Geauga County Disclaimer of Interest Form

An Ohio disclaimer of interest is the written refusal by which an heir, devisee, trust beneficiary, transfer on death beneficiary, or surviving survivorship tenant declines property that would otherwise pass to that person. Section 5815.36 of the Ohio Revised Code treats the refusal as if it came before the interest ever arrived: the disclaimed share passes as the will, trust, or affidavit directs or, where the instrument is silent, as though the disclaimant had died before the decedent. This form prepares that instrument for an interest in Ohio real estate, signed and acknowledged by one disclaimant.

A refusal that relates back

The statute does not treat a disclaimer as a gift from the person refusing. Division (N)(2) of Section 5815.36 states that a disclaimer is not a transfer or conveyance by the disclaimant and that no creditor of the disclaimant may avoid it, and division (H) relates it back to the date the taker and the interest were finally ascertained. Once executed and delivered, filed, or recorded as required, it is final and binding under division (M). Under division (E) the instrument gives the disclaimant no power to revoke, and under division (J) the right is lost once the disclaimant accepts the property, transfers or encumbers it, waives the right in writing, or lets it go at a judicial sale.

Where the disclaimed share goes

The disclaimant does not choose the taker. Division (G) follows any express provision of the donative instrument and otherwise treats the disclaimant as having predeceased the decedent or as having died before a nontestamentary instrument took effect. For a transfer on death designation affidavit, that rule meets Section 5302.23: the share goes to any contingent beneficiary the affidavit names and otherwise into the owner's probate estate. The form's declaration states that the disclaimant makes no direction as to disposition, the no-direction element the federal qualified disclaimer rule in 26 U.S.C. Section 2518 also uses.

Two destinations for the paper

An interest under a will or by intestate succession is disclaimed by filing in the probate division of the county where the estate is or could be administered, with an executed copy delivered to the personal representative. An interest under a trust, deed, or other nontestamentary instrument is disclaimed by delivery to the trustee or title holder, and a transfer on death interest is also filed with the county recorder. Whenever real estate is involved, division (F)(4) adds that an executed copy is recorded with the recorder of the county where the land lies and that the instrument describes the real estate with certainty and refers to the record of the instrument that created the interest. The form carries each of those contents, and the recorded copy meets the Section 317.114 standard: a three inch blank top margin on page one and one inch side and bottom margins.

One disclaimant, one signature, no spouse

The form recites exactly one disclaimant, a natural person refusing in that person's own right, with one signature block and one acknowledgment certificate carrying the Section 147.55(A) short form. Section 4 is a free-form description of the interest and its extent, so a disclaimer of the whole interest and a disclaimer of a described part are written in the same space rather than through a preprinted choice. Division (F)(4) provides that a spouse of a disclaimant has no dower or other interest in the real estate disclaimed, so a married disclaimant signs alone. A child declining a devised house so that it passes to the grandchildren the will names next presents the pattern this form recites. A guardian or personal representative disclaiming under a probate court order, an attorney-in-fact acting under written authority, and two disclaimants on one instrument follow different patterns.

Ohio timing and the federal nine months

Section 5815.36 sets no month count; division (D) requires delivery, filing, or recording before the disclaimant accepts any benefit of the interest. The federal estate and gift tax treatment is a separate test: a qualified disclaimer under 26 U.S.C. Section 2518 is received within nine months of the transfer that created the interest. The guide describes both clocks.

The package includes the fillable disclaimer of interest form, a completed example filled in for a realistic Franklin County fact pattern, and the guide that walks through every numbered section, the delivery and filing paths, and the recording steps. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.