Description

Last Updated – September 1, 2023

Forms

Free Web Forms. If you’re curious about the advantages of BOPF over the probate court’s PDF web forms, click here.

Quality Not Quantity. Instead of paying for thousands of forms you never use or that are incorrect or incomplete, we give you the complete set of “Standard Probate Forms” as promulgated by the Ohio Supreme Court under the Rules for the Superintendence of Common Pleas Courts and legally valid in all counties. Every Standard Probate Form for the handling of decedent’s estates from beginning to end between Form 1.0 and Form 13.7 is represented.

Included Forms

Form 1.0	Surviving Spouse, Next of Kin, Legatees & Devisees
Form 2.0	Application to Probate Will
Form 2.1	Waiver of Notice of Probate of Will
Form 2.2	Notice of Probate of Will
Form 2.3	Entry Admitting Will
Form 2.4	Certificate of Service of Notice of Probate of Will
Form 3.0	Appointment of Appraiser
Form 4.0	Application for Authority to Administer
Form 4.1	Supplemental Application for Ancillary Administration
Form 4.2	Fiduciary’s Bond
Form 4.3	Waiver of Right to Administer
Form 4.4	Notice of Hearing on Appointment of Fiduciary
Form 4.5	Entry Appointing Fiduciary; Letters of Authority
Form 5.0	Application to Relieve Estate from Administration
Form 5.1	Assets and Liabilities of Estate to be Relieved
Form 5.2	Waiver of Notice of Application to Relieve Estate
Form 5.3	Notice of Application to Relieve Estate from Administration
Form 5.4	Publication of Notice
Form 5.5	Publication of Notice (multiple estates)
Form 5.6	Entry Relieving Estate from Administration
Form 5.9	Report of Distribution
Form 5.10	Application for Summary Release from Administration
Form 5.11	Entry Granting Summary Release from Administration
Form 6.0	Inventory and Appraisal
Form 6.1	Schedule of Assets
Form 6.2	Waiver of Notice on Hearing
Form 6.3	Notice of Hearing
Form 7.0	Notice to Administrator of Estate Recovery Program
Form 7.1	Application for Family Allowance
Form 7.2	Application for Apportionment of Family Allowance
Form 8.0	Citation to Surviving Spouse to Elect Against Will
Form 8.1	Election of Surviving Spouse to Take Under Will
Form 8.2	Election of Surviving Spouse to Take Against Will
Form 8.3	Summary of General Rights of Surviving Spouse
Form 8.4	Certificate of Service and Notice of Citation to Surviving Spouse
Form 8.5	Return for Certificate of Service of Citation to Surviving Spouse
Form 8.6	Waiver of Service to Surviving Spouse of Citation
Form 9.0	Application to Sell Personal Property
Form 9.1	Schedule of Personal Property for Sale
Form 9.2	Notice of Sale of Personal Property
Form 10.0	Application to Distribute in Kind
Form 10.1	Schedule of Property to be Distributed in Kind
Form 10.2	Notice of Hearing on Application to Distribute in Kind
Form 10.4	Notice to Distributee
Form 11.0	Consent to Power to Sell Real Estate
Form 12.0	Application for Certificate of Transfer
Form 12.1	Certificate of Transfer
Form 12.2	Entry Issuing Certificate of Transfer
Form 13.0	Fiduciary’s Account
Form 13.1	Receipts and Disbursements
Form 13.2	Assets Remaining in Hands of Fiduciary
Form 13.3	Entry Approving and Settling Account
Form 13.4	Waiver of Partial Account
Form 13.5	Notice of Hearing on Account
Form 13.6	Certificate of Termination
Form 13.7	Waiver of Notice of Hearing on Account
Form 13.8	Application to Extend Administration
Form 13.9	Certificate of Service of Account to Beneficiaries and Heirs
Form 13.10	Notice of Extend Administration
Form 24.0	Representation of Insolvency
Form 24.1	Judgment Entry Setting Hearing
Form 24.2	Notice of Hearing
Form 24.3	Verification of Service
Form 24.4	Schedule of Claims
Form 24.5	Continuation Schedule of Claims
Form 24.6	Judgment of Insolvency
IRS Form SS-4	Application for Employer Identification Number
IRS Form 56	Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship
IRS Form 2848	Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representation
IRS Form 4868	Application for Extension of Time to File a Return
	Confidential Personal Identifier Disclosure Form
	Computation of Executor/Administrator Fees
	Probate Form Tracker
	General Information Worksheet
	Fiduciary’s Acceptance
	Next of Kin/Beneficiaries/Other Interested Parties Worksheet
	Asset/Income/Receipt Worksheet
	Debt/Expense/Disbursement Worksheet
	Time & Services Worksheet
	Application for Attorney Fees
	Judgment Entry for Attorney Fees
BMV 3773	Surviving Spouse Affidavit to Transfer Motor Vehicles
BMV 3774	Application for Certificate of Title to Motor Vehicle
	Affidavit of Surviving Spouse to Transfer Real Property
	Affidavit of Domicile
	Power of Attorney to Transfer Stock
	Will, Notice of Probate, Enclosure Letter
	Inventory, Waiver and Consent, Enclosure Letter
	Accounting, Waiver and Consent, Enclosure Letter
	Notice of Appointment, Letters Testamentary Enclosure Letter
	Letter to Life Insurance Company Requesting Proceeds of Policy
	Letter to Appraiser, Enclosure Letter
	Probate Filing Letter, Enclosure Letter

