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Kentucky estate administration

Kentucky probate: rules, process, costs, executor fees and deadlines

Small-estate limit: $30,000

This guide explains probate in Kentucky: Kentucky can dispense with administration entirely (KRS 395.455) when the surviving-spouse/children exemption (KRS 391.030, $30,000 of personal property) plus preferred claims cover the estate, in the District Court. Executor compensation is capped at 5% of the personal estate plus 5% of income collected (KRS 395.150). The county-clerk recording fee for a will is $33.00 (KRS 64.012); the District Court opening cost itself is not stated in that schedule and is published as UNKNOWN.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.

Answer first

Kentucky simplified probate route

Up to $30,000; waiting period not verified. Source: KRS 391.030.

Surviving-spouse/children $30,000 exemption (KRS 391.030); dispensing with administration when exemption plus preferred claims cover the estate (KRS 395.455)

Screen a specific Kentucky estate with the calculators on the small-estate page and the executor-fee page, or compare states in the full estate navigator.

What the reviewed rules establish

Simplified route

$30,000

Surviving-spouse/children $30,000 exemption (KRS 391.030); dispensing with administration when exemption plus preferred claims cover the estate (KRS 395.455); waiting period not verified.

Eligibility and caveats

Executor compensation

Court-reviewed

The statute caps compensation; the court sets the amount within it. Source: KRS 395.150.

Compensation detail

Statutes read in full for Kentucky

Read on the enacting state’s own site, with the date each was read.

CitationWhat reading it establishedRead on
KRS 64.012Kentucky prices a will by the page, and exempts it from the surcharge — court and filing cost note2026-09-17
KRS 395.455, 395.470Kentucky has no small-estate dollar ceiling — it dispenses with administration instead — small estate route note2026-09-17
KRS 395.150Kentucky’s 5% rule has stood unamended since 1942, and it taxes income separately — representative pay note2026-09-17

Kentucky decision map

The four facts that change the Kentucky route

Each Kentucky answer below links to the page that sets out its source.

QuestionRecorded Kentucky answer
What route is being screened?Surviving-spouse/children $30,000 exemption (KRS 391.030); dispensing with administration when exemption plus preferred claims cover the estate (KRS 395.455)
What property and basis count?personal probate property only; gross value for this route.
What is the amount screen?$30,000
What is the time or deadline record?No waiting-period number verified; creditor deadlines: separate clocks by triggering event
What does the cost record establish?No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.
What does compensation use?Statutory ceiling, measured on gross probate property.

Limits and unresolved costs

  • Filing fee: KRS 64.012 gives only the county-clerk RECORDING fee ($33); the actual District Court estate-opening cost is not in that schedule and remains UNKNOWN — do not present $33 as the court filing fee.
  • Creditor non-claim period now sourced from KRS 396.011: six months after appointment of the personal representative, or two years after death where none is appointed. Periods are stated in months/years and carried as descriptions, not fixed day counts.
  • No HTTP-200 court-resource URL for Kentucky (kycourts.gov WAF); a human must add it.

Continue

What Kentucky courts publish

Every link is probed before each release.

No Kentucky court document is linked here. The notes below state why, rather than leaving the absence unexplained.

Limits on court material

  • Probate in Kentucky is heard in the District Court. The Kentucky Court of Justice self-help/forms site (kycourts.gov) could NOT be pinned under the HTTP-200 rule: automated requests are intercepted by a WAF that returns 403 (no browser headers) or a 302 challenge/404 (with browser headers), never a clean 200. A human must add the kycourts.gov Legal Forms / self-help links. The only stably-reachable official Kentucky resource verified at HTTP 200 is the Legislature’s statute portal (apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/), which is the primary-law source rather than a court forms hub.

Kentucky primary sources

  • KRS 395.455 — KRS 395.455 — Transfer of assets without administration
  • KRS 391.030 — KRS 391.030 — Descent of personal property; exemption
  • KRS 395.150 — KRS 395.150 — Compensation of representatives
  • KRS 64.012 — KRS 64.012 — Fees of county clerks
  • KRS 396.011 — KRS 396.011 — Presentation of claims against estate; time limitations; exceptions

Every quotation, edition label and machine check is on the Kentucky source record.

Kentucky record: 5/5 verified, 17 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction