In Ohio, you have three months to contest a will. That deadline comes from Ohio Revised Code 2107.76, and it starts running when the probate court admits the will and a certificate is filed showing that every interested party either received notice or waived it. Miss it, and your challenge is barred no matter how strong your evidence is.
When the Three Months Actually Start
The clock does not start on the date of death. It starts on the date the will is admitted to probate and the certificate of notice is on file. Weeks or months can pass between a death and that filing, so the practical deadline is often later than families assume, but it is also fixed and unforgiving once it begins.
Courts will not extend the period because you learned about the will’s contents late, because family talks are still going, or because you were out of the country. If you think a will may be invalid, treat the notice date as a hard wall and start gathering evidence right away.
The Legal Disability Exception
Ohio carves out one narrow exception. If you were under a legal disability when the will was probated, you get three months from the date that disability is removed. For a minor, that means three months after turning 18. For someone under a guardianship for incapacity, it means three months after a court restores their legal competency.
The definition is narrow on purpose. Not knowing about the probate proceeding, being overseas, or being too grief-stricken to act does not qualify. Only a formal legal disability tolls the deadline.
Who Can File
Even within the three months, only certain people can bring a contest. Ohio Revised Code 2107.71 limits the right to a “person interested” in the will, meaning someone whose financial position would change if the will were declared invalid.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 2107.71 – Civil Action to Contest Validity of Will
Two groups usually qualify:
- Intestate heirs, meaning people who would inherit under Ohio’s default rules if the will were thrown out. Surviving spouses, children, and sometimes parents or siblings fall here.
- Beneficiaries under a prior will who would receive more if the current will were invalidated and the earlier one reinstated.
A friend who simply disagrees with the deceased person’s choices has no standing. The court will dismiss the case before reaching the merits.
What You Have to Prove
Feeling shortchanged is not a legal ground. As the challenger, you carry the burden of proving a specific defect. The recognized grounds are lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud or forgery, and improper execution.
Lack of Testamentary Capacity
The person signing must have understood the nature and extent of their property, known who their natural heirs were, and comprehended that they were directing how their assets would be distributed. Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, severe mental illness, or cognitive side effects from medication can support this claim. A diagnosis alone is not enough; people with early-stage dementia have lucid intervals, and a will signed during one may be valid. You need to show the person lacked capacity on the specific day the will was signed.
Undue Influence
This ground targets pressure from someone in a position of trust, such as a caregiver, family member, or advisor, that produced a will serving the influencer rather than the person signing it. Courts weigh the nature of the relationship, whether the influencer controlled access to the person, whether the will was drafted in secrecy, and whether its terms depart sharply from what the person had previously said they wanted.
Fraud or Forgery
Fraud claims involve the person being tricked into signing, for example being told the document was something else or being given false information about a family member to change the distribution. Forgery claims assert the signature is not the deceased person’s at all.
Improper Execution
Ohio requires a will to be in writing, signed by the person making it (or by someone else at their direction and in their presence), and witnessed by at least two competent people who saw the person sign or heard them acknowledge the signature.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2107 – Wills A will that fails any of these formalities can be challenged on procedural grounds alone.
Read the No-Contest Clause Before You File
Many Ohio wills include a no-contest clause, sometimes called an in terrorem clause, saying that any beneficiary who challenges the will forfeits their inheritance. Ohio enforces these strictly.
This is where Ohio diverges from many other states. A number of jurisdictions protect challengers who act in good faith with “probable cause” to believe the will is invalid. Ohio courts have consistently declined to adopt that exception. If you challenge a will with a no-contest clause and lose, you lose whatever the will gave you.
The math matters. If the will leaves you $100,000 and you believe undue influence tainted the document, filing puts that $100,000 at risk. Weigh the strength of your evidence against what you would forfeit, and have that conversation with an attorney before the three months run out.
Filing Before the Deadline
You file the complaint in the probate division of the Court of Common Pleas in the county where the will was admitted. The complaint identifies the will, states the legal grounds, and names all necessary parties as defendants. Ohio Revised Code 2107.73 requires that the defendants include every person named in the will to receive property or to serve as executor, along with every heir who would inherit if the will were invalid.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 2107.73 – Necessary Parties to Will Contest
Each defendant must then be formally served. Because the three-month deadline is measured from the notice certificate, not from when you finish preparing, do not wait until the last week to start drafting the complaint or identifying the required parties. Missing a necessary defendant can delay service and complicate the case.
Surviving Spouses Have a Different Deadline
If you are the surviving spouse and the will leaves you too little, contesting is not your only option, and your key deadline is not three months. Ohio law lets a surviving spouse “elect against” the will, rejecting what it gives you in favor of a statutory share: one-half of the net estate, or one-third if two or more of the deceased spouse’s children or their descendants survive.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2106 – Rights of Surviving Spouses
The election must be made within five months of the date the executor or administrator is first appointed. A court can extend that period if you file a motion before it expires and show good cause.4Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2106 – Rights of Surviving Spouses Do nothing within the five months, and the law conclusively presumes you accepted the will as written. The elective share is a guaranteed right; it does not require you to prove fraud, incapacity, or any other defect. For many surviving spouses it is a faster and more certain path than a contest, and it runs on its own clock separate from the three-month contest deadline.