment, and where someone other than the fiduciary pays, counsel must identify the source on the account; for this rule the word fiduciary also covers commissioners and applicants for release from administration, and where no account is required the payment is disclosed on the certificate of termination or through consents to fees (Loc.R. 71.1). Consent by an interested party is given on Loc.F. 71.4A (Loc.R. 71.4). The court publishes Excel computation workbooks for attorney fees in a full administration and in an estate relieved, and treats fees calculated in conformity with those guidelines as satisfying the professional-conduct and superintendence rules.

Keep the deposit and the paperwork clean. If the costs deposit will not cover a filing, the court may refuse the filing without payment and may require an additional deposit (Loc.R. 58.4). Personal identifiers must be omitted from case documents and disclosed only on the confidential Standard Probate Form for personal identifiers (Loc.R. 45.1). Filings go on 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper in ten to twelve point type, in black or blue ink, correctly captioned, with no cross-outs, and anything illegible may be refused or later stricken (Loc.R. 57.6). If you want filed-stamped copies back by mail, send an exact copy with the original plus a self-addressed, adequately stamped envelope (Loc.R. 57.7).

Lorain County uses two layers of forms, and you need both. The first layer is the statewide set: Ohio has one set of Standard Probate Forms prescribed by the Supreme Court of Ohio and used in all 88 counties, published on the Supreme Court's decedent's estate forms page. The Supreme Court's own page says these forms should be filed in the local county court and that the local court may have additional forms that must be filed. Lorain does. Its local rules provide that forms for use in the court are available at the Probate Court office and on the court's website (Loc.R. 51.1), and that each individually generated form must comply with the specifications and format the Rules of Superintendence mandate and be created with the same blank lines and exact wording as the printed Standard Probate Form it replaces (Loc.R. 52.1).

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) with Form 5.11 (Entry Granting Summary Release From Administration), Form 6.0 (Inventory and Appraisal), Form 7.0 (Certification of Notice to Administrator of Medicaid Estate Recovery Program) with Form 7.0(A) (Notice to Administrator of Medicaid Estate Recovery), Form 12.0 (Application for Certificate of Transfer) with Form 12.1 (Certificate of Transfer) and Form 13.0 (Fiduciary's Account). Note that the summary-release form is Form 5.10 and the application to relieve an estate from administration is Form 5.0. Take these from the Supreme Court of Ohio forms page rather than from a stored copy: the court's own locally hosted copies are useful but carry older titles in places, and form numbering and titles are revised from time to time.

Lorain's local forms are published as a Local Forms Index inside the local rules, numbered onto the same scheme with an A or B suffix, and they include Loc.F. 1.1A (Request for Summons or Notice in Civil Action), Loc.F. 4.0A (Fiduciary's Acceptance), the Medicaid Recovery Acknowledgment, Loc.F. 13.7A (Waiver of Notice of Hearing and Consent to Account), Loc.F. 13.9A (Certificate of Service of Account and Notice of Hearing), Loc.F. 22.3A and 22.3B (verification of custodial deposits), Loc.F. 59.2A (Will for Deposit) with Loc.F. 59.2B (Certificate for Deposit of Will), Loc.F. 60.2A (Application of Non-Resident Fiduciary to Deposit Assets With a Custodian In Lieu of Bond), Loc.F. 60.4A (Calculation of Executor/Administrator Compensation), Loc.F. 71.4A (Consent to Attorney Fees), Loc.F. 75.0A (Notice of Change of Address), Loc.F. 75.7A and 75.7B (entry of a safe deposit box and the report on it), Loc.F. 78.2A (Certificate of Service of Inventory and Notice of Hearing), Loc.F. 78.2B (Waiver of Notice of Hearing and Consent to Inventory) and Loc.F. 78.11 (Application for Unclaimed Inheritances). Loc.F. 4.0A is the one that trips families up: it must be personally signed by every executor or administrator and filed before the letters of authority issue (Loc.R. 60.1).

