If you die without a valid will in Kentucky, your property will be distributed according to default state law (intestacy law). Kentucky intestacy laws favor immediate family members as heirs. So, your spouse and children are first in line to inherit from your estate. Your spouse is entitled to half of the estate after funeral expenses and other costs are paid.

If there is no surviving spouse or children, the probate court will distribute your property to other close family members, then to more distant relatives. You should not rely on intestacy laws if you want to make your own choices about your estate or if you have unique family circumstances. If you have minor children, special needs loved ones, an unmarried partner, family strife, or other special considerations, you will need a valid will.

With a Kentucky last will and testament, you can avoid the default intestacy laws and make your own decisions about who should receive your property.

Creating a valid Kentucky will is easy and inexpensive with FindLaw’s do-it-yourself option. Best of all, you can create your last will and testament form without even needing to leave home.

No, you don’t have to notarize your will for it to be legally valid in Kentucky. But if you would like to have a self-proving will, you will need a notary’s services. With a self-proving will, your witnesses do not need to testify that the will is valid. Instead, the probate court can accept it as your valid will automatically. This can help to speed up the probate process and it relieves your witnesses from having to testify.

There are certain basic minimum requirements of a valid will in Kentucky. These requirements are similar to those of other states. You must:

• Put your will in writing
• Sign your will or direct someone to sign it for you
• Have two credible witnesses to your will
• Be at least 18 years old and of “sound mind” when you sign the will. An exception to this is that someone under the age of 18 can name a guardian for their child through a will.

A fully handwritten, unwitnessed will is called a holographic will. Kentucky law recognizes holographic wills as valid, but you must write it entirely in your own handwriting. You should avoid using a handwritten will if at all possible.

A court may be hesitant to consider an unwitnessed, handwritten will valid. It is difficult to interpret handwriting, and it may be hard to verify that the writing is yours. These problems can lead to family conflict if a loved one challenges your will. It can also slow down the administration of your estate and increase the cost of probate.

To avoid the hassles and legal fees that could result from a handwritten will, you should instead sign a printed will in front of two witnesses. With FindLaw, you can get a state-specific will in under an hour from the convenience of your home computer.

You can distribute most of your property through your will, but there are some exceptions in Kentucky. If you own any property in joint ownership with the right of survivorship, this property will automatically pass to your joint owner. You cannot change joint ownership through a will.

You also cannot change life insurance beneficiaries or retirement account beneficiaries through your will. To change your beneficiary designations on your accounts, you would need to contact those financial institutions directly.

You can change your will by either creating a new will or writing an amendment to the will (a “codicil“). For minor changes, a codicil will be sufficient. But if you want to make big changes to your will, you should create a new will.

If you have gone through significant life events since you wrote your will, you probably need a new will. When significant things happen in life such as marriage, divorce, or birth of a child, you might need to add or remove beneficiaries. It is best to do so with a new will. Keep in mind that you can change your will as much as you need to for a full year after purchase with our do-it-yourself will creation service.

If you want to revoke your will, you can do so in a few ways. You can:

• Burn, tear, cut, or otherwise destroy your will with the intent to revoke
• Write a codicil to revoke specific parts of your will
• Create a new will that revokes all prior wills
• Create a new writing that states that you are revoking your will. This writing should be signed and witnessed in the same manner as the original will.

If you create a new will, you should give a copy of it to your executor. You should also inform your executor that you are revoking the old will.