Ohio Affidavit of Confirmation

When an Ohio property owner who recorded a transfer on death designation affidavit dies, title passes to the named beneficiaries at that moment by operation of law. The paperwork does not follow on its own: the county auditor and county recorder still show the deceased owner until a beneficiary records an affidavit of confirmation under Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.222. This fillable form prepares that affidavit for Ohio real property.

The transfer happened at death; the affidavit puts it on record

Ohio's transfer on death designation affidavit, the instrument Section 5302.22 substituted for the older transfer on death deed in 2009, vests title in the designated beneficiaries when the owner dies, without probate. Section 5302.222 supplies the recording step: the transfer is recorded by presenting to the county auditor, and filing with the county recorder of the county where the property is located, an affidavit of confirmation executed by any transfer on death beneficiary to whom the transfer is made, verified before a person authorized to administer oaths and accompanied by a certified copy of the deceased owner's death certificate.

The affidavit of confirmation is therefore a sworn statement, not a deed. It confirms, for the public record, who died, when, under which recorded designation affidavit, what property is involved, and who takes it.

One beneficiary swears for every beneficiary

Section 5302.222 lets any beneficiary to whom the transfer is made execute the affidavit, so the form carries one affiant, one signature line, and one jurat. The affidavit still names everyone: the statute requires the name and address of each transfer on death beneficiary who survived the deceased owner or that is in existence on the date of death, and the name of each beneficiary who did not survive. The form gives each list its own section, and a third section for a successor trustee who has replaced a beneficiary named solely as trustee of a trust, whom Section 5302.22(G) treats as the beneficiary in existence at death.

Shares are not written into the affidavit. Under Section 5302.23(B)(1), two or more beneficiaries take in equal shares as tenants in common unless the designation affidavit stated other shares or a survivorship tenancy, and a contingent beneficiary takes the share of a named beneficiary who did not survive.

What the sworn statements cover

Beyond the four items the statute lists, the form's fixed statements recite the facts that make the transfer complete: that the designation affidavit was recorded before the owner's death, the condition Section 5302.22(F) places on its effectiveness; that the affiant knows of no later recorded designation affidavit revoking or changing the beneficiaries, the revocation method Section 5302.23(B)(5) provides; and that, where the owner held as a survivorship tenant or as a tenant by the entireties, the deceased owner was the last surviving tenant, since Section 5302.22(C) vests title in the beneficiaries only at that death. Section 5302.222(E) makes a knowingly false statement in the affidavit the offense of falsification.

Through the auditor, then the recorder

The sequence is fixed by the statute: auditor first, recorder second. At the auditor's counter the affidavit travels with a DTE 100EX statement of reason for exemption from the conveyance fee, or a DTE 100 where no exemption is claimed, and the certified death certificate; the auditor's conveyance standards under Section 319.203 govern the legal description and parcel number. The form carries the parcel number, the prior instrument reference Section 319.20 requires, and a mailing address for each beneficiary. The recorder then records the affidavit in the official records under Section 5302.222(C). The document is laid out to Ohio's standard format statute, Section 317.114, with the three inch blank first-page margin reserved for county endorsements, 12 point type over the 10 point minimum, and the preparer statement Section 317.111 requires.

A jurat, not an acknowledgment

Because the affidavit is sworn, the certificate below the signature is a jurat in the form Section 147.542 accepts, with the state and county venue, the date, the affiant's name, and the officer's signature, printed name, seal, and commission expiration. The guide covers an affidavit sworn outside Ohio under Section 147.51 and what an online notarization adds to the certificate.

The package includes the fillable affidavit of confirmation, a completed example filled in for a Franklin County fact pattern with two surviving beneficiaries, and the guide that walks through every numbered section and the auditor and recorder steps. The description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.