Two Lorain forms have no statewide equivalent and are worth knowing by name. Local Form 5.12 is the court's Affidavit and Application to Relieve Estate from Administration where the probate assets do not exceed $2,000.00: a one-page sworn affidavit, notarized, reciting the date of death, the applicant's relationship to the decedent, whether a will is attached, the items making up the assets and their values, whether funeral expenses have been paid, and the debts, with Form 1.0 attached. It is the court's own streamlined paperwork for a very small estate, priced at $80.00 on the court's schedule, not a separate statutory path, so confirm with the court that it fits your facts before relying on it. Local Form 5.9 is a Commissioner's Report of Distribution, used where the court appoints a commissioner in an estate released from administration (Loc.R. 75.5). The court also publishes six Excel fee-computation workbooks, for attorney fees in a full administration, attorney fees in an estate relieved, attorney fees in guardianships, executor and administrator fees, guardian fees and trustee fees, which correspond to the computation-form appendices the local rules use as fee guidelines (Loc.R. 71.1).

How the forms are submitted is the Lorain County difference from an e-filing county. There is no electronic filing system and no fax filing except an affidavit of mental illness under R.C. 5122.01 (Loc.R. 57.1). All filings must contain original signatures (Loc.R. 57.4), every document requiring the fiduciary's signature must carry the fiduciary's own original signature and the attorney may not sign for the fiduciary (Loc.R. 57.5), and filings go on 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper in ten to twelve point type, in black or blue ink, correctly captioned, with no cross-outs, and legible, or they may be refused or later stricken (Loc.R. 57.6). Personal identifiers must be omitted from case documents and, when first omitted, filed on the Standard Probate Form for confidential disclosure of personal identifiers, which is not a public record (Loc.R. 45.1).

Ohio splits probate costs in two. Most fee items are set statewide by statute in R.C. 2101.16(A), but the number a family actually pays when it opens an estate is the deposit its own probate court sets, and R.C. 2101.16(E) is the provision that lets a probate court require an advance deposit for costs by rule, up to $125.00, with optional computerization and dispute-resolution charges on top (R.C. 2101.162, R.C. 2101.163). Lorain County Probate Court publishes total figures instead of a statutory number, on a dated Deposit, Fee and Costs Schedule, and Loc.R. 58.1 provides that all deposits for court proceedings are in accordance with the schedule in effect on the date the pleading is filed. The figures below are the court's own, from the schedule effective February 20, 2024, and each carries its source. Pay by cash, check or money order: the court does not accept debit or credit cards and reserves the option of refusing non-attorney personal checks.

