Father Left His Ohio Land to a Close Friend and His Tennessee Farmland to His Daughter — She Appealed and Lost

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A father’s estate plan can look straightforward on paper until the bills show up. In an Ohio probate fight that turned into a high-stakes tug-of-war over who “really” loses when debt has to be paid, a daughter tried to remove the executor after he moved to sell the land she was set to inherit. The Ohio Court of Appeals didn’t bite, and it left the executor in place.

The case, In re Estate of Coughenour, centers on a will that split property between the decedent’s close friend and his daughter—but also carried a massive Farm Credit Mid-America debt that changed the stakes of every decision that followed.

A will that split the land—and picked a side to run things

Edward Coughenour executed his Last Will and Testament on January 14, 2021. He named his close friend, Justin Adams, as executor. And he didn’t just give Adams the job—he also left him “all real property in Ohio” that Coughenour owned.

His daughter, Dara Barker, wasn’t cut out of the will. She was left Coughenour’s 40% interest in a 1,900-acre parcel in Tennessee. Adams and Barker were also named equal beneficiaries of the residuary estate, meaning whatever was left after specific gifts and debts would be split between them.

The will included a simple line that later became the backbone of the court’s reasoning: Coughenour directed that all his “just debts” be paid “from my estate.”

The move that changed everything: a transfer-on-death affidavit

Also on January 14, 2021—the same day he signed the will—Coughenour executed a transfer-on-death (TOD) affidavit for his Madison County, Ohio real property. The affidavit directed that his interest in that Ohio real estate would transfer to Adams upon his death.

That detail mattered because TOD transfers don’t go through the estate the way will-devised property does. When Coughenour died on February 6, 2023, the Ohio properties passed to Adams outside probate. They were effectively removed from the pool of assets the estate could use to pay its obligations.

The appellate court emphasized that under Ohio law, this type of TOD transfer “is not testamentary” and “shall supersede” any attempt in a will to transfer the same property. So even if the will listed the Ohio properties as estate assets, the TOD paperwork controlled.

Then the debt came due—and it didn’t care who inherited what

Both the Tennessee land and the Madison County, Ohio land were tied to the same major liability: a lien in favor of Farm Credit Mid-America securing $2,715,000. The lien traced back to documents Coughenour signed on December 18, 2020, including a promissory note and security instruments on both states’ properties.

The Tennessee property was valued at $6,321,500, but valuation doesn’t equal liquidity, and it doesn’t automatically solve a creditor problem. After Coughenour died, Farm Credit filed a claim against the estate for the full amount due, arguing that his death triggered an event of default and allowed the loan to be accelerated.

With interest accruing, Adams made a loan to the estate in 2024—more than $100,000—so an installment payment could be made to Farm Credit. He later commenced an action in Tennessee aimed at selling the Tennessee property to satisfy the Farm Credit debt.

The daughter’s argument: selling Tennessee land wipes her out and protects him

Barker moved to remove Adams as executor. Her core point was practical, not abstract: if the Tennessee property is sold to pay the debt, her inheritance takes the hit. Meanwhile, the Ohio properties that went straight to Adams via TOD would come out the other side with liens extinguished, because the same Farm Credit debt was secured by those properties too.

In other words, she argued the plan would “effectively disinherit her for Adams’ benefit.” She also argued Adams had a conflict of interest and was violating duties of loyalty and trust by pushing a sale that helped him personally.

She pointed to Adams’ loan to the estate as another issue, arguing it created “unsettled claims” between the executor and the estate that could become litigation—grounds for removal under Ohio law.

The Madison County Probate Court denied her motion in September 2025, finding Adams was acting according to the will and that there was no basis to remove him under the relevant Ohio statutes. Barker appealed, raising four main issues: conflict of interest, reliance on extrinsic evidence, failure to hold a hearing, and the order in which property should be sold to pay debts.

Why the appeals court refused to remove the executor

The Court of Appeals affirmed the probate court across the board. On the conflict-of-interest claim, the court focused on two blunt realities: the estate had major debt, and the estate’s personal property was insufficient to pay it. Under Ohio law, when personal property can’t cover debts, an executor “shall commence” an action for authority to sell real property.

But not just any real property. Because the Ohio land passed outside the estate through the TOD affidavit, it wasn’t an estate asset and wasn’t “answerable” for estate debts. That left the Tennessee land as the primary meaningful estate asset available to satisfy the Farm Credit claim.

As for Adams being a creditor of the estate due to his $100,000-plus loan, the court noted that being a creditor “is not alone sufficient ground for removal.” And while the loan helped Adams by preventing default that could have threatened the Ohio properties he now owned, it also helped the estate by staving off foreclosure pressure that could have forced a fire-sale of the Tennessee property.

Barker also argued the probate court relied on extrinsic evidence—like the father-daughter estrangement and Adams’ affidavit—to interpret the will. The appeals court said the will’s language and the legal effect of the TOD affidavits made the outcome clear without needing outside material. It added that while noting the estrangement may have been unnecessary, the probate court still reached the right result: the will directed debts be paid from the estate, and the estate’s major reachable asset was the Tennessee interest.

On the lack of a hearing, the court said a hearing is meant to give the fiduciary a chance to respond, not necessarily to give the person seeking removal a full evidentiary event. If the motion and documents show removal isn’t warranted, the court can deny it without a hearing.

Finally, Barker argued other property should be sold first—undevised real property before devised property. The court acknowledged the estate had a trailer in Florida of “insubstantial value” and a West Virginia parcel valued at $32,000, and said Adams didn’t object to applying those proceeds to debts. But those assets were “woefully insufficient” compared to the $2.715 million Farm Credit claim, so selling the Tennessee property remained necessary.

What people fixate on in cases like this

Even without public comment threads attached to the decision, the pressure points are obvious. People tend to latch onto the fairness question—how a daughter can end up losing what she was specifically left while a friend keeps property that is also tied to the same debt.

But the court treated it as a paperwork-and-timing story. The father signed a will and TOD affidavits on the same day, and he signed the Farm Credit documents a month earlier. The court repeatedly returned to the idea that he knew the debt existed and still set things up this way. It even noted he could have added an exoneration clause to protect Barker’s Tennessee interest, but didn’t.

The final result: Barker’s appeal was denied, the judgment was affirmed, and Adams stayed on as executor—free to keep pursuing the approach the courts viewed as legally required to satisfy the estate’s debts.