Cuyahoga County Disclaimer of Interest (Surviving Joint Owner) Form

An Ohio survivorship deed settles the first death in advance: when one survivorship tenant dies, the deceased tenant's interest vests in the survivor, and nothing passes through the deceased tenant's probate estate. This form is the surviving tenant's written refusal of that result. Under Section 5815.36 of the Ohio Revised Code, a surviving joint tenant or surviving tenant of a tenancy with a right of survivorship is a disclaimant, and this Ohio Disclaimer of Interest (Surviving Joint Owner) prepares the instrument by which one such survivor disclaims, in whole, the interest in real property the death would otherwise deliver.

Where the declined half goes

Section 5815.36 does not let the disclaimant choose the taker. Division (G) follows any express provision in the donative instrument for a disclaimer; otherwise, for an interest under a nontestamentary instrument, division (G)(3) disposes of the disclaimed interest as if the disclaimant had died before the deed took effect. Read against a survivorship deed, that default treats the deceased tenant as the one who survived with respect to the disclaimed interest, so the disclaimed half is administered in the deceased tenant's estate, under the will or, without one, under Section 2105.06.

What the surviving owner keeps

A disclaimer reaches only the succession, and division (N)(2) provides that it is not a transfer or conveyance by the disclaimant. The undivided interest the survivor held before the death was never the deceased tenant's to give, and Section 5 of the form says so as fixed text: the interest disclaimed is the entire interest that passes or would pass by right of survivorship, and the disclaimer does not affect the interest the disclaimant already held.

The configuration this form recites

The form recites exactly one disclaimant, a natural person who is the surviving tenant of a survivorship tenancy acting in that person's own right; one deceased survivorship tenant, by name and date of death; one recorded survivorship deed as the donative instrument, identified by date and recording reference; and a disclaimer of the survivorship interest in whole. Section 6 performs the act: the disclaimant irrevocably disclaims and refuses to accept the interest described, declares that no benefit has been accepted and no direction given as to disposition, and retains no power to revoke, as division (E) requires. The disclaimant signs alone under one DISCLAIMANT heading, and the form carries one acknowledgment certificate with the Section 147.55(A) short form, as division (B)(3) requires. No spouse signs: under division (F)(4), a spouse of a disclaimant has no dower or other interest in the real estate disclaimed.

Two siblings who took their late parent's house for their joint lives with remainder to the survivor, where one dies leaving a will to that sibling's own children and the survivor declines the half survivorship would hand over, present the pattern this form recites. A disclaimer of part of the interest, one signed by a guardian, personal representative, or attorney-in-fact, two disclaimants on one instrument, and a renunciation of an interest under a will, a trust, or a transfer on death designation affidavit each follow a different pattern.

Two clocks

Ohio's clock is a window: division (D) places the disclaimer after the death and before the disclaimant accepts any benefit of the interest, and division (J) bars the right once the disclaimant accepts, transfers, or encumbers the property or waives the right in writing. The federal clock is fixed: under 26 U.S.C. Section 2518 and Treasury Regulation Section 25.2518-2(c)(4)(i), a qualified disclaimer of the one-half survivorship interest is made no later than nine months after the first joint tenant's death.

Recording in the county where the land lies

Division (F)(4) requires an executed copy of a disclaimer of real estate to be recorded with the recorder of the county where the property is located, with a description sufficient to identify the land and a reference to the record of the survivorship deed; the form carries both. A disclaimer is not a conveyance, so the auditor's stamps that Section 317.22 requires on deeds of absolute conveyance do not attach to it.

The package contains the fillable disclaimer form, a completed example filled in for a Summit County fact pattern, and a guide covering each numbered section, the delivery and recording steps, and both clocks. The description here and the guide explain the form and the Ohio statutes in general terms without applying them to any particular estate; they are not legal advice.