Your Spouse Only Gets Half — Unless You Fix This
In Kentucky, if you die without a will, your surviving spouse does not inherit everything. Under KRS 391.010, they receive exactly 50% of your probate estate. The other half is split among your children, parents, or siblings — even if that means your widow must share ownership of the family home with stepchildren she barely knows.
Most families assume the default rules are fair. They are not. And Kentucky adds complications you won't find in most other states: an inheritance tax that hits non-lineal heirs at 4–16%, a ban on Transfer on Death deeds for real estate (SB 34 died in committee in March 2026), and Medicaid estate recovery rules that can claim the family home if you don't structure ownership correctly before a nursing home stay.
The Kentucky Basic Estate Planning Kit is a Kentucky Compliance System — a plain-language guide that walks you through every step of creating an estate plan that actually holds up in a Kentucky District Court. Not a stack of blank forms. Not generic advice written for all 50 states. A step-by-step system built around the specific statutes, deadlines, and court forms that govern property transfer in the Commonwealth.
What's Inside the Kit
- Last Will & Testament Guide — Kentucky requires two disinterested witnesses and allows a Self-Proving Affidavit that lets the court accept your will without calling witnesses to testify. The guide walks you through exactly what to include, what to avoid, and how to execute the document so it holds up in District Court.
- Inheritance Tax Navigator — Class A heirs (spouse, children, parents, grandchildren, siblings) pay zero. Class B heirs (nieces, nephews, in-laws, aunts, uncles) face 4–16% above a $1,000 exemption. Class C heirs (friends, cousins, unmarried partners) face 6–16% above $500. The guide shows you exactly which beneficiaries are at risk and how to structure distributions to minimize the tax burden.
- Power of Attorney & Healthcare Directive Walkthrough — covers the financial Durable POA, the healthcare surrogate designation, and the Living Will Directive under Kentucky law. Includes the strict rules for naming out-of-state agents and the execution requirements that differ from neighboring states.
- Probate Avoidance Roadmap — Kentucky doesn't allow TOD deeds, so your real estate must go through formal probate unless you hold it as Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship, as Tenants by the Entirety, or inside a revocable living trust. The guide maps out which strategy fits your situation — home, bank accounts, vehicles, retirement accounts — with plain-language instructions for each one.
- Medicaid Asset Protection Planner — Kentucky limits Medicaid estate recovery to probate assets only. That means assets held in JTWROS, POD accounts, or a living trust are completely shielded. The guide shows you how to restructure ownership now — before the 5-year look-back period becomes an issue.
- Small Estate Shortcut Guide — if the probate personal estate (excluding real estate) is $30,000 or less, Form AOC-830 lets your family skip formal administration entirely. The guide walks through who qualifies, how to petition, and the early spousal withdrawal of up to $2,500 from bank accounts.
- Executor & Administrator Checklist — 60-day inventory deadline, 6-month creditor claims window, annual settlement requirements, and the informal settlement option that bypasses formal court accounting. Every deadline and form number is mapped out.
- Digital Asset & Beneficiary Designation Audit — online accounts, retirement funds, life insurance, POD/TOD financial accounts. The guide ensures nothing falls through the cracks and everything is coordinated with your will.
Who This Kit Is Built For
- Young parents naming a guardian for minor children and protecting a newly purchased home
- Married couples who assume joint ownership protects the surviving spouse — it often doesn't without the right deed language
- Blended families who need to prevent accidental disinheritance when one spouse has children from a prior marriage
- Retirees protecting the family home from Medicaid estate recovery before a potential nursing home transition
- Out-of-state transplants whose existing estate plans from another state may not hold up under Kentucky law
- Anyone leaving assets to non-family heirs — friends, unmarried partners, nieces, nephews — who will face Kentucky's inheritance tax
Why Free Templates Won't Protect You in Kentucky
The Kentucky Court of Justice provides blank administrative forms — the AOC-805 petition, the AOC-830 small estate form, the AOC-841 inventory. But they do not provide the documents that actually protect your family: no Last Will template, no Power of Attorney form, no Living Will Directive. The court clerk is legally barred from helping you draft any of these.
National template builders like LegalZoom and Nolo sell generic documents that routinely include invalid provisions for Kentucky — like Transfer on Death deeds, which are illegal here. They miss the strict blood-relationship requirement for out-of-state executors under KRS 395.005. They gloss over the inheritance tax classes that determine whether your niece owes thousands or nothing.
Free legal aid clinics through KY Justice and AppalReD provide excellent help — but only for families who pass strict income screening. If you earn a middle-class income, you don't qualify.
The Kentucky Basic Estate Planning Kit fills the gap between a $1,500 attorney and a stack of blank court forms. Every template, every checklist, every walkthrough is built specifically for Kentucky Revised Statutes — not adapted from a generic 50-state template after the fact.
The Cost of Waiting
A Kentucky estate planning attorney charges $1,500–$3,000 for a basic will and POA package. Probate administration — which your family pays for after you're gone — runs $2,000–$5,000 in legal fees plus 5% of the estate in executor commissions. And if your niece inherits $50,000 without proper planning, she'll owe up to $7,840 in Kentucky inheritance tax.
This kit costs less than a single hour with most Kentucky attorneys. And the free checklist is yours to keep either way.
— Complete Kentucky Estate Planning Kit
Includes the full step-by-step guide plus 9 standalone printable worksheets: estate planning inventory, will execution guide, inheritance tax navigator, probate avoidance roadmap, Medicaid asset protection planner, POA & healthcare directive reference, small estate shortcut guide, executor timeline, and digital asset audit — all built for Kentucky law.
Not ready for the full kit? Download the free Estate Planning Checklist first. It covers what to do. The full guide covers how.
30-day satisfaction guarantee. If the kit doesn't give you a clear, actionable plan for your Kentucky estate, email us for a full refund. No questions, no hassle.