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Kentucky · Snapshot 09/05/2026

KRS 394.225: Self-proved will.

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Where this section sits in the code
  1. KRS Chapter 394

(1) Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self -proved, by

acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made

before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this state and

evidenced by the officer's certificate, in substantially the following form:

I, __________________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this ____ day

of ____________, 19____, and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the

undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my last will and that I

sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free

and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen (18) years of

age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

__________________________________

(Testator)

We, ________________, _________________, the witnesses, sign our names to

this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority

that the testator signs and executes this instrument as his last will and that he signs it

willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for him), and that each of us, in the presence

and hearing of the testator and in the p resence of the other subscribing witness, hereby

signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge

the testator is eighteen (18) years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint

or undue influence.

__________________________________

(Witness)

__________________________________

(Witness)

THE STATE OF _______________

COUNTY OF _________________

Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by ______________, the

testator and subscribed and sworn to before me by ________________, and

________________, witnesses, this _____ day of ____________.

(Signed)_________________________________________

(Signed)_________________________________________

(OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)

(2) An attested will may, at any time subsequent to its execution, be made self -proved,

by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses,

each made before an officer authorized to administer o aths under the laws of this

state, and evidenced by the officer's certificate, attached or annexed to the will in

form and content substantially as follows:

THE STATE OF _______________

COUNTY OF _________________

Before me, the undersigned authority, o n this day personally appeared

______________________ and ____________________ known to me to be the testator

and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing

instrument and, all of these persons being by me first duly s worn. _________________,

the testator, declared to me and to the witnesses in my presence that the instrument is his

last will and that he had willingly signed or directed another to sign for him, and that he

executed it as his free and voluntary act for t he purposes therein expressed; and each of

the witnesses stated to me, in the presence and hearing of the testator, that he signed the

will as witness in the presence of the testator and of the other subscribing witness, and

that to the best of his knowled ge the testator was eighteen (18) years of age or over, of

sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence.

___________________________________

(Testator)

___________________________________

(Witness)

___________________________________

(Witness)

___________________________________

(Witness)

Subscribed, sworn and acknowledged before me by ____________________, the testator,

subscribed and sworn before me by ________________________ and

_________________, witnesses, this _____ day of _______________, A.D.,

________________

_________________________________

(OFFICIAL CAPACITY OF OFFICER)

(3) The execution of an acknowledgment of a will by a testator, and of the affidavits of

witnesses, made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of

this state and evidenced by the officer's certificate substantially in the form set out

in this section during the period between June 21, 1974, and the effective date of the

1982 amendments to this section shall be considered to be a valid execution and

attestation of a written will even though the will was not signed and attested

separately from the execution of the acknowledgment by the testator and the

affidavits of the witnesses.

(4) A self -proved will may be admitted to probate without the testimony of any

subscribing witness, but otherwise treated no differently from a will not self-proved.

Collected 2026-09-05T20:59:25Z. Source file · JSON

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