The Solution

Law offices needed intelligently integrated probate forms. If you enter a decedent’s name, address, and date of death once, why reenter it on multiple other probate forms? That goes double for assets and debts. If you enter a lengthy real estate legal description once, why retype it on the Inventory, then on the Certificate of Transfer, and later again on the Final Account? You should even be able to take the legal description and transfer it to Schedule A or E of the U.S. Estate Tax return (Form 706) if you need to.

A probate program must handle financial information. Once you enter a real estate value, for example, the value should appear automatically on the Inventory (in the appropriate category); it should also appear automatically on the Final Account (in the appropriate category); the value should also appear on any of a dozen other probate forms that require this information—automatically. The same applies for the transfer of this asset to the U.S.  Estate Tax return (Form 706).

Summary of Features

• Handles all calculations automatically; most forms complete themselves automatically!

• Prepares every probate form in the Standard Probate Form set as published in the Supreme Court’s Rules for the Superintendence of Common Pleas Courts.

• Has the ability to export probate files to the U.S. Estate Tax program – a true single entry system.

• Notices, Consents & Waivers. More than half the standard probate forms involve the spouse, kin and legatees, so you’ll be wanting your probate program to fully complete ALL the necessary notices, consents and waivers. BOPF does all that and more! So, if you have 40 beneficiaries, BOPF completes the notices, consents and waivers for all of them automatically – one for each individual or entity that needs one. If there are 40 kin, in 40 different states, and each needs a particular notice, waiver or consent, you can have BOPF prepare all forty different copies in one step. Our new BOPF makes such forms available in multiple sets including without limitation the following: Form 1.0 – Surviving Spouse, Next of Kin, Form 2.2 – Notice of Probate of Will, Form 4.4 – Notice of Hearing, Form 5.3 – Notice of Application to Relieve, Form 5.5 – Form 6.1 – Schedule of Assets, Form 6.3 – Notice of Hearing on Inventory, Form 10.2 – Notice of Hearing, Form 10.4A – Notice to Distributee, Form 12.1 – Certificate of Transfer, Form 12.2 – Entry Issuing Certificate, Form 13.1 – Receipts and Disbursements, and Form 13.5 – Notice of Hearing on Account.

• The ability to insert, move, sort and delete individual assets or debts in their respective worksheets.

• Push button operation of common program functions such as starting, loading or saving files, printing forms, etc.

• Advanced, easy-to-use worksheets for entering kin, beneficiaries, assets and expenses.

• Time & Services Worksheet for keeping track of your time.

