Paul Shugar presented the below information on Legislative Updates on House Bill 7 and Other Statutory Law Changes as part of the 2021 Marvin R. Pliskin Advanced Probate and Estate Planning Seminar, hosted by the Ohio State Bar Association.

2021 Revise Probate Law, Guardianship Law, and Ohio Trust Code (H.B. 7)

Overview

After the Ohio House of Representatives passed H.B. 7 by a vote of 98-0 on March 3, 2021, the Senate passed the bill by a 32-0 vote on May 5, 2021. Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 7 into law on May 20, 2021, and it became effective on August 17, 2021. The new law made ... Read More ›

Res judicata, literally meaning "a matter [already] judged," is a prudential doctrine that is meant to ensure the finality of judgments and conserve judicial resources by protecting litigants from multiple litigation involving the same claims or issues. When one court has already resolved the merits of a case, another court will not revisit them.

Recently, Reminger attorneys Russell J. Meraglio, Jr. Franklin C. Malemud, and Timothy J. Gallagher represented an attorney who was appointed by the Cuyahoga County Probate Court to serve as successor trustee over a trust.  The removed ... Read More ›

Inheritance disputes are often motivated by principle and emotion. No matter how right a claimant thinks they are, the style and approach to their case may create financial risk in paying another’s attorney fees and/or depleting any inheritance the claimant otherwise would receive.  Choosing the right attorney will help you navigate this risk.

Inheritance claim litigation often involve claims to invalidate documents or transactions through declaratory judgment claims as well as the pursuit of breach of fiduciary duty claims.  Ohio follows the American rule which generally ... Read More ›

Join Adam Fried, co-chair of Reminger’s Estate, Trust, and Probate Litigation practice group, for a five-part blog series exploring what makes for a good case or bad case to challenge inheritance rights. To read the full e-book, click here.

In part four, we reviewed economic considerations that go into a decision as to whether a claim of undue influence should be pursued. In the final part of this blog series, we will discuss considerations to make when selecting counsel for an inheritance dispute.

Part 5 - What to Consider When Selecting Counsel

A few years into my new job, more than ... Read More ›

A last will and testament is one way that a person can transfer assets upon death. That only applies to probate assets; that is, assets that are held in the name of the decedent only upon his or her death, or assets that are payable to his or her estate. It is becoming more common for people to own assets, such as life insurance, retirement accounts, and annuities, that can have beneficiary designations. You have probably heard about will contests and challenging wills. Did you know that you can also challenge beneficiary designations? And did you know that same reasons to set aside a ... Read More ›

On September 29, 2020, the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals affirmed a trust-arbitration award in Hughes v. Hughes, 2020-Ohio-4653.

This is one of the first, if not the first, trust arbitration cases to make its way through Ohio Courts. The Ohio legislature recognized arbitration  as an option for trust dispute resolution with the March 2019 enactment of Ohio Revised Code Section 5802.05.  Here, the parties commenced arbitration in July 2018, and the arbitration hearing took place in October 2018. The Arbitrator issued his decision that same month, and the award was carried out by ... Read More ›

Most everyone owns property, but we find in our probate dispute practice that very few people have a detailed grasp of exactly what they own and how they own it. Many people forget or are simply unaware of what instruments and documents can be used to convey, transfer, gift, or bequeath their property to another. For instance, you could go to a lawyer, write a will and leave everything to your two children equally. The next day, you could into a bank and put your account in joint form with one of your children.  While your intent may be to add a child as a helper to manage your bank account, the ... Read More ›

A primary factor many consider when looking to hire an attorney to pursue a Trust dispute is the cost of representation (i.e. attorney fees and out of pocket litigation expenses).  In deciding whether to hire an attorney, prospective clients almost always ask: “If I win, can I get my attorney fees paid?” Under Ohio law, the short answer is often “no”. However, a recent case interpreting a statute enacted in 2007 will help Trust beneficiaries recover attorney fees and litigation expenses in a Trust dispute.Read More ›

One advantage of using a trust for estate planning is privacy. The probate process is generally all a matter of public record for any inquiring mind. Trusts, though intended to be more private, can become public when disputes arise that pull the administration into court. But a new Ohio law is changing that.Read More ›

Adam M. Fried recently presented at The Marvin R. Pliskin Advanced Probate and Estate Planning Seminar, sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association's Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Section. More than 250 attorneys from across the state of Ohio attended the full-day Continuing Legal Education course.Read More ›

Ten years after the first enactment of the Ohio Trust Code, in Zook, et al. v. JP Morgan Chase Bank National Association, et al., 10^th Dist. No. 15AP-751, 2017-Ohio-838, the Tenth District Ohio Court of Appeals gave insight into protections under the Ohio Trust Code afforded trustees against beneficiary claims and a provided a roadmap for a beneficiary to challenge such protection.Read More ›

Following up on the recent blog post on basic principles of trust reporting, the Fifth District Court of Appeals released a timely analysis involving a trustee’s failure to account and an award of attorney fees against the trustee for their breach of duty in McHenry v. McHenry, (5^th Dist.), 2017-Ohio 1534.  The decision, originating out of the Stark County Probate Court is significant for two reasons:  (1) it provides a thorough analysis of a trustee’s duty to account even in the face of trust language relieving the trustee of his duty to account; and (2) the court awarded attorney fees in excess of the value of the compensatory damages, pursuant to its authority under R.C. 5810.04.Read More ›

You are a trust beneficiary. 

You have no idea what is in the trust, what has been spent out of the trust, and what will be spent out of the trust. 

Must the trustee open his books to you? What rights do you have to receive this information? Read More ›