After a loss in Kentucky.The first thirty days.

Week 1 — the immediate notifications

Order death certificates (10–15 copies).

You will need certified copies of the death certificate for banks, insurers, the Social Security Administration, the county clerk, the probate court if a probate is opened, the employer, and several others. Order more than you think you need — every institution requires its own original certified copy. The funeral director typically arranges the initial order; additional copies are available from the Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics.

Notify the Social Security Administration.

The funeral director typically notifies SSA as part of the death-certificate filing. If for any reason that did not happen, you can call SSA at 1-800-772-1213. SSA will stop future benefit payments and may issue a small one-time death payment to a surviving spouse or dependent.

Do not deposit any benefit checks that arrive after the death. SSA recovers the funds aggressively, and keeping them creates a debt to the federal government that the estate must repay.

Locate the will.

Common locations: a fireproof safe at home, a safe-deposit box at the bank, or the office of the attorney who drafted it. If your parent had a relationship with an attorney, that attorney is usually the right first call. The statutory mechanism for depositing a will with a Kentucky court for safekeeping pre-death (formerly KRS 394.110) was repealed; today, secure private storage and notification of the named executor are the practical alternatives.

Weeks 2–3 — the financial picture

Notify banks, insurers, and credit-card companies.

Each institution has its own process. Banks will freeze individual accounts pending probate authority; joint accounts with right of survivorship transfer to the surviving co-owner outside probate. Life insurance pays the named beneficiary directly on submission of a death certificate plus claim form. Credit-card balances become debts of the estate.

Do not pay debts out of your own pocket. Estate debts get paid out of estate assets in a priority order set by Kentucky law. Paying out of pocket complicates reimbursement and may cause you to pay debts that the estate is not actually liable for.

Inventory the estate (informally for now).

Make a list of: real property (the home, any rental or vacation property), bank and brokerage accounts, retirement accounts (401(k), IRA, 403(b)), life insurance policies, vehicles, valuable personal property, and any debts. The list does not have to be perfect — it is a starting picture for deciding whether probate is needed and which path of probate is appropriate.

Weeks 3–4 — the probate decision

Does this estate need probate?

In Kentucky, probate is the court process that gives an executor (named in the will) or an administrator (appointed by the court when no will exists) the legal authority to collect estate assets, pay estate debts, and distribute what remains to the heirs.

Some assets pass outside probate and do not require court authority — joint accounts with right of survivorship, retirement accounts and life insurance with named beneficiaries, transfer-on-death deeds, and (in some cases) very small estates that qualify for simplified dispensation. If essentially all of the estate is composed of those non-probate assets, formal probate may not be needed.

For everything else — real property held only in the decedent's name, bank accounts in the decedent's name only, business interests, debts owed to the decedent — the Kentucky probate framework (KRS Chapter 395, Personal Representatives) governs. The probate is opened in the district court of the county where the decedent was domiciled at death (KRS 394.140 sets the venue for probating a will).

If there is no will.

When a Kentucky resident dies without a will, the distribution of the estate is governed by Kentucky's statutes of descent and distribution — KRS 391.010 for real estate and KRS 391.030 for personal property. The court appoints an administrator (often a surviving spouse or adult child), who takes the same role an executor would have taken under a will.

When to call a Kentucky attorney

A Kentucky attorney is appropriate when: the estate includes real property, the estate includes a small business, there is contested-matter potential among heirs, there are out-of-state assets to coordinate, the decedent had no will and the descent rules need walking through, or you want someone to handle the probate filings and the executor's duties so you can grieve without administrative burden.