Kentucky Executor and Estate Kit: the $30,000 Small Estate Route, First Month Checklist and Estate Ledger

Who it is for

Whoever is settling the estate of someone who lived in Kentucky. Through a court office. A court order: the court may transfer the assets and decline to issue letters.

Not the right fit if

The person didn't live in or own property in Kentucky, or a will contest or family dispute means you need an estate attorney. Not a form preparation or legal service.

Why it is different

• Sources, checked November 2026: KRS 395.455, Transfer of assets without administration (Kentucky General Assembly); KRS 391.030, Descent of personal property; exemption for surviving spouse and children (Kentucky General Assembly); Kentucky AOC-830, Petition/Order to Dispense with Administration (copy posted by the Teachers' Retirement System, ky.gov); Nolo (secondary source): How to Make a Will in Kentucky (Nolo); FindLaw Codes (secondary source): KRS 394.210 (FindLaw Codes, current as of January 1, 2025).
• 3 facts aren't stated on those pages, so the kit leaves them out and lists them once to look up, with the official page.

What is inside

• Kentucky small estate route. Administration can be dispensed with when the surviving spouse's (or, with no spouse, the children's) $30,000 exemption in personal property or money equals or exceeds the assets. Signed before a notary. The petition is sworn before a notary. Through a court office. A court order: the court may transfer the assets and decline to issue letters. AOC-830, Petition/Order to Dispense with Administration. Administrative Office of the Courts form. Dispensing with administration (KRS 395.455): When the surviving spouse's or children's exemption under KRS 391.030, or preferred claims already paid, equal or exceed the distributable assets, the court may dispense with administration and transfer the assets. The court can transfer the assets to a person the surviving spouse designates when the spouse's or children's exemption covers them.
• How a Kentucky will had to be signed. Allowed. Per Nolo's Kentucky page, the testator and witnesses sign an affidavit before a notary. A notary isn't needed for the will itself. Recognized; a holographic will doesn't need witnesses (Nolo, citing KRS 394.040). If a beneficiary, or a beneficiary's spouse, witnesses the will and it can't otherwise be proved, the gift to that witness is void, except up to the share the witness would have inherited with no will (KRS 394.210, FindLaw's code text current as of January 2025).
• Kentucky estate ledger (Excel). Assets, debts, payments and distributions; it compares the countable assets with $30,000 and marks real estate to ask the court about.
• First 30 days, tracker and letters. The first month in order, a documents and accounts tracker, and plain letters to a bank, a utility and Social Security.
• Look up before you file in Kentucky. real estate, waiting period after the death: look up on KRS 395.455, Transfer of assets without administration (Kentucky General Assembly); witnesses the will needed: look up on KRS Chapter 394, Wills (Kentucky General Assembly).