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Petition/Order to Dispense with Administration (AOC-830, D…Verified against the statute July 29, 2026

Kentucky Small Estate Affidavit

Kentucky lets the next of kin collect a deceased person’s property without opening probate when the estate is worth $30,000 or less. Here is exactly how it works, and how to use it.

Check if you qualifyHow to use it

Kentucky at a glance

Estate value limit
$30,000
Statutory value
Wait after death
None
The affidavit can be used immediately
File with a court?
Yes, required
Court approval comes first
Covers real property?
No
Real property needs the court
Notary required?
Yes
Sign in front of a notary
Who can sign
Surviving spouse
Per the statute

Is your estate under the $30,000 limit?

Enter a rough total of what they owned in their own name alone. Leave out jointly-held accounts and anything with a named beneficiary. Those don’t count.

Nothing you type here is saved or sent anywhere.

The $30,000 limit, and what actually counts

Derived, not a flat cap. KRS 395.455(1) permits dispensation where the KRS 391.030 exemption for the surviving spouse or children: "Personal property or money on hand or in a bank or other depository to the amount of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000)", alone or together with preferred claims paid, equals or exceeds the amount of distributable assets. So the operative test is "distributable personal-property assets <= $30,000 exemption + preferred claims actually paid," not "estate value <= $30,000." Excludes real property and excludes non-probate assets (survivorship/POD accounts, beneficiary designations).

What doesn't count toward the limit

This is where most people wrongly rule themselves out. In Kentucky, these are left out of the calculation:

  • Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts
  • Real property
  • Funeral and last-illness expenses

Who can sign the affidavit

Surviving spouse; if no surviving spouse, the surviving children (KRS 395.455(1)); a person designated by the surviving spouse to receive the assets (KRS 395.455(1)); or a preferred creditor / assignee of a preferred creditor who has paid preferred claims, where the surviving spouse or (if none) the surviving children have waived the exemption in that person's favor, or where there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children (KRS 395.455(3)). AOC-830 requires waiver signatures from any surviving spouse and/or non-petitioning surviving children whose preference is being displaced. Under the KRS 395.470 agreement route, all beneficiaries entitled to the personal estate must sign.

either

The affidavit must be signed in front of a notary. Most banks and UPS Stores have a notary; many charge under $15.

Can it transfer a house or land in Kentucky?

Real property does not pass under the KRS 395.455 order. The exemption that powers the procedure is expressly limited to 'personal property or money on hand or in a bank or other depository' (KRS 391.030(1)(c)). Kentucky has no small-value real-property affidavit analogous to Cal. Prob. Code 13200, and no separate real-property dollar threshold. Kentucky does not need one: real property vests in the heirs at law (KRS 391.010, rewritten by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 134 sec. 1) or in the devisees under a probated will, by operation of law at the moment of death, subject to being reached for debts. What is required is a chain-of-title instrument before the heir can convey: (1) intestate. Affidavit of Descent, KRS 382.120, recorded with the county clerk where the land lies, at or before the deed is lodged; the clerk may not accept the deed for record without it (KRS 382.120(3)), and it is indexed with the ancestor as grantor and the heirs as grantees. Clerk's fee is the same as for recording/indexing a deed. (2) testate, the probated will recorded in the county where the land lies. (3) disputed or uncertain heirship, a KRS 391.035 District Court judgment; under KRS 391.035(5) a certified copy of that judgment is recorded 'in lieu of the affidavit required by KRS 382.120' and is conclusive evidence of the facts determined as against all parties.

