Affidavit of Surviving Joint Tenant Title-Clearance Requirements in Kentucky
At a glance
| Covered survivorship title | Express survivorship shown by the creating instrument for joint tenants (KRS 381.130(1)); spouses may hold an expressly created entirety with survivorship (KRS 381.050) |
|---|---|
| Instrument or filing | No survivor-specific statewide instrument in current KRS Chapters 381-382. The KRS 382.120 affidavit of descent applies only when title passed to heirs by intestate descent before a later deed |
| Who may sign or file | No statutory survivor-affiant or filer class. For the separate descent affidavit, a grantor, heir or next of kin, or two knowledgeable Kentucky residents may swear; grantor, grantee or agent/attorney presents it (KRS 382.120) |
| Required contents | No survivor-form fields prescribed. KRS 382.120 instead requires ancestor, death, marriage, residence, intestacy, heir, relationship, address, and inherited-interest facts for an affidavit of descent |
| Death evidence | No original or certified death-certificate attachment prescribed for survivorship title in Chapters 381-382; KRS 382.120 requires a death date in the distinct descent affidavit |
| Execution formalities | No statewide survivor-affidavit oath, acknowledgment, notary, witness, or personal-knowledge rule. KRS 382.130 governs deeds, not a newly created survivor affidavit |
| Office and deadline | No survivor filing office or post-death deadline. KRS 382.120 files the separate descent affidavit with the county clerk where the property lies, at or before the heirs' deed is filed |
| Statewide companion filings | No statewide companion tax or ownership filing prescribed for a survivor affidavit; KRS 382.120 is not a companion to survivorship title |
| Recording effect | The creating instrument controls the survivor's ownership under KRS 381.130; no Kentucky statute gives a survivor affidavit independent notice, evidentiary, indexing, or title effect. A descent affidavit is indexed from ancestor to heirs (§ 382.120(2)) |
Requirements one by one
Survivorship must come from the creating instrument
Kentucky's baseline rule in KRS 381.120 is that a deceased joint tenant's part descends to heirs, passes by devise, or goes to the personal representative. KRS 381.130 creates the relevant exception when it “manifestly appears, from the tenor of the instrument,” that the deceased tenant's part was intended to belong to the others.
For married owners, KRS 381.050 is equally express. A conveyance or devise to husband and wife does not create survivorship by default. The spouses take as tenants in common unless a right by survivorship is expressly provided. When the instrument expressly creates an entirety with survivorship, a spouse's will does not defeat the survivor's right.
Kentucky does not prescribe a survivor filing
The current Chapter 382 recording scheme does not create an affidavit of surviving joint tenant or an affidavit of death for survivorship property. It prescribes no survivor-only signer, required recitals, certified death record, oath or acknowledgment, county filing clock, indexing rule, or legal effect for such a document.
KRS 382.110 does not fill that gap. It tells where deeds, mortgages, and other instruments already required by law are recorded and requires a submitted certified copy to meet Chapter 382's statutory filing rules. It does not itself authorize a new survivor affidavit or give one title effect.
KRS 382.335 likewise regulates instruments that dispose of a property interest or are “provided by law” to be recorded as title evidence. Its preparer statement does not turn a locally drafted affidavit into a statewide statutory title-clearance instrument.
The affidavit of descent is a different procedure
KRS 382.120 applies before a deed when the grantor obtained title “under the laws of descent.” Its affidavit identifies an intestate ancestor, the heirs who inherited, and each heir's share. The county clerk records it in the deed records and indexes the ancestor as grantor and the heirs as grantees.
Survivorship property follows the creating instrument under KRS 381.130, not the laws of intestate descent. The descent affidavit therefore is not a substitute name or statutory foundation for a survivor affidavit.
What trips people up
Marriage alone does not create survivorship. KRS 381.050 requires the spouses' conveyance or devise to provide the survivorship right expressly.
The affidavit of descent points to heirs, not survivors. It requires intestacy and inherited interests and is filed with or before the heirs' later deed.
A general recording rule is not affirmative authority. KRS 382.110 and 382.335 regulate documents whose recordability or effect comes from another law; they do not supply the missing survivor procedure.
Common questions
Must a Kentucky survivor attach a certified death certificate? Chapters 381 and 382 contain no statewide certified-death-certificate attachment rule for survivorship title.
Who must sign a survivor affidavit? Kentucky statutes prescribe no such affidavit and therefore no survivor-affiant class. The signer classes in KRS 382.120 belong only to the separate affidavit of descent.
Is there a state filing deadline after the joint tenant dies? No post-death deadline appears for a survivor filing because Chapters 381 and 382 do not create that filing.
Statutes and sources
- KRS 381.050, 381.120, and 381.130 — spousal and general survivorship rules and the creating-instrument exception. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=35396, https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=35403, and https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=35404 (accessed 2026-08-03).
- KRS 382.110 and 382.335 — scope and location of recordable instruments, certified-copy compliance, and preparer-statement rules. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57627 and https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=35618 (accessed 2026-08-03).
- KRS 382.120 — affidavit of descent, required facts, filing time, deed-record indexing, and fees. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=35591 (accessed 2026-10-09).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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