Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2105.09 – Disposition of escheated lands

(A) The county auditor, unless the auditor acts pursuant to division (C) of this section, shall take possession of real property escheated to the state that is located in the auditor's county and outside the incorporated area of a city. The auditor shall take possession in the name of the state and sell the property at public auction, at the county seat of the county, to the highest bidder, after having given thirty days' notice of the intended sale in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or as provided in section 7.16 of the Revised Code. On the application of the auditor, the court of common pleas shall appoint three disinterested freeholders of the county to appraise the real property. The freeholders shall be governed by the same rule as appraisers in sheriffs' or administrators' sales. The auditor shall sell the property at not less than two thirds of its appraised value and may sell it for cash, or for one-third cash and the balance in equal annual payments, the deferred payments to be amply secured. Upon payment of the whole consideration, the auditor shall execute a deed to the purchaser, in the name and on behalf of the state. The proceeds of the sale shall be paid by the auditor to the county treasurer. If there is a regularly organized agricultural society within the county, the treasurer shall pay the greater of six hundred dollars or five per cent of the proceeds, in any case, to the society. The excess of the proceeds, or the whole thereof if there is no regularly organized agricultural society within the county, shall be distributed as follows:
1. (1) Twenty-five per cent shall be paid equally to the townships of the county;
2. (2) Seventy per cent shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the agro Ohio fund created under section 901.04 of the Revised Code;
3. (3) Five per cent shall be credited to the county general fund for such lawful purposes as the board of county commissioners provides.
(B) The legislative authority of a city within which are lands escheated to the state, unless it acts pursuant to division (C) of this section, shall take possession of the lands for the city, and the title to the lands shall vest in the city. The city shall use the premises primarily for health, welfare, or recreational purposes, or may lease them at such prices and for such purposes as it considers proper. With the approval of the tax commissioner, the city may sell the lands or any undivided interest in the lands, in the same manner as is provided in the sale of land not needed for any municipal purposes; provided, that the net proceeds from the rent or sale of the premises shall be devoted to health, welfare, or recreational purposes.
(C) As an alternative to the procedure prescribed in divisions (A) and (B) of this section, the county auditor, or if the real property is located within the incorporated area of a city, the legislative authority of that city by an affirmative vote of at least a majority of its members, may request the probate court to direct the administrator or executor of the estate that contains the escheated property to commence an action in the probate court for authority to sell the real property in the manner provided in Chapter 2127. of the Revised Code. The proceeds from the sale of real property that is located outside the incorporated area of a city shall be distributed by the court in the same manner as the proceeds are distributed under division (A) of this section. The proceeds from the sale of real property that is located within the incorporated area of a city shall be distributed by the court in the same manner as the proceeds are distributed under division (B) of this section.