Joint and Survivorship rights
Joint and survivorship property is property owned by two or more people, with a special feature: at the death of one of the co-owners, that interest passes to the surviving co-owner or co-owners. For example, let’s say three people, X, Y and Z are joint owners of a piece of property with survivorship rights. In this situation, X, Y and Z each own a 1/3 interest in the property. If X...Read More
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Certificate of Transfer
When a real estate owner dies without a will, the Probate Court must determine to whom that real estate passes according to the laws of intestate succession. Once the court determines the appropriate person to take the real estate, it will issue a certificate of transfer. This document basically operates as a deed to the property, transferring the interests of the decedent to the appropriate...Read More
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What is per stirpes? What is per capita?
Ohio’s intestacy statutes identify who is entitled to take from a decedent’s estate, and in what proportion. Several of these provisions include an obscure legal term: per stirpes. Per stirpes (and its counterpart, per capita), often show up in wills, as well. Per stirpes is latin for “by the branch” while per capita is latin for “by the head.” Despite...Read More
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Who are my heirs?
Many clients seek our legal services to help them draft a last will and testament that disposes of their property after they pass away. In some circumstances, however, we may recommend that the client not draft a will, and instead have the Probate Court dispose of the client’s property. The reasons for this can be wide and varied, but most commonly involve an expectation that several...Read More
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Forced Pooling
Before drilling an oil and gas well in the state of Ohio, a driller must first apply for a permit from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Part of the driller’s permit application includes a map indicating the leased lands the driller wants to include in the drilling unit. Several considerations dictate the size this drilling unit can be. The underlying oil and gas lease,...Read More
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Implied Covenant to Reasonably Develop – Geologic Formations
In a previous post I wrote about certain terms that are implied in all mineral leases: the covenant to reasonably develop. In that article I described how a judge might cancel a certain area of an oil and gas lease if the producer hadn’t reasonably developed all of it. This same idea can be applied to unused geological formations. Let’s assume an energy company (the...Read More
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