Affidavit of heirship in Kentucky

Kentucky's instrument is the affidavit of descent, KRS 382.120 (there is no Kentucky instrument styled 'affidavit of heirship'). It does not transfer title and must never be described to a consumer as transferring or vesting title. Title to real property already passed to the heirs at law by operation of law at the instant of death under KRS 391.010; the affidavit is purely an evidentiary link in the recorded chain of title, and KRS 382.120(3) makes clear its function is a recording precondition. 'nothing in this section shall prevent the recording from being legal of any such deed lodged for record prior to the filing of the affidavit,' i.e. the deed's validity does not depend on it. Who may swear: the grantor, or any one of the heirs at law or next of kin of the ancestor, or two (2) Kentucky residents each having personal knowledge of the facts. There is no notary-witness count in the statute beyond the affidavit form itself; the 'two residents' option is an alternative affiant class, not a witness requirement. Required contents (KRS 382.120(1)(a)-(f)): ancestor's name; date of death; marital status and, if married, the surviving spouse's name and address; place of residence at death if known; the fact that the ancestor died intestate; and the names, ages, and addresses so far as known of each heir at law and next of kin who inherited, each one's relationship to the ancestor, and the interest inherited by each. Note the intestacy element. KRS 382.120 is an intestate-only instrument; for a testate decedent the probated will is the chain-of-title document. Recording: filed with the county clerk of the county where the real property lies, at or before the deed is lodged, recorded in the deed records and indexed with the ancestor as grantor and each heir as grantee, as if it were a deed from the ancestor to the heirs; clerk charges standard deed recording/indexing fees. Stronger alternative: a KRS 391.035 District Court determination-of-heirship judgment, which after notice (not less than 20 days) and hearing is 'conclusive evidence of the facts determined therein as against all parties, whether known or unknown,' and a certified copy of which is recorded in lieu of the KRS 382.120 affidavit (KRS 391.035(5)). Aggrieved parties have 30 days to bring an adversary Circuit Court proceeding under KRS 24A.120(2). Use KRS 391.035 where heirship is unclear, an heir is missing, or a title insurer will not rely on a bare affidavit.

How to use a small estate affidavit in Kentucky

  1. 1

    Confirm you're under the limit and past the wait

    Add up the property that passes through the estate and check it against the $30,000 ceiling. Derived, not a flat cap. KRS 395.455(1) permits dispensation where the KRS 391.030 exemption for the surviving spouse or children: "Personal property or money on hand or in a bank or other depository to the amount of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000)", alone or together with preferred claims paid, equals or exceeds the amount of distributable assets. So the operative test is "distributable personal-property assets <= $30,000 exemption + preferred claims actually paid," not "estate value <= $30,000." Excludes real property and excludes non-probate assets (survivorship/POD accounts, beneficiary designations).

  2. 2

    Gather the documents

    You'll need certified copies of the death certificate: order at least three, since institutions often keep one: plus account numbers, the vehicle title or VIN, and the names and addresses of every heir.

  3. 3

    Complete the affidavit

    Fill in Petition/Order to Dispense with Administration (AOC-830, Doc. Code PDA) under KRS 395.455, keyed to the surviving spouse/children personal-property exemption in KRS 391.030. Not a pure out-of-court affidavit: it is a notarized petition filed in District Court that produces a court order. A second, rarely-used route is Dispensing with Administration by Written Agreement, KRS 395.470., listing the decedent, the heirs and their relationships, the assets and their values, and the known debts.

  4. 4

    Sign it in front of a notary

    Sign in front of a notary public. Banks, credit unions and shipping stores all offer notarization, usually for a small fee.

  5. 5

    File it with the probate court

    Court: the District Court (probate division) of the county that would have jurisdiction to grant administration, i.e. the county of the decedent's residence at death (KRS 395.450). For a non-Kentucky-resident decedent, KRS 391.035(2)(a) points to the county where the property or the greater part of it is located. Filing is mandatory; the deliverable is a signed court order (AOC-830 combines the Petition with the Order; AOC-830.1 is the companion form). The certified order is what the successor presents to banks, employers, and the county clerk. There is no direct-to-institution affidavit in Kentucky. The court may act on the papers; a short hearing is common practice and varies by county. Filing fee not verified against statute in this research pass. Do not publish a fee figure without checking the AOC/circuit clerk fee schedule and KRS 64.185 for the county in question. KRS 395.455(2) also lets the court, if satisfied that no distributable estate will pass through a personal representative's hands, order that no letters of administration issue and, in a testate estate, order that the will be probated only.

