Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements in Kentucky

At a glance

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.