1. Day one, at filing. Present the application on paper in Room 611 or by mail, before the 4:00 p.m. cutoff for anything requiring a new case number or the payment of court costs (Loc.R. 53.1). A self-represented applicant exhibits photo identification and proof of a current residence and mailing address (Loc.R. 60.3) and a certified copy of the death certificate (Loc.R. 78.5) at that first filing, and files the court's Medicaid Recovery Acknowledgment (Loc.R. 62.2).
2. Within seven days of the initial filing for appointment, absent a waiver. The court serves the spousal citation and summary of rights required by R.C. 2106.02 on a surviving spouse by certified mail, which is why filing Form 8.6 with the application is the faster route where the spouse is waiving (Loc.R. 60.5).
3. Within seven days of appointment. An administrator gives notice of the appointment to all persons entitled to inherit, including anyone entitled to an allowance for support, unless they had notice of the appointment hearing or waived notice, and files proof of service (Loc.R. 60.1).
4. Within thirty days of any change. A required address for a fiduciary or an attorney must be updated in writing, using Loc.F. 75.0A (Loc.R. 57.2).
5. Within thirty days of letters or of a release application, where it applies. The Medicaid estate recovery notice form goes to the administrator of the program where the decedent, or the decedent's spouse, was subject to the recovery program (R.C. 2117.061).
6. Within two months of appointment, or of admission of the will where no fiduciary is appointed. File the Certificate of Service of Notice of Probate of Will (Form 2.4). The period for contesting the will does not begin to run until it is filed, and a delayed filing may push out other deadlines that depend on that period expiring (Loc.R. 59.1).
7. Within three months of appointment. File the inventory on Form 6.0 (R.C. 2115.02), with the local content and valuation requirements in Loc.R. 78.1, and either Loc.F. 78.2A for service of the inventory and notice of hearing or Loc.F. 78.2B for a waiver and consent. Until the inventory is filed the court will not approve a distribution, sale or expenditure of other estate property, apart from a motor vehicle specifically approved on application for good cause.
8. Six months from the date of death. The creditor window closes: all claims must be presented within six months after death or be forever barred (R.C. 2117.06), subject only to the Medicaid estate recovery administrator's later window (R.C. 2117.061(D)).
9. Within six months of appointment, extendable to thirteen. The final and distributive account is due within six months (R.C. 2109.301, Loc.R. 64.8(A)), and the local rule allows that date to be extended to thirteen months by filing an Application and Entry to Extend Administration (Form 13.8). Only one extension is granted without a hearing absent good cause, and both the attorney and the fiduciary must sign the request and recite previous requests (Loc.R. 64.3).
10. At the account. Every account is set for hearing, a copy of the account and the notice of hearing must be served on every heir, beneficiary and interested party, and before the hearing the fiduciary files either Loc.F. 13.9A or a waiver for each person who had to be served (Loc.R. 64.9). Fiduciary compensation is not paid until the final account is prepared for filing and Loc.F. 60.4A is on file (Loc.R. 60.4).
11. In a contested probate civil case. A land sale, determination of heirship, concealment of assets or will contest is filed as a civil action with a $250.00 deposit on the court's schedule; the case is set for a case management conference within ninety days of the filing of responsive pleadings, with notice mailed to counsel at least fourteen days before, and the conference may be held by telephone with prior court approval (Loc.R. 78.9). In a land sale requiring court approval, title evidence is filed within fourteen days after the pleadings requesting the sale (Loc.R. 65.1).

Lorain County Probate Court publishes one small-estate route that exists nowhere in the statewide Standard Probate Forms and nowhere in the Revised Code: local Form 5.12, an Affidavit and Application to Relieve Estate from Administration where the probate assets do not exceed $2,000.00. It is a single notarized page on which the applicant swears to the date of death and the decedent's domicile, states the applicant's relationship to the decedent, says whether a will is attached or whether none is known, lists the items making up the probate assets and their values, states whether funeral expenses have been paid and attaches the statement, lists the debts of the estate, and asks that the estate be relieved from administration because the assets do not exceed $2,000.00. Form 1.0, the statewide next-of-kin form, is attached. The court's Deposit, Fee and Costs Schedule prices it at $80.00 against $182.00 for an ordinary application for an estate relieved from administration (Lorain County Probate Court Deposit, Fee and Costs Schedule effective February 20, 2024, probate.loraincounty.com, verified July 2026).

Treat it as this court's own streamlined paperwork inside the statutory release path, not as a separate legal route. R.C. 2113.03 sets the ceilings for relieving an estate from administration and contains no affidavit procedure and no $2,000.00 figure, and those statewide ceilings, along with the summary-release path, are covered on the Ohio state page. So call the court at (440) 329-5175 and confirm the form fits your facts before you rely on it, and remember that a release does not shorten the six-month creditor window measured from the date of death (R.C. 2117.06) and does not remove the Medicaid Recovery Acknowledgment a self-represented applicant has to file (Loc.R. 62.2). If the court appoints a commissioner in an estate released from administration, the commissioner reports the distribution on the court's local Form 5.9 (Loc.R. 75.5).

Page last reviewed: July 2026.