  6. 6

    Present it to whoever holds the property

    Kentucky imposes no statutory duty on banks, employers, or transfer agents to honor a private affidavit, and provides no statutory safe harbor / release-from-liability for paying on one, because Kentucky has no direct-to-institution small estate affidavit. This is the single biggest structural difference from UPC states and from California Prob. Code 13100 et seq. Institutions act on a certified copy of the district court order entered on AOC-830. The one express statutory mandate on a financial institution is KRS 391.030(2): where the surviving spouse obtains a District Court order authorizing withdrawal of up to $2,500 from a bank or other depository before the exemption is set apart, 'Upon presentation of the order, the bank or depository shall permit the surviving spouse to withdraw the sum,' and the bank must then lodge the order with the circuit clerk endorsed with the amount withdrawn, the withdrawal being charged against the exempt property. Even that duty is keyed to a court order and carries no express immunity language for the depository. Practical guidance for consumers: expect to hand the bank/employer/county clerk a certified copy of the AOC-830 order plus a certified death certificate and photo ID; individual institution policies vary and some will demand their own affidavit of indemnity in addition.

Where to take the signed affidavit

The bank

Kentucky imposes no statutory duty on banks, employers, or transfer agents to honor a private affidavit, and provides no statutory safe harbor / release-from-liability for paying on one, because Kentucky has no direct-to-institution small estate affidavit. This is the single biggest structural difference from UPC states and from California Prob. Code 13100 et seq. Institutions act on a certified copy of the district court order entered on AOC-830. The one express statutory mandate on a financial institution is KRS 391.030(2): where the surviving spouse obtains a District Court order authorizing withdrawal of up to $2,500 from a bank or other depository before the exemption is set apart, 'Upon presentation of the order, the bank or depository shall permit the surviving spouse to withdraw the sum,' and the bank must then lodge the order with the circuit clerk endorsed with the amount withdrawn, the withdrawal being charged against the exempt property. Even that duty is keyed to a court order and carries no express immunity language for the depository. Practical guidance for consumers: expect to hand the bank/employer/county clerk a certified copy of the AOC-830 order plus a certified death certificate and photo ID; individual institution policies vary and some will demand their own affidavit of indemnity in addition.

The DMV

No dedicated Kentucky small-estate vehicle affidavit and no separate vehicle dollar threshold. Agency: Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Vehicle Licensing, processed through the county clerk of the owner's county. Form: TC 96-182, Application for Kentucky Certificate of Title or Registration. Per drive (drive.ky.gov) titling guidance: if the title is held by two names joined by 'or', the survivor signs as seller and a death certificate suffices; if joined by 'and' and the survivor is the spouse, a death certificate stating the relationship may suffice, otherwise court documents are required; if the co-owner is not a spouse, a death certificate and probate documents are required; if there is a will, the will must be probated. Where the decedent held sole title and there is no probate, the county clerk will want the certified AOC-830 order dispensing with administration plus the death certificate and TC 96-182. Practice varies by county clerk, verify locally.

The employer

Final wages and accrued leave can usually be claimed with the same affidavit. Ask their payroll department what they need, most have a standard process.

Debts and your personal liability

AOC-830 requires the petitioner, under oath, to itemize every estate asset with its value, and to certify that there has been no previous administration of the decedent's estate in Kentucky or elsewhere. A preferred-creditor petitioner must itemize the claims paid in KRS 396.095 order: (a) costs and expenses of administration, (b) funeral expenses, (c) debts and taxes with preference under federal law and other Kentucky law, then (d) all other claims: with payees, amounts, and receipts attached. KRS 396.095(2): no preference within a class; matured claims get no preference over unmatured. A KRS 395.455 order does not extinguish creditor claims: under KRS 396.011(1), where no personal representative has been appointed, claims are barred two (2) years after the decedent's death (versus six months after appointment of a PR), so the recipient of dispensed assets carries roughly a two-year exposure window. KRS 395.490: if administration or letters were already granted, no dispensation order may issue except on notice to the personal representative, an opportunity to be heard, payment of administration costs, and settlement of accounts; the letters are then ipso facto revoked. KRS 395.500 lets a claimant move to set aside an order dispensing with administration within one (1) year on prima facie proof of a just and unsatisfied claim. Note this text references KRS 395.470 orders only, not KRS 395.455 orders. Under the KRS 395.470 route the court may require a surety bond in the amount of the personal estate for creditors who appear within six (6) months, and the beneficiaries' agreement is made under penalty of perjury. Falsely swearing an Affidavit of Descent is a Class A misdemeanor plus civil liability to anyone injured (KRS 382.990(2)).

