Buckner v. Hasan

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 2314

Syllabus

Probate estate; concealment of assets; conveying away assets; possession of estate assets; fiduciary complaint to sell real estate; manifest weight; trust; express trust; power of attorney; termination of agency at death; Fifth Amendment; Fifth Amendment adverse inference; attorney fees; bad faith; unauthorized practice of law; settlement and approval of App.R. 9(C) statement; R.C. 2109.50; R.C. 2109.52; R.C. 2127.04(B); Civ.R. 53(D)(3)(b)(iii); App.R. 9(C); App.R. 9(C)(2); App.R. 9(E); Civ.R. 60(B). Judgments affirmed. The probate court properly found appellant guilty of conveying away and possessing estate assets under R.C. 2109.50 and 2109.52 where competent, credible evidence showed that, after the decedent's death, she withdrew $20,000 from the decedent's financial account and later transferred remaining funds from accounts titled to the decedent into a trust account she controlled. The probate court was not required to find concealment in the strict sense of the word, nor was it required to find fraudulent or criminal intent, because unauthorized conveyance or unauthorized possession of estate assets is sufficient under the statute. The probate court also properly rejected appellant's trust defense because she failed to establish a legally cognizable trust or any valid authority, after the decedent's death, to transfer estate assets into the alleged trust. The court probate did not err in authorizing the sale of certain real property of the estate under R.C. 2127.04(B). That statutory provision does not require unanimous consent of all heirs or proof that the sale is necessary to pay debts. The probate court did not abuse its discretion in awarding attorney fees in the concealment action. A guilty finding in a concealment action is tantamount to a finding of bad faith, thereby supporting a fee award. The probate court did not violate due process by limiting appellant's nonattorney assistants to moral support and preventing them from advising her during the hea