Letters testamentary, of administration, or of guardianship shall not be issued to a person after the person’s election to the office of probate judge and before the expiration of the person’s term. If a probate judge is interested as heir, legatee, devisee, or other manner in an estate that would otherwise be settled in the probate court of the county where the judge resides, the estate, and all of the accounts of guardians in which the judge is interested, shall be settled by the court of common pleas of the county. In those matters and cases in which the judge is interested, the judge shall certify the original papers to the court of common pleas. In other matters and proceedings in a probate court in which the judge of the probate court is interested or in which the judge is required to be a witness to a will, the judge shall, upon the motion of a party interested in the proceedings or upon the judge’s own motion, certify the matters and proceedings to the court of common pleas and file with the clerk of the court of common pleas all original papers connected with those matters and proceedings.

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Terms Used In Ohio Code 2101.38

  • Chambers: A judge's office.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
  • Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.

When a matter or proceeding is so certified, a judge of the court of common pleas shall hear and determine the matter or proceeding in chambers or in open court as though the court had original jurisdiction of the subject matter. Upon final decision of the questions involved in the matter or proceedings, the final settlement of the estate in which the judge is interested as executor, administrator, or guardian, or when the judge’s interest in the estate ceases, the clerk shall deliver the original papers to the probate court in which the original papers were filed and make and file in that court an authenticated transcript of the orders, judgments, and proceedings of the court of common pleas. The probate judge shall record the orders, judgments, and proceedings in the proper records.