Kentucky Heirs Inheritance Wills  Probate

The Kentucky Wills Manual is free to Kentucky Residents just download it! 

Former Kentucky Assistant County Attorney

Who takes what?   If the will explains who takes what the will normally controls who is an heir and what heirs get.  However, a spouse may always reject a will and take a spouse's legal share of the estate.  See the section on Spouses benefits.  

Kentucky Statute 391.010 determines who the heirs are and who the lineal collateral and legal line is.   Normally the lineal line is only the grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren of the testator.  The non lineal line are the brothers sisters aunts uncles and cousins.   The legal line are the adopted children and spouses of the testator which are not genetically related but inherit as if they were.

Kentucky Statute 391.030 then explains which class inherits.  Therefore the children of the Decedent are one class and the parents of the decedent are another class.  As long as there is someone surviving in a superior class the lower classes take nothing.  Children take before grandparents.  Even if only one child remains and four grandparents survive the child takes all.  Issue or children are the most important class.  Issue means decendants.  Children are in a higher class than grand children and grand children are in a higher class than great grand children.  All of these are decendants.  Adopted and illegitimate children take as if they were children. See the Kentucky Anti lapse statute 394.400.  Often if the Child dies their children take their share.  

Parents grand parents and great grand parents are not issue instead they are ascending heirs and they are up the line.  Ascending heirs take only if there are no children. 

One problem often occurs in Kentucky when a child is given real estate by inheritance and the person dies without issue (children) the property goes back to the parent that made the gift in his will.  This can work to deny property to the heirs and to reopen old estates to give property to the deceased persons siblings.   Although who is an heir is normally a simple legal question it is best to always get the advice of an attorney.    

This is an advertisement for the Kentucky Trusts and Wills Manual.  This is not legal advice.  Only an attorney should advise you about your individual legal problems.  It is for informational purposes only. You can download the Wills and Trusts Manual for free . 

Want Wills and Probate information? This is the place!

THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT