To amend sections 2101.16, 2107.76, 2111.05, 2111.18, 2305.19, and 5815.31 of the Revised Code to exclude from the application of the savings statute certain estate and trust proceedings that have limitation periods, to raise the threshold amount for the termination or avoidance of guardianships of small estates of wards, to raise the threshold amount for the avoidance of guardianship upon the settlement of claims of minors or adult incompetents, and to clarify that termination of marriage revokes any trust provision conferring a beneficial interest on the former spouse.

Section 1. That sections 2101.16, 2107.76, 2111.05, 2111.18, 2305.19, and 5815.31 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 2101.16.  (A) 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. 2107.76. (A) No person who has received or waived the right to receive the notice of the admission of a will to probate required by section 2107.19 of the Revised Code may commence an action permitted by section 2107.71 of the Revised Code to contest the validity of the will more than three months after the filing of the certificate described in division (A)(3) of section 2107.19 of the Revised Code. No other person may commence an action permitted by section 2107.71 of the Revised Code to contest the validity of the will more than three months after the initial filing of a certificate described in division (A)(3) of section 2107.19 of the Revised Code. A person under any legal disability nevertheless may commence an action permitted by section 2107.71 of the Revised Code to contest the validity of the will within three months after the disability is removed, but the rights saved shall not affect the rights of a purchaser, lessee, or encumbrancer for value in good faith and shall not impose any liability upon a fiduciary who has acted in good faith, or upon a person delivering or transferring property to any other person under authority of a will, whether or not the purchaser, lessee, encumbrancer, fiduciary, or other person had actual or constructive notice of the legal disability.

(B) Section 2305.19 of the Revised Code does not apply to an action permitted by section 2107.71 of the Revised Code to contest the validity of a will.

Sec. 2111.05.  When the whole estate of a ward, or of several wards jointly, under the same guardianship, does not exceed ten twenty-five thousand dollars in value, the guardian may apply to the probate court for an order to terminate the guardianship. Upon proof that it would be for the best interest of the ward to terminate the guardianship, the court may order the guardianship terminated, and direct the guardian, if the ward is a minor, to deposit the assets of the guardianship in a depository authorized to receive fiduciary funds, payable to the ward when he the ward attains majority, or the court may authorize the delivery of the assets to the natural guardian of the minor, to the person by whom the minor is maintained, to the executive director of children services in the county, or to the minor himself minor's own self.

If the ward is an incompetent, and the court orders the guardianship terminated, the court may authorize the deposit of the assets of the guardianship in a depository authorized to receive fiduciary funds in the name of a suitable person to be designated by the court, or if the assets do not consist of money, the court may authorize delivery to a suitable person to be designated by the court. The person receiving the assets shall hold and dispose of them in the manner the court directs.

If the court refuses to grant the application to terminate the guardianship, or if no such application is presented to the court, the guardian only shall be required to render account upon the termination of his the guardianship, upon order of the probate court made upon its own motion, or upon the order of the court made on the motion of a person interested in the wards or their property, for good cause shown, and set forth upon the journal of the court.

If the estate is ten twenty-five thousand dollars or less and the ward is a minor, the court, without the appointment of a guardian by the court, or the giving of bond, may authorize the deposit in a depository authorized to receive fiduciary funds, payable to the guardian when appointed, or to the ward when he the ward attains majority, or the court may authorize delivery to the natural guardian of the minor, to the person by whom the minor is maintained, to the executive director who is responsible for the administration of children services in the county, or to the minor himself minor's own self.

If the whole estate of a person over eighteen years of age, who has been adjudged mentally ill or mentally retarded incompetent, does not exceed ten twenty-five thousand dollars in value, the court, without the appointment of a guardian by the court or the giving of bond, may authorize the deposit of the estate in a depository authorized to receive fiduciary funds in the name of a suitable person to be designated by the court, or if the assets do not consist of money, the court may authorize delivery to a suitable person to be designated by the court. The person receiving the assets shall hold and dispose of them in the manner the court directs.

