How to Complete and File Kentucky Form AOC-830: Small Estate Affidavit

Kentucky Form AOC-830, the Petition to Dispense with Administration, lets a surviving spouse, a surviving child, or someone who paid funeral or other preferred claims ask a district court to skip formal probate and transfer a decedent’s personal property directly. It works when the decedent’s probatable personal property, after subtracting preferred claims already paid, totals $30,000 or less, or when those claims consume the entire estate. The current version (Rev. 1-26) is a free PDF on the Kentucky Court of Justice website.

Who Can File

KRS 395.455 authorizes the court to dispense with administration when the surviving spouse’s statutory exemption, alone or combined with preferred claims already paid, equals or exceeds the probatable assets.¹ The $30,000 figure comes from KRS 391.030, which sets the exemption for the surviving spouse (or, if there is none, the surviving children) at that amount in personal property or money on hand.²

Item 6 of the form lists three categories of petitioner. The surviving spouse can file whenever probatable assets minus preferred claims fall at or below $30,000. A surviving child can file if there is no surviving spouse, but every other surviving child must sign a waiver on Form AOC-831 and file it alongside the petition. Someone who paid funeral costs or other preferred claims in an amount equal to or greater than the probatable assets can file if there is no surviving spouse, or if the spouse waives the exemption on an AOC-831.³

Item 8 sets out the two tests for qualifying. One: total listed assets minus preferred claims come to $30,000 or less. Two: total assets are less than or equal to the preferred claims, meaning the estate would be entirely consumed paying them. Either test is enough.³ The procedure is available whether or not the decedent left a will.¹

What Counts Toward the $30,000 Cap

Only personal property that would otherwise pass through probate counts. Real estate is not part of the calculation; the exemption under KRS 391.030 covers “personal property or money on hand or in a bank or other depository.”² Typical items are bank accounts titled solely in the decedent’s name, vehicles titled only to the decedent, household goods, and cash.

Several asset types bypass probate and should not appear on your inventory:

Bank or brokerage accounts held in joint tenancy with survivorship, or with a payable-on-death beneficiary.
Life insurance paid to a named beneficiary (unless the estate itself is the beneficiary).
Retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs with a designated beneficiary.
Property already held in a trust, which follows the trust’s terms.

Listing these inflates the estate unnecessarily and can push you over the threshold when you actually qualify. A car title showing two names connected by “or,” or a bank account with a POD designation, already has a direct transfer route and does not belong on the AOC-830.

Completing the Form

Download the current AOC-830 from kycourts.gov. The form has eight numbered items and an order block at the bottom for the judge.

Decedent Information (Items 1–2)

Enter the decedent’s full legal name, Social Security number, and date of death. The form’s header note requires you to redact personal data (Social Security numbers, birth dates, and financial account numbers) from the publicly filed copy under Kentucky Civil Rule 7.03.³ In practice that means filing a redacted public copy and an unredacted copy in a sealed envelope. Redaction instructions are posted on the Court of Justice website.

Item 2 asks for the county where the decedent lived at the time of death. That county’s district court is the one with jurisdiction, and the one you must file in.⁴

Heirs and Next of Kin (Item 3)

List all heirs and next of kin with their addresses. An executor named in the decedent’s will only has to list the surviving spouse, if one exists. Attach extra pages if you run out of space.

Will Status (Item 4)

Indicate whether the decedent left a will. Both testate and intestate estates can use this procedure.¹

Asset Inventory (Item 5)

List every probatable asset with its fair market value as of the date of death. For vehicles, give the year, make, model, and VIN. For bank accounts, identify the institution, and redact the account number on the public copy per CR 7.03.³ Use additional pages if needed.

Be specific and honest with values. A used vehicle’s fair market value should come from a source like Kelley Blue Book or NADA Guides, not a guess. Bank balances should reflect the account on the date of death. A judge who suspects numbers shaped to fit under $30,000 will deny the petition.

Petitioner Status (Item 6)

Check the box for your relationship to the decedent. A surviving child filing has to attach signed AOC-831 waivers from every other surviving child. A preferred-claim payer filing when a surviving spouse exists has to attach that spouse’s AOC-831 waiver as well.

Preferred Claims (Item 7)

List any debts you have already paid on behalf of the estate: funeral costs, last-illness medical bills, and other priority obligations recognized under KRS 396.095. Attach a receipt for every claim. These paid claims reduce the net estate value for the $30,000 test, and if you are filing as a preferred-claim payer, they establish your standing to petition.

