Geauga County Affidavit of Confirmation (Contingent Beneficiary) Form

An Ohio transfer on death designation affidavit names a beneficiary, and it can also name a contingent beneficiary who steps in if the first one dies before the owner. When that happens, the contingent beneficiary is the one who records the transfer after the owner's death, and the affidavit of confirmation that Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.222 requires has to say so. This form prepares that affidavit for an Ohio contingent transfer on death beneficiary whose predecessor in the designation did not survive the deceased owner.

When the first-named beneficiary dies before the owner

Ohio replaced its transfer on death deed in 2009 with the transfer on death designation affidavit, still searched as a TOD deed or TOD affidavit, and wrote the contingent beneficiary into the statute. Section 5302.23(B)(2) lets the owner name contingent transfer on death beneficiaries by name, and Section 5302.23(B)(1) supplies the rule this form rests on: if a transfer on death beneficiary does not survive the deceased owner, or is not in existence on the date of death, the designated contingent beneficiaries take the same interest that would have passed to that beneficiary. One limit rides with it, and the form states it in the sworn statements: where the owner designated two or more beneficiaries to take as survivorship tenants, the contingent beneficiaries take only if none of those beneficiaries survived.

What a contingent beneficiary swears to

Section 5302.222 publishes no form; it lists contents: the name and address of each beneficiary who survived the owner or is in existence, the date of death, a description of the property, and the name of each beneficiary who did not survive. This form carries those four items in separate sections, and its fixed text states the capacity that makes the contingent beneficiary the person to whom the transfer is made: the affiant is designated by name as a contingent transfer on death beneficiary, the beneficiary named ahead of the affiant did not survive the deceased owner or was not in existence, and under Section 5302.23(B)(1) the contingent beneficiaries take that beneficiary's interest. The sworn statements also cover the owner's death, the designation's recording before death, and the absence of any later affidavit revoking it.

Two death certificates travel with this affidavit rather than one: Section 5302.222(A) requires a certified copy of the deceased owner's, and Section 5302.222(B) requires one for each beneficiary who has not survived the owner. The form's fixed text states that both accompany it.

One affiant, one jurat, every beneficiary named

The form identifies one affiant, a natural person signing in that person's own right, and carries one signature block and one jurat. Section 5302.222(A) calls for execution by any transfer on death beneficiary to whom the transfer is made, so where several beneficiaries take, every one of them is named with an address in Section 6 and one of them signs. The affidavit is verified before a person authorized to administer oaths, so the certificate is a jurat, sworn to and subscribed, rather than the acknowledgment found on deed forms, and the form reserves space for the notary seal that Section 147.542(F) makes part of every certificate. A confirmation by a surviving primary beneficiary, by the beneficiaries of the last surviving survivorship tenant, or by a successor trustee follows a different pattern from the one this form states.

Auditor first, then recorder

Section 5302.222(A) has the affidavit presented to the county auditor of the county where the property is located and then filed with the county recorder of that county. The auditor processes the transfer on the tax records with a conveyance fee statement or exemption statement under Section 319.202, and the recorder, before recording, hands the beneficiary the Medicaid estate recovery form that Section 5302.221 prescribes. The form carries the prior instrument reference and grantee addresses Section 319.20 contemplates, the preparer name Section 317.111 requires, and the three-inch first-page margin of the Section 317.114 standard format.

The package includes the fillable affidavit of confirmation, a completed example filled in for a realistic Franklin County fact pattern in which a granddaughter confirms the transfer after her father, the named beneficiary, died before his mother, and the guide that walks through every section and the county process. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.