Personal Representative Deed Requirements in Ohio

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Three authority routes

Ohio's shortest route is § 2113.39: when the will or devise authorizes a qualified executor or administrator to sell the class of realty, no probate- court order is required. Unless the instrument narrows the power, the representative may use it for an estate-best-interest purpose.

Section 2127.011 supplies a second no-sale-order route. The surviving spouse and every legatee and devisee in a testate estate, or every heir in intestacy, must give written power-of-sale consent and file it with the probate court. No covered person may be a minor. The sale price must be at least 80% of the approved inventory's appraised value.

The third route is a Chapter 2127 land-sale action. Section 2127.02 (§ 2127.02) makes that action mandatory when controlled personalty cannot cover debts, the support allowance, and administration costs. Section 2127.04 also permits an action when sale is not needed for debts or legacies, using its consent, objection, small-interest, escheat, and best-interest tests.

Section 2127.07 (§ 2127.07) defines the property side broadly: any legal or equitable real-property interest the decedent could sell, including the listed mineral interests, may enter the Chapter 2127 process.

Complaint, parties, and service

Section 2127.10 (§ 2127.10) requires a complaint describing the property and estimated value, the decedent's interest, mortgages, liens, adverse interests, and the reason or necessity. Under § 2127.12, the spouse, interested heirs or devisees, lienholders, and other property-interest holders become defendants.

Section 2127.14 (§ 2127.14) uses ordinary civil summons. A competent interested person who appears or consents in writing does not need service. If everyone consents in writing, the sale order may issue immediately.

Appraisal, sale method, price, and credit

Section 2127.32 (§ 2127.32) permits public or private sale. A public sale receives at least three successive weeks of newspaper advertising. Section 2127.33 sets the initial appraisal floors: full appraised value for private sale, two-thirds for improved property at public auction, and one-half for unimproved property at public auction, subject to the statute's later reset options.

Section 2127.33 (§ 2127.33) supplies those appraisal floors. Section 2127.34 (§ 2127.34) permits cash or deferred payments but caps an executor's or administrator's deferral at two years with interest. Section 2127.36 (§ 2127.36) requires the unpaid installments to be secured before deed delivery by a mortgage and court-approved-interest mortgage notes.

Confirmation, deed, and recording the proceeding

For the court route, § 2127.35 requires the representative to return the sale proceedings. The probate court confirms only after finding the sale legally made and then orders the representative to make the deed. That deed serves as prima-facie evidence of compliance and vests the ordered interest as if the decedent and remaining-interest owners had conveyed it.

Section 2127.09 (§ 2127.09) addresses a cross-county proceeding. When the action is filed outside the county containing the realty, a certified transcript of the whole record must be filed with and recorded by the probate court in every property county.

What trips people up

Consent power and a consent-based court action are different. Section 2127.011 creates a no-sale-order power with unanimous adult consent and an 80% floor. Section 2127.04 separately permits a court action using its own consent, objection, ownership-percentage, and best-interest tests.

Public and private court sales have different minimums. A private sale starts at full appraised value. The initial public-auction floor depends on whether the property is improved.

Common questions

Does a power of sale in the will need court confirmation?

Section 2113.39 says no probate-court order is required to proceed when a qualified representative has the will or devise power. The ordinary deed and recording rules still apply.

Can the representative sell when an heir cannot be found?

Yes, but § 2127.04(C) requires a court action after a due and diligent search, and the court must find the sale in both the missing person's and the estate's best interests.

What does the confirmed court-sale deed prove?

Under § 2127.35, it is prima-facie evidence that the representative followed the court's direction and legal requirements, and it vests the interest the court ordered sold.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code § 2113.39 — will-power sale without a court order.
• Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2127.011, 2127.02, 2127.04, 2127.07, 2127.09-.10, 2127.12, 2127.14, 2127.32-.36 — consent power, land-sale action, parties, service, appraisal floors, method, terms, confirmation, deed, and cross- county proceeding record.
• Current official wording reconstructed from and verified against enrolled 129th General Assembly S.B. 124, accessed 2026-08-12: https://search-prod.lis.state.oh.us/api/v2/general_assembly_129/legislation/sb124/05_EN/pdf/