PROBATE OMNIBUS BILL (H.B. 595)

House Bill 595 is known as the Probate Omnibus Bill and includes a number of noteworthy proposals, including the following:

• Allowing the creator of a trust to require that disputes concerning the administration of the trust be resolved through arbitration instead of being forced into probate court. 

• Allowing the creator of a trust to determine the validity of his or her trust in the probate court, just like a living testator may determine the validity of his or her will under current law, likewise protecting the trust against post mortem challenges. 
• Clarifies that the attorney-client relationship extends to the situation where the attorney is acting on behalf of the trustee of a trust. 
• Ensures Ohio will only accept electronic wills when those wills have two witnesses. 
• Better encourages counties to partner with each other to more economically provide guardianship services, where feasible.  
• Clarifies that incorporation of the terms of a written trust into a testator’s will occurs only if the testator has provided clear, express intent to do so in the will, and extends the deadline for making the terms of the trust part of the estate proceeding under certain circumstances. 

• Clarifies and makes consistent who the coroner must notify and to whom they must release custody of a body based upon the rights of disposition in the Ohio Revised Code.