Kentucky living trusts & estate documents

Living trust law in Kentucky

A revocable living trust holds your home, accounts, and other property during your life — you stay in full control as trustee and can change or revoke it any time — then passes it to your beneficiaries without probate when you're gone. In Kentucky, trusts are governed by the Kentucky Uniform Trust Code, KRS Chapter 386B.

Avoiding probate in Kentucky

Probate in Kentucky is governed by the KRS Chapters 391–397 and handled by the District Court. Probate is in the district court of the Commonwealth.

Administration may be dispensed with for estates within the $30,000 spousal/preferred exemption. That simplified procedure is set out in Dispensing with administration, KRS §395.455. A funded living trust passes outside probate entirely, whatever the size of the estate — which is why Kentucky homeowners in particular set one up.

Estate and inheritance tax in Kentucky

Kentucky has an inheritance tax — a tax on what each beneficiary receives, usually scaled to how closely related they were to you: Kentucky has an inheritance tax (Class A close relatives exempt); no separate estate tax. The separate federal estate tax reaches only estates above $15 million per person (2026, adjusted yearly), so most families never owe it.

Protecting a surviving spouse in Kentucky

Kentucky also sets aside exempt property or money up to $30,000 for a surviving spouse and minor children (Ky. Rev. Stat. § 391.030), protected ahead of most creditors.

Signing your Kentucky documents

1. Sign the living trust. Executed and acknowledged before a notary.
2. Sign the will. Two witnesses; notarized self-proving affidavit included (standalone and pour-over wills).
3. Sign the power of attorney. Sign your Durable Power of Attorney before a Notary Public.
4. Sign the health care documents. Sign your Advance Health Care Directive before a Notary Public.
5. Follow your package instructions. Your package includes page-by-page signing instructions written for Kentucky — follow those as the authoritative guide.

Serving all of Kentucky

Answer the questionnaire from anywhere in Kentucky and download your completed documents in minutes: Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Owensboro, Covington, Richmond, Georgetown, Florence, Hopkinsville, Nicholasville, Elizabethtown, Frankfort, and every community in between.