In re Estate of Speakman, 2017 Ohio 7808

Judith Speakman executed a will leaving one-half of her estate to appellant Diana Charalambous and the other half to be split between two nephews; she also had a Merrell Lynch Transfer-on-Death (TOD) account naming Diana as TOD beneficiary.
In April 2015 Speakman executed a durable power of attorney naming Frederick and Nancy Pitzer as agents; Speakman later entered a nursing home.
As of April 30, 2015 the TOD account held $113,448.33. On May 21, 2015 Frederick withdrew $50,000 from the TOD account and deposited it into Speakman’s Huntington personal account for care expenses.
After Speakman’s house sale and later on August 20, 2015, Frederick withdrew the remaining TOD funds and deposited them into the Huntington account; those funds became probate assets at death.
Executors Frederick and Nancy filed an inventory treating those funds as probate property; Diana objected, arguing the TOD beneficiary designation should have kept the funds nonprobate and that the agents violated the TOD contract and the Uniform Power of Attorney Act.
The probate court overruled Diana’s objection; the appellate court affirmed the contract interpretation but remanded to the probate court to make factual findings whether the agents complied with R.C. 1337.34 (duty to attempt to preserve the principal’s estate plan).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether TOD-account contract barred the agents from withdrawing TOD funds absent a court order when Speakman was alive	Charalambous: TOD contract language requires a court order before an agent may withdraw or alter the TOD funds	Pitzers: The contract restriction applies only if the account owner becomes incompetent; Speakman was never declared incompetent and did not change beneficiary	Court: Agrees with Pitzers — language, read in context, limits the restriction to incompetency contexts; no violation of the TOD contract
Whether agents violated R.C. 1337.34 by failing to attempt to preserve the principal’s estate plan when they withdrew TOD funds into probate accounts	Charalambous: Agents should have preserved the TOD beneficiary designation and not convert nonprobate funds into probate estate	Pitzers: Withdrew funds for Speakman’s care and to preserve assets while managing declining accounts; no evidence of self-dealing alleged	Court: Appellate court found the trial court did not make necessary factual findings on whether agents complied with R.C. 1337.34; remanded for findings and further action as appropriate

None with official reporter citations are provided in the opinion; the court relied on various Ohio appellate authorities for contract interpretation and power-of-attorney principles but the opinion does not supply Bluebook reporter citations for those decisions.