Sec. 2111.18.  When If personal injury, damage to tangible or intangible property, or damage or loss on account of personal injury or damage to tangible or intangible property is caused to a ward by wrongful act, neglect, or default that would entitle the ward to maintain an action and recover damages for the injury, damage, or loss, and when any ward is entitled to maintain an action for damages or any other relief based on any claim or is subject to any claim to recover damages or any other relief based on any claim, the guardian of the estate of the ward may adjust and settle the claim with the advice, approval, and consent of the probate court. In the settlement, if the ward is a minor, the parent or parents may waive all claim for damages on account of loss of service of the minor, and that claim may be included in the settlement. However, when If it is proposed that the a claim involved be settled for ten the net amount of twenty-five thousand dollars or less after payment of fees and expenses as allowed by the court, the court, upon application by any suitable person whom the court may authorize to receive and receipt for the settlement, may authorize the settlement without the appointment of a guardian and authorize the delivery of the moneys to the natural guardian of the minor, to the person by whom the minor is maintained, or to the minor himself as provided in section 2111.05 of the Revised Code. The court may authorize the minor or person receiving the moneys to execute a complete release on account of the receipt. The payment shall be a complete and final discharge of any such that claim. In the settlement, if the ward is a minor, the parent or parents of the minor may waive all claim for damages on account of loss of service of the minor, and that claim may be included in the settlement.

Sec. 2305.19. (A) In any action that is commenced or attempted to be commenced, if in due time a judgment for the plaintiff is reversed or if the plaintiff fails otherwise than upon the merits, the plaintiff or, if the plaintiff dies and the cause of action survives, the plaintiff's representative may commence a new action within one year after the date of the reversal of the judgment or the plaintiff's failure otherwise than upon the merits or within the period of the original applicable statute of limitations, whichever occurs later. This division applies to any claim asserted in any pleading by a defendant.

(B) If the defendant in an action described in division (A) of this section is a foreign or domestic corporation, and whether its charter prescribes the manner or place of service of process on the defendant, and if it passes into the hands of a receiver before the expiration of the one year period or the period of the original applicable statute of limitations, whichever is applicable, as described in that division, then service to be made within one year following the original service or attempt to begin the action may be made upon that receiver or the receiver's cashier, treasurer, secretary, clerk, or managing agent, or if none of these officers can be found, by a copy left at the office or the usual place of business of any of those agents or officers of the receiver with the person having charge of the office or place of business. If that corporation is a railroad company, summons may be served on any regular ticket or freight agent of the receiver, and if there is no regular ticket or freight agent of the receiver, then upon any conductor of the receiver, in any county in the state in which the railroad is located. The summons shall be returned as if served on that defendant corporation.

(C) This section does not apply to an action or proceeding arising under section 2106.22, 2107.76, 2109.35, 2115.16, 5806.04, or 5810.05 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 5815.31.  Unless the trust or separation agreement provides otherwise, if, after executing a trust in which the grantor reserves to self a power to alter, amend, revoke, or terminate the provisions of the trust, a grantor is divorced, obtains a dissolution of marriage, has the grantor's marriage annulled, or, upon actual separation from the grantor's spouse, enters into a separation agreement pursuant to which the parties intend to fully and finally settle their prospective property rights in the property of the other, whether by expected inheritance or otherwise, the spouse or former spouse of the grantor shall be deemed to have predeceased the grantor, and any provision in the trust conferring any beneficial interest or a general or special power of appointment on the spouse or former spouse or nominating the spouse or former spouse as trustee or trust advisor shall be revoked. If the grantor remarries the grantor's former spouse or if the separation agreement is terminated, the spouse shall not be deemed to have predeceased the grantor, and any provision in the trust conferring any beneficial interest or a general or special power of appointment on the spouse or former spouse or nominating the spouse or former spouse as trustee or trust advisor shall not be revoked.

Section 2. That existing sections 2101.16, 2107.76, 2111.05, 2111.18, 2305.19, and 5815.31 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.