Estate plan requirements

Kentucky

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in Kentucky: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

Document	Witnesses	Notary
Will	2 required	Recommended
Living trust	None required	Recommended
Power of attorney	None required	Required
Healthcare directive	2 required, or notary	Alternative to witnesses

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Kentucky content last reviewed August 17, 2026.

Will

Ky. Rev. Stat. §394.020 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Unless the will is wholly in the testator's own handwriting, the testator must sign the will, or acknowledge it, in the presence of at least two credible witnesses, who must then subscribe the will with their names in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other (KRS §394.040)

Witnesses together: Required

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Valid

Handwritten wills without witnesses are recognized in Kentucky

Self-proving affidavit: Available

Allows the will to be admitted to probate without witness testimony

State-specific notes

•In Kentucky, a separate list of personal items written after you sign your will is not legally binding, so name each item and the person who gets it in the specific gifts section of your will before you sign.

ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule

KRS §394.210(2): a devise or bequest to an attesting witness, or to the witness's husband or wife, is void only if the will cannot otherwise be proved; even then the witness is deemed competent and may prove the will, and a witness who would have inherited had there been no will keeps that intestate share up to the value of the voided gift. The voiding is conditional, applying only when the interested witness's testimony is needed to establish the will. Under KRS §394.210(3), a will that the testator acknowledged or subscribed in the presence of two witnesses at the same time may be proved by one subscribing witness alone, so a disinterested co-witness can often establish the will and leave the gift intact. Using witnesses who take nothing under the will is still the safer practice.

Living Trust

Witnesses: None required

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

Certification of trust: Ky. Rev. Stat. §386B.10-120

Kentucky lets your trustee prove the trust to a bank, brokerage, title company, insurer, or transfer agent with a short certification instead of the trust itself. It states that the trust exists, who the trustee is, and what the trustee may do, and it leaves out who inherits and what each person receives. Will.com generates the Kentucky Certification of Trust with your trust, built to the contents that section requires. Sign it in front of the same notary, at the same sitting as the trust. The same section also says what happens if someone demands the trust itself anyway. Ky. Rev. Stat. §386B.10-120(8) provides that a person making a demand for the trust instrument in addition to a certification of trust or excerpts is liable for damages if the court determines that the person did not act in good faith in demanding the trust instrument.

Durable Power of Attorney

Witnesses: None required

No witnesses required for power of attorney

Notarization: Required

Notarization is required for a valid durable power of attorney

State-specific notes

•A signature is presumed genuine when acknowledged before a notary; witnesses are NOT statutorily required (Ky. Rev. Stat. §457.050, Uniform Power of Attorney Act, current text after 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 41 §42). The two-disinterested-witness rule added by the 2018 enactment was rolled back in 2020

•Durability is presumed unless the instrument states otherwise

•Witness signatures are commercially recommended (banks, brokerages, title insurers often request them) but are not required for validity

•Practical-acceptance rule: while Kentucky treats notarization as the formality that creates a presumption of genuineness rather than a strict validity requirement (Ky. Rev. Stat. §457.050), banks, brokerages, and title companies almost universally refuse to honor an unacknowledged POA, and the statute conditions recordability of any conveyance executed by the agent on a notarized instrument (Ky. Rev. Stat. §457.060). The acceptance-and-liability regime (acceptance of, and liability for refusal to accept, an acknowledged power of attorney) likewise presumes acknowledgment (Ky. Rev. Stat. §§457.190 and 457.200). Treat notarization as required for the POA to be commercially usable; an unacknowledged Kentucky POA fails at the moment it is needed (real-estate deed signing, bank transaction, brokerage rollover) even though it is technically valid between the principal and the agent.