• More than just probate forms – we include letters and forms for transferring real estate, motor vehicles, stock, cashing in life insurance policies, and more

Print Shop Quality Probate Forms

Every form is fully formatted, picture perfect and ready to file. Strict compliance with the typographical specification set forth in Rules 51 and 52 of the Supreme Court Rules for Superintendence for Courts of Common Pleas assures acceptability in all Probate Courts.

No Repetition – Automated Forms

You enter basic information one time. BOPF automatically completes the forms based on your single entry (i.e., decedent’s name, address, date of death; applicant or fiduciary’s name, address and telephone number; attorney’s name, address, telephone number and registration number; surviving spouse’s name, address and telephone number; all court information, county name, court title, presiding judge, etc.). Enter assets and liabilities once. Then simply direct the entries to the appropriate forms by pointing and clicking. That means you type lengthy legal descriptions a single time. Enter any information you want and use it as a default over and over in different decedent files without retyping!

Word Processor Compatibility

You’ll love this exciting new feature. With it you can send a form to Microsoft Word so you can (1) spell check or grammar check forms, (2) fax, email or make pdfs of probate forms, (3) access extraordinary print functions like printing non-sequential pages, duplex printing, etc., (4) modify your forms to be indistinguishable from the Court’s own “approved” forms. So in addition to printing forms that comply with each of the hundred or more specifications in the rules, BOPF also lets you change the forms in your word processor to include any county- or office-specific modifications you desire. The functionality of your word processor is your only limitation. The Windows version does not require Word.

Compatibility With U.S. Estate Tax

Better yet is BOPF‘s compatibility with our U.S. Estate Tax (P706) software. BOPF files can be converted into nearly complete estate tax files that you need only check over and then print. This, in itself, saves hours of time and reduces errors that may occur in the preparation of the estate tax return. The process is easy. Simply mark an asset or debt to direct it to a particular schedule of the estate tax return. The estate tax application can read the probate file and import its contents.

A Complete, Stand-Alone Probate System

BOPF is not a browser add-on or macro. BOPF is a complete system in itself. It automatically completes and formats the probate forms based on information you enter in the worksheets. It prints print shop quality probate forms on all printers—laser, ink jet, even dot matrix printers. Additional software or hardware is unnecessary.

User Friendly, No Prohibitive Learning Curve, No Expensive Training Needed

Because it was written and designed by an Ohio attorney, BOPF works the way you expect it to.  It follows standard programming conventions which means that opening, saving, and printing is done in the customary way, just like in your word processor. You won’t be forced to learn needlessly different or complex new ways to do the same things you already know how to do by custom. In addition to programming considerations, the screen designs and printouts look exactly like the probate forms with which you are familiar. No training sessions are necessary (although YouTube demonstration videos are available if you’d like them). BOPF is as easy to use as a word processor because it completes, calculates and formats the probate forms automatically. Of course, there is extensive on-line help, and there is our easy-to-read, printed software owner’s manual. If you do have a problem, our expert telephone support staff can answer any question.

User Friendly Prices

When you realize that other legal software (i.e., bankruptcy packages, probate software, office management systems, etc.) start at about $500 and up, you can appreciate the price-conscious value of BOPF. Like all the other software in the Puritas Springs Software legal library, we designed and priced BOPF to give you maximum bang for the buck! No other legal software gives you the same specialized, comprehensive assistance so inexpensively. Remember, there are no annual update fees, subscription costs, or other hidden charges. Historically, over the past 35 years, our users have enjoyed from 4 to 6 years of free updates. Who else does that?

Basic Ohio Probate Forms (BOPF) is a stand-alone, application.  It is not a template, Hot-Docs or a script, but instead is a true 32-bit Windows or OSX program. It is compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Mac OSX 10.8 or higher. This means opening, saving, and printing is done just like it is in your word processor. You won’t need to learn needlessly different or complex new ways to perform routine operations. It makes sense. If you’re going to work efficiently, you want a program to have a common, standard, and immediately recognizable user interface.