Title XXXIV, Descent, Wills, and Administration of Decedents' Estates

No will is valid unless it is in writing with the name of the testator subscribed thereto by himself, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction. If the will is not wholly written by the testator, the subscription shall be made or the will acknowledged by him in…

(1) No writing declaring and creating a trust, including a life insurance trust, when otherwise valid, shall be an invalid trust or a testamentary disposition of property because the grantor of the trust reserves to himself: (a) the income of the trust estate for his life, or any…

(1) A will may validly transfer property to the trustee of a trust: (a) Established during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and one (1) or more other persons, or by one (1) or more other persons, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, althoug…

No will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked, except: (1) By subsequent will or codicil; (2) By some writing declaring an intention to revoke the will or codicil, and executed in the manner in which a will is required to be executed; or (3) By the person who made the…

A will shall not be revoked by the marriage of the person who made the will.

If after executing a will the testator is divorced or his marriage annulled, the divorce or annulment revokes any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse,…

A will or codicil, or part thereof, that has been revoked shall be revived only by reexecution or by a codicil executed in the manner required for making a will, and then only to the extent to which an intention to revive is shown thereby.

The will of a person domiciled out of this state at the time of his death shall be valid as to his personal property and his real property in this state, if it is executed according to the law of the place where he was domiciled.

No will shall be received in evidence until it has been allowed and admitted to record by a District Court; and its probate before such court shall be conclusive, except as to the jurisdiction of the court, until superseded, reversed or annulled.

Wills shall be proved before, and admitted to record by, the District Court of the testator's residence (if such residence was on a United States Army post, military reservation or fort, it may be proved and admitted to record in the District Court of any county adjacent thereto)…

When any will is offered for probate, the court shall require a verified application to be filed by the person offering the same. Such application shall state the residence of the testator at the time of his death and such other facts as may be necessary to establish the jurisdic…

When a will of a nonresident has been proved out of the state, an authenticated copy and the certificate of probate may be offered for probate in this state. When such copy is offered the court shall presume, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the will was duly exec…

Any District Court, on being informed that a person has in his custody the will of a testator, may summon him, and, by proper process, compel him to produce it.

A person offering or intending to offer to a District Court a will for probate may obtain from the clerk of the court process directed to the proper officer of any county, requiring him to summon any person interested in the probate to appear and show cause why the will should no…

The court to which a will is offered for probate may cause all persons interested in the probate to be summoned to appear on a certain day.

Any person interested in such probate may be summoned, or proceeded against by warning order, and if an infant or mentally disabled person, a guardian ad litem shall be appointed.

(1) If a will charging any estate with debts is attested by a creditor, or the wife or husband of a creditor, whose debt is so charged, the creditor shall be a competent witness for or against the will. (2) No person shall, on account of his being an executor of a will, be incomp…

(1) If any person who attests the execution of a will shall, after its execution, become incompetent to be admitted as a witness to prove its execution, the will shall not, on that account, be invalid. (2) If a will is attested by a person to whom, or to whose wife or husband, an…

A District Court may, without summoning any party, proceed to probate and admit the will to record or reject it.

(1) Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this state and evidenced by the officer's certifica…

When any will or any authenticated copy, as provided in KRS 394.150, is offered for probate, and an attesting witness resides out of this state, or though in the state is in confinement in another county under legal process, or is unable from sickness, age or other infirmity to a…

When it appears to the court that a will cannot be proven as otherwise provided by law because one (1) or more or all of the subscribing witnesses to the will, at the time the will is offered for probate, are serving in or present with the Armed Forces of the United States or as …

proceeding. (1) Any person aggrieved by the action of the District Court in admitting a will to record or rejecting it may bring an original action in the Circuit Court of the same county to contest the action of the District Court. Such action shall be brought within two (2) yea…

stop distribution. An action filed in the circuit court, pursuant to KRS 394.240, shall not, unless taken within twelve (12) months from the entry of the district court's order, prevent the appointment of an administrator or executor by the district court or the settlement, distr…

