Executor and Personal-Representative Bond Requirements in Kentucky

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Current law starts with no bond

Effective July 15, 2026, § 395.130(1)-(2) states that no bond is required of an ordinary personal representative unless the District Court, in its discretion, finds a surety bond necessary to protect all estate interests.

Public administrators and curators are mandatory-bond exceptions, but they are separate offices outside this survey's ordinary executor-and-administrator scope.

The will informs but does not control the decision

Under § 395.130(2)(b), the court may consider the testator's expression of intent in a will or trust, but the statute expressly says the court is not bound by it. The court may also consider the representative's experience, including other fiduciary service.

Because no bond is the statutory default, Kentucky does not need a beneficiary or heir waiver to reach that result. It also states no automatic creditor or interested-person demand that overrides the judge's protection decision.

The court sets amount and sureties without a statutory estate-value floor

Section 395.130(3) requires the fiduciary to provide the bond as ordered. On any interested party's motion, the court may reduce or increase the amount or substitute another bond with the same or different sureties.

The current section supplies no inventory, income, doubling, minimum, or maximum formula. That omission is deliberate: § 62.060(1) begins “Except as provided by KRS 395.130,” so its general estate-value penal-sum floor must not be imported into an ordinary Chapter 395 personal-representative bond. Section 62.060 still supplies the referenced additional-security mechanism, including a higher penal sum or renewed bond with other or additional sureties.

An incorporated surety's cost may be charged to the estate

Under § 395.130(5), the necessary and reasonable cost of an authorized incorporated surety company is an administration expense. The representative may receive settlement credit for the amount actually paid, subject to the approving court's review.

The cited section requires a surety bond and permits surety substitution. It does not state a general cash-deposit, restricted-account, or pledged-collateral alternative for an ordinary representative.

Nonresidence affects eligibility and service, not bond amount

Under § 395.005, a qualifying nonresident must be a legal adult within the listed relationships to the decedent; the section also authorizes specified banks and trust companies. Under § 395.015(6), the nonresident's application to designate a resident of the probate county as service agent. Neither section adds a different bond amount.

Order, required bond, and oath or declaration make the appointment effective

Section 395.105 requires letters before the fiduciary executes the trust and makes appointment effective only after the signed judicial order, presentation of any required executed bond, and the oath or permitted declaration.

Under § 395.130(4), an executor who does not give required bond has no authority to act and, if already appointed, must be removed. Under § 395.160(2)-(3), the court may separately remove for failure to give additional security required under § 62.060 and requires a removed representative to settle accounts and deliver the estate to the replacement.

What trips people up

• Kentucky reversed the older bond architecture effective July 15, 2026; no bond is now the ordinary starting point.
• A will's no-bond preference is relevant but cannot bind the court.
• Section 62.060's estate-value minimum expressly yields to § 395.130 and should not be treated as the ordinary current amount formula.
• The statute gives interested persons an amount-and-surety motion after bond is required, not an automatic initial demand right.

Common questions

Can the will guarantee that no bond will be ordered?

No. Section 395.130 lets the court consider the testator's intent but expressly says the court is not bound by it.

Must the bond equal at least the estate's estimated value?

Not under current § 395.130. Section 62.060 expressly excepts the Chapter 395 rule, and § 395.130 leaves the amount to the court and later interested-party motions.

Can the court replace the sureties?

Yes. Section 395.130(3) permits substitution of another bond with the same or different sureties on an interested party's motion.

Statutes and sources

• KRS §§ 395.005 and 395.015(6) — eligible fiduciaries and nonresident service agent — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=55172 — accessed 2026-08-29.
• KRS §§ 395.105 and 395.130 — effective appointment, no-bond default, court discretion, will and experience factors, amount, surety substitution, executor noncompliance, and surety cost — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57675 — accessed 2026-08-29.
• KRS § 395.160 and § 62.060 — additional security, removal, accounts, turnover, and the express § 395.130 exception — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57787 — accessed 2026-08-29.