WKSU News: Six words could save months of work and hundreds of dollars

Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Six words could save months of work and hundreds of dollars Outgoing Summit County judge is alerting homeowners to potentially glaring omission in residential deeds by WKSU's KABIR BHATIA	Reporter Kabir Bhatia

Hundreds of people have pack town hall meetings after getting letters from Probate Judge McKenney. He's alerting them that six words could make a big difference when it comes to probate court and their homes.

Courtesy of Kabir Bhatia

Summit County Judge Todd McKenney plans to leave the bench when his term ends this year. Until then, he’s doing what he can to alert homeowners to a potentially glaring omission in the county’s quarter-million residential deeds. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia reports.

Deeds could hold unpleasant surprise

Other options:

MP3 Download (3:37)

Six simple words – "remainder to the survivor of them" -- allow a property to automatically transfer to one spouse upon the death of the other. Revising a deed to include the phrase can cost about $30 and two pages of paperwork. A similar process applies to single homeowners.

Since January, Judge Todd McKenney and his team have been working around the clock, combing Summit County’s deeds and alerting the homeowners who don’t have the proper language in place. Without it—

"You'll file about 10 different forms in the probate court. You’ll pay a filing fee of about $215. It’ll take about 6 to 9 months to get it all processed."

That means, for example, if a single homeowner dies and the next-of-kin just wants to sell the house, they can’t even put it on the market until the paperwork is done. And it doesn't matter if there’s a will specifying beneficiaries.

Public awareness growing
McKenney has been hosting public meetings about this throughout the county. In the last two weeks, close to a thousand people showed up in Copley and Tallmadge after five-thousand letters went out. The judge says he wants to cut probate cases in half, a goal that stems from his time as an attorney.

"I was the lawyer who showed up with the widow whose husband had just died. And I’m looking at them thinking ‘if you’d just had these six words, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t be paying me’. So it’s those widows that I’m thinking about, and if I can help them plan better by contacting them, I think it’s a real service."

Survivorship not for everyone
Still, some home buyers are skeptical of survivorship deeds, according to realtor Jill Flagg.

"Some of my clients have said ‘we don’t want it, it's going into a trust... my husband’s a physician we don’t want it in his name. For the majority of people, the survivorship deed is the way they go, but it’s not necessarily one-size-fits-all."

For those needing guidance in re-filing their deed, the Akron Bar Association can refer attorneys who will do the work for less than $100.

"I think good lawyers always want to do this. But lawyers can make a lot of money at this, too. A full estate you make a lot more. So this is cutting into what they do. But for those who are really committed to the good practice, they all agree with us. The bar association is a hundred percent behind this. The Supreme Court of Ohio, very big on education, and that’s what this is all about."

Celebs have deeds, too
Since January, McKenney’s team has been busy reading deeds, marking the ones without language, and mailing out letters. Interns, like John Unit from the University of Akron, admit they occasionally run across deeds of Summit County celebrities. I had him look up two. First, of course, mine.

"It’s right there underneath. That’s all that matters, as long as the language is in there, they’re good."

I'm safe. But for former Cavs player LeBron James-

"I’ll have to have Steven or the Judge give their official stamp on that but, I’m not seeing any survivorship language so far, so-"

"KB: Well let’s not tell him!"

Interest coming from other communities and counties
Cuyahoga Falls, Peninsula, Coventry and several other towns have requested Judge McKenney to review their deeds, notify homeowners and set up a public meeting. Geauga County has expressed interest as well, and McKenney is making a presentation to Portage County judges next week. He says communities have until the end of June to make a request.

After his term, the judge says he has other civic-minded projects to tackle, such as a plan to get unclaimed funds disentangled from the courts and into the intended pocketbooks.