ViewWarning notice for the principal

IMPORTANT INFORMATION This power of attorney authorizes another person (your agent) to make decisions concerning your property for you (the principal). Your agent will be able to make decisions and act with respect to your property (including your money) whether or not you are able to act for yourself. The meaning of authority over subjects listed on this form is explained in the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in KRS Chapter 457. This power of attorney does not authorize the agent to make health-care decisions for you. You should select someone you trust to serve as your agent. Unless you specify otherwise, generally the agent's authority will continue until you die or revoke the power of attorney or the agent resigns or is unable to act for you. Your agent is entitled to reasonable compensation unless you state otherwise in the Special Instructions. This form provides for designation of one (1) agent. If you wish to name more than one (1) agent you may name a coagent in the Special Instructions. Coagents are not required to act together unless you include that requirement in the Special Instructions. If your agent is unable or unwilling to act for you, your power of attorney will end unless you have named a successor agent. You may also name a second successor agent. This power of attorney becomes effective immediately unless you state otherwise in the Special Instructions. If you have questions about the power of attorney or the authority you are granting to your agent, you should seek legal advice before signing this form.

Living Will Directive / Health Care Surrogate

Ky. Rev. Stat. §311.621-311.643

Witnesses: 2 required, or notary

Kentucky accepts either 2 witnesses or notarization

Notarization: Accepted as alternative

Acknowledged before a notary public. Ky. Rev. Stat. §311.625

State-specific notes

•Witness disqualifications (Ky. Rev. Stat. §311.625(2)): a blood relative of the grantor; a beneficiary of the grantor under Kentucky's descent and distribution statutes; an employee of the health care facility in which the grantor is a patient (unless the employee serves as a notary public); the grantor's attending physician; or any person directly financially responsible for the grantor's health care. The disqualification list applies to the notary as well as to attesting witnesses.

•Either two qualified witnesses OR acknowledgment before a notary public satisfies the statute; both are not required (Ky. Rev. Stat. §311.625(2)).

ViewWitness disqualification recital

KRS §311.625(2): none of the following may witness an advance directive, or serve as the notary public or other person authorized to administer oaths taking the acknowledgment: a blood relative of the grantor; a beneficiary of the grantor under the Commonwealth's descent and distribution statutes; an employee of a health care facility in which the grantor is a patient, unless that employee serves as a notary public; the grantor's attending physician; or any person directly financially responsible for the grantor's health care. If the two-witness route is used, both witnesses must sign in the presence of the grantor and in the presence of each other, so serial witnessing does not satisfy §311.625(2). Acknowledgment before a notary public or other person authorized to administer oaths is a complete alternative and requires no witnesses.

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6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive. The free packet includes it too whenever it has a healthcare directive.

Nomination of Guardian and Conservator

Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

Free vs. paid

	Free	Paid
All 4 state-specific documents	Included in free	Included in paid tier
State-specific signing guide	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Download as PDF, print forever	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Secure online storage	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Nomination of conservator	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Business succession declaration	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklist	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Special needs trust provisions	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editable	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Edit anytime	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Annual review reminder	Not in free	Included in paid tier

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Electronic will status

Kentucky has adopted electronic will legislation (2026). You may be able to create, sign, and witness a will electronically using approved methods.

Digital assets access

Kentucky has adopted RUFADAA (2020). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

Kentucky authorized RON in 2019. The law took effect on January 1, 2020.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

For the paper documents Will.com produces, Kentucky does not allow remote online witnessing. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign. Not available for a Kentucky will signed on paper. Ky. Rev. Stat. §394.040 requires the witnesses to subscribe the will in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other, and carries no electronic-presence provision. Kentucky's electronic-presence authority arrived with the Uniform Electronic Wills Act enacted by 2026 SB 50 (Ky. Rev. Stat. §§394.700 to 394.715), which applies to the will of a decedent who dies on or after July 15, 2026 (Ky. Rev. Stat. §394.715). Ky. Rev. Stat. §394.700(2) defines 'electronic presence' as two or more individuals in different locations communicating in real time to the same extent as if they were physically present in the same location, and Ky. Rev. Stat. §394.706(1)(c) lets witnesses sign in the testator's physical OR electronic presence. That route runs only to an electronic will: §394.706(1)(a) requires a record that is readable as text at the time of signing, and §394.706(2) requires each electronic symbol to be an electronic image of the signer's handwritten signature affixed to the electronic will. A printed will signed in ink is neither. Two further limits apply even to an electronic will: under §394.706(1)(c) each witness must be a resident of Kentucky AND physically located in Kentucky at the time of signing.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

HC Directive

Not allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in Kentucky for guidance specific to your situation.

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