Geauga County Fiduciary Deed (Two Co-Executors) Form

When a will names two executors and both qualify, an Ohio estate sale closes on a deed that both co-executors sign. This Ohio Fiduciary Deed (Two Co-Executors) is that deed: the statutory deed of executor in Ohio Revised Code Section 5302.09, set up for exactly two co-executors of one decedent's will, with a signature block and a separate acknowledgment certificate for each of them.

Two fiduciaries, one conveyance

The deed recites that its two grantors are the duly appointed, qualified, and acting co-executors of the decedent's will and that each makes the deed in that fiduciary capacity. It names the decedent, the probate court, and the case number, and identifies the source of the power to sell, which in the completed example is a power of sale in the will. Under Section 2113.39, an executor authorized by the will to sell real property proceeds without a probate court order, and the deed's operative paragraph carries the statutory words by the power conferred by that source and every other power. A sale made under a court order through Chapter 2127 uses the same entry, naming the order in place of the will.

Because the two co-executors may be in different cities, the form does not assume a single signing. Each co-executor signs under a separate heading, dates the deed on the day of signing, and acknowledges before an officer of that co-executor's choosing. The two certificates use the short form Section 147.55(F) prints for a personal representative, so the officer records the signer's name and title of position. The two certificates are the form's layout; Ohio's notarial statutes set certificate content without limiting a certificate to one signer.

What fiduciary covenants promise

An Ohio executor's deed, often searched for as an estate deed or executor deed, differs from a warranty deed in its covenant. Section 5302.10 gives the words fiduciary covenants a fixed meaning: the grantor covenants that the grantor is duly appointed, qualified, and acting in the fiduciary capacity the deed describes, is duly authorized to make the sale and conveyance, and has complied with the statutes governing the sale. Those covenants speak to the executors' authority and process, not to title; they are not the general warranty covenants of Section 5302.06, and the grantee takes the estate's interest subject to matters of record. Since the word grant implies no covenant under Section 5302.03, the purchaser's covenant comes from the fiduciary covenant phrase the form prints as fixed text.

The configuration this deed carries

The form recites two fiduciaries, both executors of the same will, both signing; it prints no marital status and no dower release, because the grantors convey in a representative capacity and the Section 5302.09 form carries no dower sentence. Two siblings named as co-executors selling the family home, and a surviving spouse and an adult child serving together under a will with a power of sale, present the two-co-executor pattern this deed recites. A sole executor, an administrator of an intestate estate, a successor trustee, a guardian, a surviving executor acting after a co-executor's death or removal, and three or more co-fiduciaries each present a different pattern, and the form is not set up as any of them. The grantee section accepts any vesting designation Ohio recognizes; the completed example conveys to two purchasers for their joint lives, remainder to the survivor of them, the survivorship form of Section 5302.17.

Auditor first, then recorder

An Ohio deed of absolute conveyance goes to the county auditor before the recorder. The grantee's side files the conveyance fee statement, form DTE 100, under Section 319.202; the auditor collects the state conveyance fee of ten cents per hundred dollars of value and any county permissive transfer tax, checks the description against the county conveyance standards, and stamps the deed transferred, and Section 317.22 bars recording until that stamp appears. The deed is built to the Section 317.114 format standard and carries the Section 317.111 preparer statement and the Section 319.20 grantee tax-mailing address and prior instrument reference. Because the executors sold the property rather than distributing it, Section 2113.61 excepts it from the certificate of transfer that accompanies real property passing to heirs or devisees.

The package includes the fillable deed, a completed example filled in for a Franklin County estate sale, and the guide that walks through every numbered section, the acknowledgments, and the auditor and recorder steps. This description and the guide describe the form and the governing Ohio statutes in general terms; they are not legal advice.