Kentucky: Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered interests

Kentucky divides disclaimer law between two older uniform statutes. KRS
§§ 394.610 through 394.680 cover transfers by will, intestacy, or a power of
appointment exercised by a testamentary instrument. The listed beneficiaries
include heirs, next of kin, devisees, legatees, joint tenants, successive
takers, testamentary beneficiaries, and appointees.

KRS § 394.610 supplies the operative probate-route form rule. KRS § 394.035
is the nontestamentary route. It covers grantees, donees,
surviving joint tenants, successive takers, beneficiaries under a
nontestamentary instrument or contract, and appointees under a power exercised
by a nontestamentary instrument. That route is the relevant one for covered
trust, beneficiary-designation, contract, and survivorship interests that do
not pass through a will or intestacy.

Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer

Both routes allow a beneficiary to disclaim the whole interest or only part.
The probate statute expressly includes future interests. Section 394.035 gives
surviving joint tenants additional options: the survivor may separately
disclaim the interest devolving by survivorship and, in the statute's stated
circumstances, may disclaim the entire joint interest.

Neither route expressly authorizes a conditional disclaimer or supplies a
menu of fractional, percentage, formula, dollar, or term forms. A partial
disclaimer must still identify its extent in the document.

Writing or record and required contents

The two routes use the same core contents. The disclaimer must describe the
property or interest, declare the disclaimer and its extent, and be signed.
Neither statute adds an original-document requirement or a state tax
representation.

Kentucky changed the medium rule effective July 15, 2026. KRS § 394.720
expressly includes disclaimers under both routes within the Uniform Electronic
Estate Planning Documents Act. KRS § 394.730 says an electronic record can
satisfy a writing requirement and an electronic signature can satisfy a
signature requirement. KRS § 394.724 supplies the exception when the document
itself precludes electronic form.

Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary

The beneficiary must sign. The current disclaimer statutes state no witness,
acknowledgment, oath, notarization, or attestation requirement for an adult
acting personally. The 2026 act permits the required signature to be
electronic; its electronic-notary and electronic-witness provisions matter
only when another law independently requires those formalities.

State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay

Kentucky uses different nine-month triggers:

• A present will, intestacy, or testamentary-appointment interest must be
  filed within nine months after the decedent or power donee dies.
• A future interest under that route must be filed within nine months after
  the taker is finally ascertained and the interest indefeasibly vests.
• A present nontestamentary interest uses nine months after the instrument or
  contract becomes effective. A revocable arrangement becomes effective when
  the maker can no longer revoke it or transfer the entire legal and equitable
  ownership.
• A future nontestamentary interest uses the final-ascertainment and
  indefeasible-vesting event. A beneficiary without actual knowledge of the
  interest has nine months after obtaining actual knowledge.

The statutes do not use a separate express “irrevocable” trigger. KRS
§ 394.640 makes a completed disclaimer binding on the disclaimant and everyone
claiming through the disclaimant.

Federal tax qualification remains a separate layer. Section 2518(b) uses a
written refusal received within nine months after the later of the transfer or
age 21, no acceptance, and passage without the disclaimant's direction.

Delivery, filing, and recipient

For a will, intestacy, or testamentary-appointment interest, KRS § 394.620
requires filing in the District Court of the county where estate administration
began or could begin. A copy must also be delivered personally or sent by
registered or certified mail to a personal representative or other fiduciary
of the decedent or power donee.

For a nontestamentary interest, KRS § 394.035 requires personal delivery or
registered or certified mailing to the transferor or the transferor's
representative, or to the trustee or another person holding legal title to or
possession of the property. The section states no postmark safe harbor.

KRS § 394.738 now allows an accurate, accessible electronic record to satisfy
a filing, transmission, or copying requirement. A court or other governmental
agency may still specify additional record requirements within its
jurisdiction, so electronic-form validity does not by itself establish that a
particular court or clerk will accept a particular submission method.

Real-property recording and notice

Under each route, a copy of a real-property disclaimer may be recorded in
the county clerk's office where the land lies. The word is permissive, not
mandatory.

The surveyed provisions state no legal-description condition, constructive-
notice effect, purchaser or lienholder protection, or consequence for failing
to record.

Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars

The right is barred before the disclaimer is effected by an assignment,
conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, transfer or contract to transfer, written
waiver, acceptance of the property or a benefit, or judicial sale. A
spendthrift clause or similar restriction does not eliminate the right to
disclaim.

The surveyed statutes state no separate insolvency or general creditor-claim
bar and do not promise that a disclaimer defeats creditor, tax-lien,
bankruptcy, or public-benefit consequences.

Effective date and destination

The governing instrument's express alternate disposition controls. Otherwise,
a will or intestacy interest passes as if the disclaimant predeceased the
decedent. An interest appointed under a testamentary power passes as if the
disclaimant predeceased the power donee. KRS § 394.630 makes the disclaimer
relate back to the relevant death.

For a nontestamentary instrument or contract, the property passes as if the
disclaimant died before the instrument became effective, and the disclaimer
relates back to that effective date. The disclaimant does not use either route
to select a new recipient.

What trips people up

Probate and nonprobate interests use different routes. A trust,
beneficiary designation, or other nontestamentary interest does not use KRS
§ 394.620's probate-court route merely because the transfer follows a death.

Nine months does not always run from death. Future interests, revocable
arrangements, and an unknown nontestamentary interest use different statutory
triggers.

Electronic form is now expressly recognized. KRS § 394.750 says the act
applies to
electronic estate-planning documents created, signed, generated, sent,
received, or stored before, on, or after July 15, 2026. Filing systems may
still impose their own submission requirements.

Common questions

Does Kentucky require a notary or witnesses?

Not under the current disclaimer statutes for an adult acting personally. The
document must be signed, and the signature may now be electronic.

Must a real-property disclaimer be recorded?

The surveyed statutes say a copy may be recorded with the county clerk
where the real estate lies. They do not make recording a stated validity
condition.

Does Kentucky always use the federal age-21 timing rule?

No. Kentucky's state-law statutes set their own nine-month triggers. The later
of transfer or age 21 is part of the separate federal qualified-disclaimer
definition.

Statutes and sources

• KRS § 394.035 — nontestamentary coverage, contents, timing, delivery,
  recording, effect, and bars. Official current
  text,
  accessed 2026-08-01.
• KRS §§ 394.610-394.680 — will, intestacy, and testamentary-appointment
  coverage, filing, effect, bars, and short title. Official current § 394.610
  text,
  accessed 2026-08-01.
• KRS §§ 394.720-394.750 — electronic estate-planning documents and
  signatures, including disclaimers. Official current § 394.720
  text,
  accessed 2026-08-01.
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer conditions.
  Official current
  text,
  accessed 2026-08-01.