2105.03. Determination of next of kin.
In the determination of intestate succession, next of kin shall be determined by
degrees of relationship computed by the rules of civil law.
2105.06. Statute of descent and distribution.
When a person dies intestate having title or right to any personal property, or
to any real estate or inheritance, in this state, the personal property shall be
distributed, and the real estate or inheritance shall descend and pass in
parcenary, except as otherwise provided by law, in the following course:
(A) If there is no surviving spouse, to the children of the intestate or their
lineal descendants, per stirpes;
(B) If there is a spouse and one or more children of the decedent or their
lineal descendants surviving, and all of the decedent's children who survive or
have lineal descendants surviving also are children of the surviving spouse,
then the whole to the surviving spouse;
(C) If there is a spouse and one child of the decedent or the child's lineal
descendants surviving and the surviving spouse is not the natural or adoptive
parent of the decedent's child, the first twenty thousand dollars plus one-half
of the balance of the intestate estate to the spouse and the remainder to the
child or the child's lineal descendants, per stirpes;
(D) If there is a spouse and more than one child or their lineal descendants
surviving, the first sixty thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or
adoptive parent of one, but not all, of the children, or the first twenty
thousand dollars if the spouse is the natural or adoptive parent of none of the
children, plus one-third of the balance of the intestate estate to the spouse
and the remainder to the children equally, or to the lineal descendants of any
deceased child, per stirpes;
(E) If there are no children or their lineal descendants, then the whole to the
surviving spouse;

(F) If there is no spouse and no children or their lineal descendants, to the
parents of the intestate equally, or to the surviving parent;
(G) If there is no spouse, no children or their lineal descendants, and no
parent surviving, to the brothers and sisters, whether of the whole or of the
half blood of the intestate, or their lineal descendants, per stirpes;
(H) If there are no brothers or sisters or their lineal descendants, one-half to
the paternal grandparents of the intestate equally, or to the survivor of them,
and one-half to the maternal grandparents of the intestate equally, or to the
survivor of them;
(I) If there is no paternal grandparent or no maternal grandparent, one-half to
the lineal descendants of the deceased grandparents, per stirpes; if there are
no such lineal descendants, then to the surviving grandparents or their lineal
descendants, per stirpes; if there are no surviving grandparents or their lineal
descendants, then to the next of kin of the intestate, provided there shall be
no representation among such next of kin;
(J) If there are no next of kin, to stepchildren or their lineal descendants,
per stirpes;
(K) If there are no stepchildren or their lineal descendants, escheat to the
state.
2105.07. Escheat of personal estate.
When, under Chapter 2105. of the Revised Code, personal property escheats to the
state, the prosecuting attorney of the county in which letters of administration
are granted upon such estate shall collect and pay it over to the county
treasurer. Such estate shall be applied exclusively to the support of the common
schools of the county in which collected.
2105.09. Disposition of escheated lands.
(A) The county auditor, unless he acts pursuant to division (C) of this section,
shall take possession of real property escheated to the state that is located in
his county and outside the incorporated area of a city. The auditor shall take
possession in the name of the state and sell the property at public auction, at
the county seat of the county, to the highest bidder, after having given thirty
days' notice of the intended sale in a newspaper published within the county.
On the application of the auditor, the court of common pleas shall appoint three
disinterested freeholders of the county to appraise the real property. The
freeholders shall be governed by the same rule as appraisers in sheriffs' or
administrators' sales. The auditor shall sell the property at not less than two
thirds of its appraised value and may sell it for cash, or for one-third cash
and the balance in equal annual payments, the deferred payments to be amply
secured. Upon payment of the whole consideration, the auditor shall execute a
deed to the purchaser, in the name and on behalf of the state. The proceeds of
the sale shall be paid by the auditor to the county treasurer.
If there is a regularly organized agricultural society within the county, the
treasurer shall pay the greater of six hundred dollars or five per cent of the
proceeds, in any case, to the society. The excess of the proceeds, or the whole
thereof if there is no regularly organized agricultural society within the
county, shall be distributed as follows:
(1) Twenty-five per cent shall be paid equally to the townships of the county;
(2) Seventy per cent shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the
Agro Ohio fund created under section 901.04 of the Revised Code;
(3) Five per cent shall be credited to the county general fund for such lawful
purposes as the board of county commissioners provides.
(B) The legislative authority of a city within which are lands escheated to the
state, unless it acts pursuant to division (C) of this section, shall take
possession of the lands for the city, and the title to the lands shall vest in
the city. The city shall use the premises primarily for health, welfare, or
recreational purposes, or may lease them at such prices and for such purposes as
it considers proper. With the approval of the tax commissioner, the city may
sell the lands or any undivided interest in the lands, in the same manner as is
provided in the sale of land not needed for any municipal purposes; provided,
that the net proceeds from the rent or sale of the premises shall be devoted to
health, welfare, or recreational purposes.
(C) As an alternative to the procedure prescribed in divisions (A) and (B) of
this section, the county auditor, or if the real property is located within the
incorporated area of a city, the legislative authority of that city by an
affirmative vote of at least a majority of its members, may request the probate
court to direct the administrator or executor of the estate that contains the
escheated property to commence an action in the probate court for authority to
sell the real property in the manner provided in Chapter 2127. of the Revised
Code. The proceeds from the sale of real property that is located outside the
incorporated area of a city shall be distributed by the court in the same manner
as the proceeds are distributed under division (A) of this section. The proceeds
from the sale of real property that is located within the incorporated area of a
city shall be distributed by the court in the same manner as the proceeds are
distributed under division (B) of this section.
2105.11. Estate to descend equally to children of intestate.
When a person dies intestate leaving children and none of the children of such
intestate have died leaving children or their lineal descendants, such estate
shall descend to the children of such intestate, living at the time of his
death, in equal proportions.
2105.12. Descent when all descendants of equal degree of consanguinity.
When all the descendants of an intestate, in a direct line of descent, are on an
equal degree of consanguinity to the intestate, the estate shall pass to such
persons in equal parts, however remote from the intestate such equal and common
degree of consanguinity may be.
2105.13. Descent when children and heirs of deceased children are living.
If some of the children of an intestate are living and others are dead, the
estate shall descend to the children who are living and to the lineal
descendants of such children as are dead, so that each child who is living will
inherit the share to which he would have been entitled if all the children of
the intestate were living, and the lineal descendants of the deceased child will
inherit equal parts of that portion of the estate to which such deceased child
would be entitled if he were living.
This section shall apply in all cases in which the descendants of the intestate,
not more remote than lineal descendants of grandparents, entitled to share in
the estate, are of unequal degree of consanguinity to the intestate, so that
those who are of the nearest degree of consanguinity will take the share to
which they would have been entitled, had all the descendants in the same degree
of consanguinity with them who died leaving issue, been living.
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