Quick answer: file a sworn petition with the District Court that has jurisdiction over the estate, asking it to dispense with administration under either the $30,000 exemption route or the no-debt unanimous-agreement track. Check which fits with the Kentucky small estate checker.
Step by step: the exemption route
- Total the personal property and money, excluding real estate.
- Identify the surviving spouse (or children, if none) entitled to the $30,000 exemption.
- Add any preferred claims already paid (funeral, administration costs, priority debts) if the exemption alone doesn't cover the estate.
- File the sworn petition with the District Court that would have jurisdiction over full administration.
- Obtain the order dispensing with administration and transferring assets directly.
A spouse can waive the exemption in favor of someone else
Worth knowing: a surviving spouse or child can sign a sworn Affidavit of Waiver of Survivorship Exemption — opening the door for a preferred creditor or another person to rely on the same dispensing order instead, where that person paid preferred claims equaling or exceeding the distributable assets.
Step by step: the no-debt unanimous track
- Confirm the estate owes no debts at all.
- Get every beneficiary to agree in writing, under penalty of perjury.
- Notify creditors through six weeks of posting and publication.
- Make provision for any Kentucky inheritance tax owed by the beneficiaries.
The agreement stays open to challenge for a year
KRS 395.500 gives a one-year window during which the unanimous agreement can still be set aside — a defined period for late-discovered creditors or disputes to surface before the settlement becomes final.
Facing probate in Kentucky?
Talk to a Kentucky attorneyA local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.
Jefferson, Fayette, and Kenton County each process these petitions through their own District Court, but KRS 395.455, 395.470, and 395.500 apply identically statewide.