Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant Title-Clearance Requirements in Ohio

At a glance

Requirements one by one

The ordinary survivorship-record route

Ohio Rev. Code § 5302.17 starts with the ownership consequence: a qualifying survivorship deed creates a survivorship tenancy, and a deceased grantee's interest vests in the survivor or survivors at death. The later filing documents that transfer in the land records; it is not the event that creates the survivor's interest.

For ordinary, unregistered land, the statute gives two recording choices. One is a certificate of transfer under § 2113.61. The other is an affidavit accompanied by a certified copy of the decedent's death certificate. The affidavit has four required content groups:

• the names of the other survivorship tenants;
• their addresses;
• the decedent's date of death; and
• a description of the real property.

Section 5302.17 does not require the affidavit to identify a particular affiant, say that the affiant is a surviving tenant, add a vesting-deed reference, or make personal-knowledge, tax, lien, probate, or title-insurance declarations. Because the statute calls for an affidavit, use an affidavit form, but the section itself adds no witness count, acknowledgment wording, or separate personal-knowledge formula.

The filing sequence is express: present the materials to the county auditor and then file them with the county recorder. The recorder records the certificate or affidavit in the official records. Before the auditor endorses the conveyance, § 319.202 requires the grantee or representative to submit the tax commissioner's statement. Because § 319.54(G)(3)(n) exempts a transfer to the surviving survivorship tenant from the conveyance fee, only the reason-for-exemption statement is required; the Department of Taxation's DTE 100 directs exempt filers to DTE 100EX. Section 5302.17 gives no post-death deadline.

Section 317.111 generally adds one recordability item to the affidavit—the legible name of the person or government agency that prepared it—but the section has exceptions, including an instrument executed or acknowledged outside Ohio. A death certificate itself is also excluded from that preparer-identification rule.

Registered land is different. The final sentence of § 5302.17 directs property registered under Chapter 5309 to the separate procedure in § 5309.081 instead of the ordinary affidavit route described above.

What trips people up

The certificate of transfer is an alternative, not an attachment. Section 5302.17 uses “either”: record the probate certificate route or use the affidavit with the certified death certificate.

Only four survivorship recitals are listed. The statute does not demand the affiant's age, survivor status, personal knowledge, the prior deed's recording number, parcel number, tax status, lien status, or a statement that title is clear. A county may have practical form and indexing requests, but those are not the four statewide § 5302.17 recitals.

Auditor first, recorder second. Handing the affidavit directly to the recorder skips the sequence written into § 5302.17. The auditor presentation includes the DTE 100EX exemption statement required by § 319.202.

Registered land uses another statute. If the title is registered under Chapter 5309, § 5302.17 expressly sends the transfer to § 5309.081.

Common questions

Must the surviving tenant be the affiant? Section 5302.17 does not say so. It requires an affidavit with specified facts but names no affiant class.

Is a photocopy of the death certificate enough? The statute requires a certified copy to accompany the affidavit.

When does the survivor obtain the decedent's interest? At death. The first paragraph of § 5302.17 says the deed vests the decedent's interest in the survivor or survivors upon the grantee's death; the later filing places the transfer in the official records.

Does Ohio impose a filing deadline? Section 5302.17 states none. That does not eliminate practical title, sale, refinance, tax, or county-processing reasons to record promptly.

Is a conveyance fee due? No. Section 319.54(G)(3)(n) exempts the transfer to a surviving survivorship tenant, but § 319.202 still requires the exemption-reason statement before auditor endorsement.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code § 5302.17 — survivorship vesting, certificate-or-affidavit routes, certified death record, four recitals, auditor/recorder sequence, and registered-land exception. https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_130/legislation/hb72/05_EN/pdf/ (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 317.111 — preparer identification and exceptions. https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_130/legislation/hb72/05_EN/pdf/ (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 319.202 — auditor-stage statement and exemption-reason rule. https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_136/legislation/hb96/07_EN/pdf/ (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 319.54(G)(3)(n) — survivorship-transfer conveyance-fee exemption. https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_135/legislation/hb496/05_EN/pdf/ (accessed 2026-08-02)
• Ohio Department of Taxation Form DTE 100 — instruction to use DTE 100EX for a § 319.54(G)(3) exemption. https://tax.ohio.gov/portals/0/forms/real_property/DTE_DTE100_FI.pdf (accessed 2026-08-02)