When you can’t use it

Kentucky takes the affidavit route off the table when:

  • Distributable personal-property assets exceed the KRS 391.030 exemption plus preferred claims actually paid (i.e. more than ~$30,000 of probate personalty with no offsetting preferred-claim payments)
  • No surviving spouse, no surviving children, and no preferred creditor who paid preferred claims or is legally entitled to payment. Nobody has statutory standing under KRS 395.455
  • The estate includes real property that must be sold or administered. KRS 391.030 exemption is limited to 'personal property or money on hand or in a bank or other depository'; real property is not 'distributable assets' transferred by a KRS 395.455 order
  • Administration or letters testamentary have already been granted. KRS 395.490 bars the order absent notice to the personal representative, an opportunity to be heard, payment of administration costs, and settlement of the personal representative's accounts
  • A prior administration has been opened in Kentucky or elsewhere (AOC-830 requires certification that there has been none)
  • For the KRS 395.470 written-agreement route specifically: any debts owing by the estate; failure of all beneficiaries to agree in writing under penalty of perjury; failure to advertise for creditors (courthouse door 6 weeks + publication under KRS Chapter 424); no provision made for state inheritance tax and federal estate tax; outstanding claims or demands due TO the estate with no designated trustee
  • Contested heirship or disputed entitlement, routed to KRS 391.035 determination-of-heirship proceeding or to Circuit Court under KRS 24A.120(2)
  • Administration sought more than ten (10) years after death (KRS 395.010 general bar on granting administration)

If any of those apply, a probate attorney is the right call. A typical small-estate proceeding runs $1,000–$3,000 plus the court’s fee.

Kentucky small estate affidavit FAQ

Statute and sources

Last verified July 29, 2026. Major. 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 134 (SB 50), 'AN ACT relating to the disposition of property,' Effective July 15, 2026 (only two weeks before this research date, 2026-07-29). This omnibus act rewrote large parts of KRS Chapters 391, 392, 394, 395, 396 and 386B. Section 20 amended KRS 395.455: (a) replaced 'probatable assets' with 'Distributable assets' throughout; (b) replaced the gendered 'a widow / the widower / the wife's estate' with gender-neutral surviving-spouse language; (c) restructured subsection (3) and expressly extended the exemption-waiver and preferred-creditor route to surviving children, not just a surviving spouse; (d) expressly confirmed the court may dispense with administration in both testate and intestate estates without requiring renunciation of a will; (e) deleted the former express words 'or the giving of bond' from subsections (1) and (3). Section 21 rewrote KRS 395.470 into a structured eight-subsection procedure: no debts owing; unanimous written beneficiary agreement acknowledged under penalty of perjury and filed with the motion; creditor advertisement posted at the courthouse door for six weeks and published under KRS Chapter 424; provision for state inheritance and federal estate tax; motion filable only after probate of the will (if any), appointment of a personal representative, and advertisement; optional surety bond in the amount of the personal estate with a six-month creditor claim window. The same act also amended KRS 391.010 (intestate succession: the surviving spouse now takes a defined share of real estate, and stepchildren were inserted into the collateral order), KRS 395.015/.016/.020/.050/.080/.105/.120/.130/.140 and KRS 64.012 (county clerk fees). It did not amend KRS 391.030, KRS 395.450, KRS 382.120, KRS 391.035, or KRS 396.095. Form: AOC-830 was revised 1-26 and now cites KRS 394.145 alongside 391.030, 395.455 and 396.095, tracking the testate-estate expansion. Earlier: 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2020, raised the KRS 391.030 exemption from $15,000 to $30,000. This is the origin of the current threshold. 2021 Ky. Acts ch. 71, sec. 1, effective June 29, 2021, amended KRS 396.011 claim deadlines.

