(A) Before any distribution of personal property is made from the estate of a presumed decedent, the persons entitled to receive such property may in the discretion of the court and as a condition of distribution be required to give bond in the form and amount, with or without sureties, as the court orders, with the condition that if within a three-year period after the decree is entered by the court it is established that the presumed decedent is alive, the distributee will upon subsequent order of the court refund or return the property to the presumed decedent, or the fair market value of property if the same shall have been sold or otherwise disposed of in the interim.

Terms Used In Ohio Code 2121.07

  • Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59

(B) Nothing in this section shall preclude a distributee from selling, encumbering, or otherwise disposing of any property so distributed and any purchaser, transferee, or mortgagee acquires good title to such property free and clear of any claim of the presumed decedent.