Kentucky Estate Accounting: An Executor's Guide

The two documents: the AOC-841 inventory and the AOC-846 settlement

Kentucky asks for two documents. First the inventory: form AOC-841, Inventory and Appraisement of Estate (Rev. 7-26). Five numbered sections, in order: Real Property, Motor Vehicles, Personal Property, Cash and Cash Equivalents, Other. Each line carries a date-of-death value, and the form ends in one grand total, Total Estimated Value. No subtotals, no encumbrance column, no oath or notary.

Then the settlement, which is Kentucky's word for the accounting. The formal one is form AOC-846, Settlement of Estate (Rev. 8-26). Check one box, Final, Periodic, or Proposed, and give the period. Assets and Investments carries a beginning and a current value per item; Receipts and Disbursements covers everything since the last inventory or settlement; the bottom line reads BALANCE (ASSETS + RECEIPTS - DISBURSEMENTS). A final settlement adds a page listing unpaid creditors with allowed claims and creditors with disallowed claims (KRS 395.610(5)(b)), the fees paid to you and your attorney, and a death-tax checkbox.

Both carry the same clerk instruction at the top: file under seal. The inventory is confidential and the clerk sends a copy to the Department of Revenue (KRS 395.250(1)(b)); settlements come under the same provisions (KRS 395.250(6)).

Kentucky's deadlines, with the statute behind each

Ninety days from qualifying: the AOC-841 inventory is generally due (KRS 395.250(1)(a), amended effective July 15, 2026). A guide saying 60 days quotes the old statute. Filing late starts the KRS 395.255 track, ending at $100 for each day of unexcused failure (KRS 395.990).

Six months from appointment: claims arising before death are generally barred unless presented within 6 months after appointment, or 2 years after death if no one is appointed (KRS 396.011). Six months is also the earliest an informal final settlement may be filed (KRS 395.605(3)).

Two years from appointment: if administration is still open, the fiduciary generally must file a periodic settlement covering all receipts and disbursements since the last inventory or settlement, and annually after that until everything is distributed (KRS 395.610(1)-(3)).

Kentucky inheritance tax, if owed, is generally payable within 18 months of death for deaths before July 1, 2026, and within 24 months for deaths on or after, with a 5% discount for paying within 9 or 14 months respectively (KRS 140.210). Both settlement routes gate on a tax-paid-or-exempt checkbox, so unresolved tax holds the estate open. Confirm with your attorney what applies.

Two ways to close: the waiver route and the formal settlement

Ask about the Kentucky informal settlement first. Under KRS 395.605, if every beneficiary is under no legal disability and signs a notarized affidavit of waiver (form AOC-851, one each) — except a nonresiduary legatee who has already received and receipted for the legacy, where a canceled check or signed receipt attached to the settlement is enough (KRS 395.605(2)(c); AOC-850 item 2) — you file an Application for Informal Final Settlement (form AOC-850) under penalty of perjury, any time after 6 months from your appointment. The court shall not require notice to any person or a hearing. A beneficiary under a disability does not automatically end the route — the court can still allow the informal filing if it finds that filing serves that person's best interests (KRS 395.605(6)).

That application contains no accounting at all. It states that six months have passed, that the estate is solvent, that claims and debts are paid or provided for, that death taxes are handled, that court costs are paid, and what the attorney charged. Any beneficiary may still request an accounting before signing (KRS 395.605(2)(b)). A sole beneficiary who has received their share applies alone, no waivers (KRS 395.605(1)).

If someone will not sign, or the court requires it, you file the formal AOC-846 settlement with its hearing and disposing orders (AOC-846.1, AOC-846.2). The District Judge reviews it, the clerk publishes notice at least 10 days before the hearing, and exceptions come before it (KRS 395.620 through 395.625). Keep the closing order: informally the court may enter an order discharging you and any surety on approval (KRS 395.605(5)) — that order is AOC-850.1; formally it is the Settlement Order (AOC-846.2), which closes the estate and relieves you and any surety.

What Kentucky pays an executor

KRS 395.150 sets the ceiling: compensation shall not exceed five percent (5%) of the value of the personal estate of the decedent, plus five percent (5%) of the income collected. It is a statutory maximum the district court approves, commonly allowed in full for a complete administration but never automatic, and real estate passing directly to heirs sits outside the base. More than the cap takes proof submitted for unusual or extraordinary services, or for real-estate or tax work (KRS 395.150(2)). A final settlement discloses the fees paid to the fiduciary and the attorney (KRS 395.610(5)(c)): amounts, not a narrative.

What only you can supply

Software can shape the page and carry the numbers. It cannot know the caption (Case No., Court, County, Division; Kentucky probate sits in District Court in the county where you qualified), each vehicle's VIN, each account's type, or an address the description does not carry. Brokerage and business interests print under Other; whether securities belong there or under Cash and Cash Equivalents is a call the form leaves open.

Nor can it decide what to leave off. Property passing outside probate, survivorship joint property, payable- and transfer-on-death accounts, insurance or retirement money with living named beneficiaries, is generally excluded, consistent with KRS 391.360 and 395.015(3)(b) though the inventory statute lists no exclusions. Ask your attorney when an item is close. Property found later goes on an amended inventory (KRS 395.250(4)).

Where ExecutorLedger fits

Recording is free for as long as the estate takes: every receipt and disbursement with date and payee, distributions per beneficiary, and a balance that checks itself as you go. ExecutorLedger builds Kentucky court-style documents from those records, an inventory shaped like AOC-841 and a settlement shaped like AOC-846, ready to transcribe onto the official forms. They are not court forms, and the estate's attorney should read them first. Every document previews free with your real numbers, and $149 once per estate lifts the watermark.

Questions Kentucky executors ask