  • KRS 395.455 (Transfer of assets without administration), current version effective July 15, 2026
  • KRS 395.450 (Jurisdiction to dispense with administration)
  • KRS 391.030(1)(c), (3), (4) (surviving spouse/children $30,000 personal-property exemption)
  • KRS 391.030(2) ($2,500 pre-set-aside bank withdrawal on District Court order)
  • KRS 395.470 (Dispensing with administration by written agreement), current version effective July 15, 2026
  • KRS 395.480 (consent of persons under disability)
  • KRS 395.490 (procedure when administration already granted)
  • KRS 395.500 (order may be set aside within 1 year)
  • KRS 396.095 (order of payment of claims. 'preferred claims')
  • KRS 396.011(1) (claims barred 2 years after death where no personal representative appointed)
  • KRS 391.035 (District Court hearing to determine persons entitled to intestate property)
  • KRS 382.120 (Affidavit of Descent, real property acquired by descent)
  • KRS 382.990(2) (false affidavit of descent = Class A misdemeanor + civil liability)
  • 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 134 (SB 50), secs. 20-21, effective July 15, 2026
  • 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2020 (raised KRS 391.030 exemption to $30,000)

What we're less sure about

  • The '45-day waiting period' repeated by eForms, esign.com and similar commercial form mills is NOT in any Kentucky statute or on AOC-830. Do not encode it. Verified absent from KRS 395.450, 395.455, 391.030 and the Rev. 1-26 form.
  • Secondary sources still publishing a $15,000 Kentucky limit are citing the pre-July-2020 figure and are stale.
  • Sources describing Kentucky's procedure as an 'affidavit' presented to a bank are wrong. It is a court petition producing a court order. Product copy must not tell a user they can walk an unfiled affidavit into a bank.
  • The $30,000 is a derived eligibility test, not a flat cap: modeling it as 'estate value <= $30,000' will produce both false negatives (estates above $30,000 that qualify via preferred claims paid under KRS 395.455(3)) and false positives (estates under $30,000 with no surviving spouse, no surviving children, and no preferred creditor, which have no eligible petitioner).
  • District Court filing fee was NOT verified against statute or the AOC fee schedule in this pass. Do not publish a dollar fee without checking the current circuit clerk schedule.
  • The 2026 deletion of 'or the giving of bond' from KRS 395.455(1) and (3) leaves it textually open whether a District Court may now require a bond as a condition of dispensation, and how that interacts with KRS 395.130 as amended by the same act. Practice under the July 15, 2026 amendment is roughly two weeks old; no case law, and county-level practice is unsettled.
  • KRS 395.500's one-year set-aside remedy references orders under KRS 395.470 only; whether an order under KRS 395.455 is subject to the same remedy is not resolved on the face of the statute.
  • AOC-830 Rev. 1-26 is an XFA/dynamic PDF; its full current field text could not be machine-extracted in this pass. Substantive content was confirmed from the prior revision plus the Rev. 1-26 statutory citation line (KRS 391.030; 394.145; 395.455; 396.095) and its notary jurat ('Subscribed and sworn to before me'). Re-verify field-level wording before auto-filling this form.
  • Whether individual banks, credit unions, and employers will accept a certified AOC-830 order without additional internal indemnity paperwork varies by institution; Kentucky gives them no statutory safe harbor for paying.
  • County clerk practice for titling a solely-owned vehicle of a decedent without probate varies; TC 96-182 plus a certified AOC-830 order and death certificate is the general pattern but was confirmed only from DRIVE's general titling page, not a statute or regulation.
  • KRS 382.120 by its terms applies only where the ancestor died INTESTATE (subsection (1)(e)). Testate real-property chains rely on the recorded probated will instead, verify before generating an affidavit of descent for a testate decedent.

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