Franklin County Probate 457686: the estate of Stanley A. Meyer

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Probate Division, Columbus, Ohio. Case 457686, the estate of Stanley A. Meyer: opened three days after he died, closed on 11 January 2001. What follows is the court’s own record, read from its online case index on 1 October 2026: the case sheet, the fiduciaries, all 149 docket entries, and the creditor’s claim filed against the estate, exactly as the clerk’s system prints them.

The docket names three daughters as next of kin. They are private people, and their names are withheld here; everything else is as the court prints it.

The case sheet

The fiduciaries

What the docket settles

It took under three years, not five. The story that the estate was “tied up in court for a good five years before it was finally granted to the widow” comes from Don Gabel in 2008. The court record runs from 24 March 1998, three days after Meyer died, to 11 January 2001: two years and ten months. Marilyn Meyer, his widow, waived her right to administer it on the first day, and the Columbus attorney Alphonse P. Cincione administered it throughout, first as special administrator and then, from 4 March 1999, as administrator. There was no will.

What it was worth. The first inventory, filed on 31 July 1998, came to $268,388.85, with no real estate; the bond was raised to $537,000 the same day. The amended inventory of 4 March 1999 came to $306,608.04, and an entry of 28 July 1999 amended it again by $72,065.00. The fiduciary’s partial account of 31 March 2000 shows $211,582.25 still in his hands. The schedule of real estate reads “none”: 3792 Broadway, the house and laboratory, did not pass through the estate.

His computer and his patents. In the first six weeks the court approved two things that show what the administrator thought mattered: on 30 April 1998, hiring ADS Systems, Inc. “to search for information on decedent” in his computer system; and on 8 May 1998, maintaining “the patents in Canada based upon correspondence”, with that correspondence filed as Exhibit A.

A valuation of the Water Fuel Cell. On 15 September 1999 the estate filed “Water Fuel Cell: Valuation of Sole Proprietorship as of March 21, 1998.” The Water Fuel Cell was, at his death, a sole proprietorship: his, not a company’s. The valuation itself is in the court’s file, not online.

The widow applies to buy the assets. On 9 November 1999 the administrator applied to sell personal property, with exhibits A and B; on 18 November Marilyn applied, as surviving spouse, to purchase assets; on 30 November she applied for the family allowance, by selecting motor vehicles. All three were set for hearing on 15 December 1999. A magistrate’s decision with findings of fact followed on 10 February 2000, served on six attorneys (Bruce Powell, Alphonse Cincione, Beatrice Sowald, Lawrence Fisher, Bradley Baker and Brooks Compton), and was approved on 29 February. This is very probably how what survived of the work passed to his widow; the decision itself would say.

The buggy. On 5 May 2000 the court approved the transfer of the “83 DuneBuggy”: almost certainly the water-powered buggy, titled as a 1983 vehicle. The 1995 Ford Windstar was transferred on 20 July 2000, and the 1998 Plymouth was sold to the administrator himself in August 1999.

The claims. Melvin Kramer, represented by Brooks A. Compton, filed a creditor’s claim on 22 March 1999 (case 457686 A, below); it ended in an agreed dismissal on 29 June 2000. Two applications to compromise claims against the estate were approved, on 18 May and 5 June 2000. Kramer then sued the administrator in the Common Pleas court as well, and a week later so did the Columbus law firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur; both suits are set out below.

The end. His widow and the three daughters consented in full to the attorney’s fees of $21,148.22 on 17 August 2000; the final account was approved on 28 September 2000, and an amended supplemental account on 11 January 2001.

Who was who

Eight names recur in the estate’s papers. What the court records say about each of them, and what is public about them now:

With Kramer (Compton) and Porter Wright (Baker) accounted for, the other three attorneys at the February 2000 decision most likely represented the widow and the next of kin. The decision is in the Probate Court’s file.

The two lawsuits against the administrator

Both were filed in the General Division of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in August 1999, a week apart, and both are on the Clerk of Courts’ Case Information Online. Neither docket has images; the papers are on the microfiche the docket cites, and copies can be ordered from the Clerk.

Melvin Kramer v. Alphonse P. Cincione, Admr. (99 CV 006575)

Other civil. Filed 11 August 1999, closed by agreed order on 10 July 2000. Judge Michael Holbrook. Plaintiff’s attorney Brooks A. Compton; the administrator represented himself.

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP v. Alphonse P. Cincione, Admr. (99 CV 006793)

Other civil. Filed 18 August 1999, dismissed by the plaintiff on 14 April 2000. Judge Julie Lynch. Plaintiff’s attorney Bradley K. Baker; the administrator represented himself. The clerk’s index lists Stanley A. Meyer as a defendant in it as well.

What is in the court’s file and not online

The docket lists the filings; the filings themselves are in the court’s file, and copies can be requested from the Probate Court’s certified records office. The ones that would tell the most:

• The inventories of 31 July 1998 and 4 March 1999, and the amendment of 28 July 1999: what he owned, item by item.
• The valuation of the Water Fuel Cell as a sole proprietorship (15 September 1999), and the special appraiser’s appointment (4 March 1999).
• The application to sell personal property, with exhibits A and B (9 November 1999), and Marilyn Meyer’s application to purchase assets (18 November 1999): what was sold and to whom.
• The magistrate’s decision and findings of fact (10 February 2000), and which party each of the six attorneys represented.
• The application to maintain the Canadian patents, with its correspondence (8 May 1998), and the ADS Systems application (30 April 1998).
• The fiduciary’s accounts, with their receipts and disbursements (4 March 1999, 31 March 2000, 17 August 2000, 29 November 2000): who was paid, and for what.
• The expenditure of $12,500 authorised on 1 March 2000, with exhibits A to D, and the two compromised claims of May and June 2000.
• Melvin Kramer’s complaints: in the Probate Court (457686 A, 22 March 1999) and in the Common Pleas court (99 CV 006575, fiche 70959, frame J15), and Porter Wright’s (99 CV 006793, fiche 71052, frame E02): what each said the estate owed.
• The certificate of service with the magistrate’s decision of 10 February 2000, which would say whom Powell, Fisher and Sowald represented.

The docket: case 457686

The creditor’s claim: case 457686 A

Melvin Kramer, plaintiff, represented by Brooks A. Compton (0014767), against Alphonse P. Cincione as special administrator. Opened 22 March 1999, closed 11 July 2000. No defendants on file.