To amend section 2101.16 and to enact section 2101.164 of the Revised Code to exempt estates of members of the United States Armed Services who died while serving in a combat zone from being charged any fees associated with the filing of the decedent's will for probate or the administration of the decedent's estate or any fees for relieving the estate from administration or granting an order for summary release from administration.

Section 1. That section 2101.16 be amended and section 2101.164 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 2101.16.  (A) The Except as provided in section 2101.164 of the Revised Code, the fees enumerated in this division shall be charged and collected, if possible, by the probate judge and shall be in full for all services rendered in the respective proceedings:

(B)(1) In relation to an application for the appointment of a guardian or the review of a report of a guardian under section 2111.49 of the Revised Code, the probate court, pursuant to court order or in accordance with a court rule, may direct that the applicant or the estate pay any or all of the expenses of an investigation conducted pursuant to section 2111.041 or division (A)(2) of section 2111.49 of the Revised Code. If the investigation is conducted by a public employee or investigator who is paid by the county, the fees for the investigation shall be paid into the county treasury. If the court finds that an alleged incompetent or a ward is indigent, the court may waive the costs, fees, and expenses of an investigation.

(2) In relation to the appointment or functioning of a guardian for a minor or the guardianship of a minor, the probate court may direct that the applicant or the estate pay any or all of the expenses of an investigation conducted pursuant to section 2111.042 of the Revised Code. If the investigation is conducted by a public employee or investigator who is paid by the county, the fees for the investigation shall be paid into the county treasury. If the court finds that the guardian or applicant is indigent, the court may waive the costs, fees, and expenses of an investigation.

(C) Thirty dollars of the thirty-five-dollar fee collected pursuant to division (A)(34) of this section and twenty dollars of the sixty-dollar fee collected pursuant to division (A)(59) of this section shall be deposited by the county treasurer in the indigent guardianship fund created pursuant to section 2111.51 of the Revised Code.

(D) The fees of witnesses, jurors, sheriffs, coroners, and constables for services rendered in the probate court or by order of the probate judge shall be the same as provided for like services in the court of common pleas.

(E) The probate court, by rule, may require an advance deposit for costs, not to exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars, at the time application is made for an appointment as executor or administrator or at the time a will is presented for probate.

(F) The probate court, by rule, shall establish a reasonable fee, not to exceed fifty dollars, for the filing of a petition for the release of information regarding an adopted person's name by birth and the identity of the adopted person's biological parents and biological siblings pursuant to section 3107.41 of the Revised Code, all proceedings relative to the petition, the entry of an order relative to the petition, and all services required to be performed in connection with the petition. The probate court may use a reasonable portion of a fee charged under authority of this division to reimburse any agency, as defined in section 3107.39 of the Revised Code, for any services it renders in performing a task described in section 3107.41 of the Revised Code relative to or in connection with the petition for which the fee was charged.

(G)(1) Thirty dollars of the fifty-dollar fee collected pursuant to division (A)(3) of this section shall be deposited into the "putative father registry fund," which is hereby created in the state treasury. The department of job and family services shall use the money in the fund to fund the department's costs of performing its duties related to the putative father registry established under section 3107.062 of the Revised Code.

(2) If the department determines that money in the putative father registry fund is more than is needed for its duties related to the putative father registry, the department may use the surplus moneys in the fund as permitted in division (C) of section 2151.3529, division (B) of section 2151.3530, or section 5103.155 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 2101.164.  (A) As used in this section, "combat zone" means an area that the president of the United States by executive order designates for purposes of 26 U.S.C. 112 as an area in which armed forces of the United States are or have engaged in combat.

(B) A probate judge shall not charge, or collect from, the estate of a decedent who died while in active service as a member of the armed forces of the United States any of the following fees if the death occurred while the decedent was serving in a combat zone or as a result of wounds, disease, or injury incurred while serving in a combat zone:

(1) Any fee for or associated with the filing of the decedent's will for probate;

(2) Any fee for any service rendered by the probate court that is associated with the administration of the decedent's estate;

(3) Any fee for relieving the decedent's estate from administration under section 2113.03 of the Revised Code or granting an order for a summary release from administration under section 2113.031 of the Revised Code.

(C) In determining whether a decedent died in a place or manner that exempts the estate of the decedent from fees under division (B) of this section, a probate judge may consider a casualty report issued pursuant to Army Regulation 600-8-1 or the regulations of any of the armed services of the United States, the list of combat zones set forth in Publication 3, "The Armed Forces' Tax Guide," of the Internal Revenue Service, or any other form of documentation satisfactory to the probate judge.

Section 2. That existing section 2101.16 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.

Section 3. Section 2101.16 of the Revised Code, as amended by this act, and section 2101.164 of the Revised Code, as enacted by this act, apply to the estates of decedents who die on or after the effective date of this act.