Threshold Statement (Item 8)

Check whichever statement applies: assets minus preferred claims total $30,000 or less, or assets are entirely consumed by preferred claims. The math follows from Items 5 and 7.

Sign and date the petition. You are verifying under penalty of law that the contents are true and correct. An attorney, if you have one, signs a Civil Rule 11 certification as well.

Filing with the District Court

Take the completed AOC-830 to the District Court Clerk in the county where the decedent lived. Bring a certified copy of the death certificate, any AOC-831 waivers you need, and receipts for the preferred claims listed in Item 7.

The clerk charges a filing fee. The exact amount is not stated in the available sources and can vary slightly by county because of local court costs, so call the clerk’s office before you go. Pay the fee when you file.

After intake, you will typically appear briefly before a district judge during motion hour or a short hearing. The judge reviews the petition against the statutory requirements and, if everything is in order, signs the Order block at the bottom of the AOC-830. That signed order dispenses with administration and authorizes transfer of the listed assets.¹ No fiduciary bond is required; the statute waives it for this procedure.

Using the Signed Order to Transfer Assets

Before you leave the courthouse, ask the clerk for several certified copies of the signed order. Each institution holding the decedent’s property will want its own certified copy with the clerk’s raised seal, and a second trip wastes time. The signed order stands in for Letters of Administration here, so it is your only proof of authority.

Bank Accounts

Present a certified copy to each bank or credit union. The institution will close the account and issue a check or transfer the funds. If the decedent received Social Security by direct deposit, tell the bank promptly. The Social Security Administration does not pay benefits for the month of death, and any payment for that month or later must be returned.⁵

Vehicles

Take the certified order and the existing title to your County Clerk’s motor vehicle office. How you transfer depends on how the title was held. A title in the decedent’s name alone transfers with the court order and death certificate. A title with two names joined by “or” transfers to the surviving co-owner with just the death certificate; you may not need the order at all for that vehicle. A title with two names joined by “and” requires both the death certificate and probate documents, and the signed AOC-830 order satisfies that requirement.⁶

U.S. Savings Bonds

If the decedent held paper savings bonds, Treasury securities worth $100,000 or less as of the date of death may qualify for TreasuryDirect’s simplified process for non-administered or small estates settled under state law. For electronic bonds in a TreasuryDirect account, contact the agency directly for transfer instructions.⁷

Debts and the Final Tax Return

Dispensing with administration does not erase the decedent’s debts; it just means there is no formal estate to pay them through. Under federal law, debt collectors can discuss the decedent’s debts only with a spouse, a parent of a minor, a guardian, an executor, an administrator, or a confirmed successor in interest. They can contact other relatives once to get information for the right person, but no further.⁸ If you are not personally liable for a debt and a collector contacts you, a written request to stop (not a phone call) ends further contact except to confirm the stop or notify you of a specific legal action.

A final federal Form 1040 is still required for the decedent, covering income from January 1 through the date of death. A surviving spouse can file jointly for that year. Because no personal representative has been appointed under AOC-830, the person in charge of the decedent’s property signs the return as “personal representative.” If a refund is due and you are not court-appointed, attach Form 1310 to claim it.⁹

Mistakes That Delay the Process

Missing AOC-831 waivers. A surviving child filing without waivers from every other surviving child has an incomplete petition.
Including non-probate assets. Listing a jointly held account or a life insurance policy with a named beneficiary inflates the estate and can push you over the cap.
Failing to redact. CR 7.03 requires Social Security numbers, birth dates, and financial account numbers to be redacted from the public filing. Filing without redaction may require refiling.
Missing receipts. Preferred claims listed in Item 7 need attached receipts, or the judge has no basis to subtract them.
Filing in the wrong county. The petition goes to the district court where the decedent lived, not where you live or where the assets sit.

1
Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 395.455 – Transfer of Assets Without Administration
2
Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 391.030 – Descent of Personal Property — Exemption for Surviving Spouse and Children — Withdrawal of Money From Bank by Surviving Spouse
3
Kentucky Court of Justice. Kentucky Form AOC-830 – Petition to Dispense With Administration
4
Kentucky Justice Online. Kentucky Probate
5
USAGov. Report the Death of a Social Security or Medicare Beneficiary
6
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Vehicle Titling
7
TreasuryDirect. Death of a Savings Bond Owner
8
Federal Trade Commission. Debts and Deceased Relatives
9
Internal Revenue Service. Filing a Final Federal Tax Return for Someone Who Has Died