Trust beneficiary must disclaim interest in writing and/or through deliberate and unequivocal acts

Graham v. Szuch, 8th Dist. No. 2012 ADV 181974, 2014-Ohio-1727. After the decedent's death in 2002 vested her daughters' beneficiary interests in the decedent's trust, the trustee sent a letter in 2006 to the decedent's two daughters advising them that that the terms of the decedent's trust required a distribution of its assets to them in equal shares. After neither daughter took any action as to the distribution and one of the daughters died, the living daughter filed a declaratory-judgment action stating that she was the sole owner of the trust's assets because her deceased sister had refused to accept ownership of her trust share before her death. The facts established that the deceased sister never actively disclaimed ownership of her share of the trust's assets. There was no "written disclaimer instrument" as required under R.C. § 5815.36(B)(1). Furthermore, while R.C. § 5815.36(N)(1) allows disclaimers under the common law, and a disclaimer does not have to be in writing to be effective under the common law, a renunciation under the common law still required a "deliberate and unequivocal act indicating the intention." The appellate court upheld the probate court's ruling because it found nothing to support that the deceased sister had taken deliberate and unequivocal acts to indicate her intention to renounce her share of the decedent's trust.