When the proceeding is taken to the Circuit Court, all necessary parties shall be brought before the court by the plaintiff. The final decision given shall, subject to appeal to the Court of Appeals, be a bar to any other proceeding calling the probate or rejection of the will in…

The record of what is proved or deposed in court by witnesses on the motion to admit a will to record, and any deposition lawfully taken out of court on such motion, of witnesses who cannot be produced at a trial in the Circuit Court before a jury, may, on such trial, be admitted…

Extent of. (1) Any person interested who, at the time of the final decision in the Circuit Court, resided out of this state and was proceeded against by warning order only, without actual appearance or being personally served with process, and any other person interested who was …

The court in which a judgment has been rendered shall have power to vacate or modify it when any paper purporting to be the last will of any person has been, or may be hereafter admitted to probate, and a later will has been discovered. A judgment on this ground, however, shall n…

(1) (a) Every will admitted to probate by any court shall be recorded by the county clerk, and shall remain in the office of the county clerk except: 1. During such time as it may be carried to another court under subpoena duces tecum; or 2. As provided in paragraph (d) of this s…

The District Court before which a will has been probated may permit any person interested to withdraw the will temporarily upon proper terms, if it is shown that the original will is necessary as evidence in any proceeding pending in a foreign government, or in any state of the U…

A will shall be construed, with reference to the real and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention appears in the will.

A devise of the land of the testator, or of the land of the testator in any place or occupied by any person mentioned in his will or otherwise described in a general manner, and any other general devise which would describe a leasehold estate, if the testator had no freehold esta…

death. No conveyance or other act subsequent to the execution of a will shall, unless it be an act by which the will is revoked, prevent its operation with respect to such interest in the estate comprised in the will as the testator would have power to dispose of by will at the t…

intended. (1) The conversion of money or property or the proceeds of property, devised to one (1) of the testator's heirs, into other property or thing, with or without the assent of the testator, shall not be an ademption of the legacy or devise unless the testator so intended; …

A provision for or advancement to any person shall be deemed a satisfaction in whole or in part of a devise or bequest to such person contained in a previous will, if it would be so deemed in case the devisee or legatee were the child of the testator; and whether he is a child or…

(1) If a testator fails to provide in his will for any of his children born or adopted after the execution of his will, the omitted child receives a share in the estate equal in value to that which he would have received if the testator had died intestate unless: (a) It appears f…

If a devisee or legatee dies before the testator, or is dead at the making of the will, leaving issue who survive the testator, such issue shall take the estate devised or bequeathed, as the devisee or legatee would have done if he had survived the testator, unless a different di…

grandchildren. (1) When a devise is made to several as a class or as tenants in common, and one (1) or more of the devisees die before the testator, and another or others survive the testator, the share or shares of such as so die shall go to his or their descendants, if any; if …

(1) When any devised estate, real or personal, is taken from the devisee for the payment of a debt of the testator, or one (1) of the devisees pays such debt to save his devise, each of the other devisees shall contribute his proportion of the debt, interest, and costs to the per…

A residuary legatee, or legatee after or subject to the payment of debts, or a devisee to whom an estate has or shall be devised to pay debts, shall not, after paying such debts, be entitled to contribution.

As respects the payment of the testator's debts, there shall be no distinction between specific and general devises except as provided in this chapter.

When any real or personal estate is devised to any heir at law of the testator, and the title to the estate, or any part thereof, proves invalid, such devisee shall have contribution from the others, unless it appears from the will that such was not the intention of the testator.

When a testator shall have a posthumous child, the share of such child shall be first taken from the estate not disposed of by the will, if any be left after paying debts and other charges, and the residue shall be made up ratably by the devisees.

A posthumous child shall be considered a devisee under the law of contribution and entitled to all his rights, and liable to all his responsibilities.

(1) When a widower's curtesy or widow's dower is taken, or the survivor's portion is made up, in whole or in part, from the estate devised to a devisee, such devisee shall have contribution on the principles of KRS 394.420 to 394.490 unless the will otherwise directs, or it is ne…

KRS 394.420 to 394.490 shall not affect any statutory provision in relation to property devised which may be subject to a lien.