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Kentucky · Snapshot 09/05/2026

KRS 40.400: Definitions for KRS 40.410 to 40.560.

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Where this section sits in the code
  1. KRS Chapter 40

As used in KRS 40.410 to 40.560:

(1) "Department of Military Affairs" means the office of the adjutant general,

Commonwealth of Kentucky;

(2) "Administrator" means the individual designated by the adjutant general to carry

out the responsibilities of KRS 40.410 to 40.560;

(3) "Armed Forces" m eans the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force,

Space Force, and Coast Guard, including the reserve components thereof on active

duty, other than for training, and shall not include the merchant marine;

(4) "Qualified veteran" means any person whose period of active duty service meets the

criteria set forth in subsection (5) or (6) of this section;

(5) "Qualifying Vietnam service" means service by any person who:

(a) Served as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States in Vietnam or

its contiguous waters or airspace, as defined in United States Department of

Defense Directive 1348.15, October 1, 1965, for a period of at least thirty (30)

days, unless such period was lessened as a result of death or medical

evacuation, during the period Jul y 1, 1958, through May 15, 1975; or served

as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States in the Dominican

Republic, Congo, Thailand, Laos, or Cambodia, or participated in aerial

missions in the airspace over same, for a period of at least thirty (30 ) days,

unless such period was lessened as a result of death or medical evacuation,

during the period July 3, 1965, through May 15, 1975; or served as a member

of the Armed Forces of the United States and was awarded, or was eligible for

award of, the Viet nam Service Medal established by United States

Department of Defense Directive 1348.15, October 1, 1965;

(b) Was released, separated, or discharged from the Armed Forces under other

than dishonorable conditions or who is presently serving on active duty;

(c) Was a resident of the Commonwealth at the time of entry into active service

in the Armed Forces and for at least six (6) months prior thereto; and

(d) Has not received a similar bonus for such service from any other state;

(6) "Qualifying Vietnam era service" means service by any person who:

(a) Served in the Armed Forces of the United States on active duty, including

service in a reserve component there of other than for training, for at least

ninety (90) consecutive days, exclusive of time lost as AWOL or in penal

confinement, during the period August 5, 1964, to May 15, 1975, but whose

service was in a location not included in subsection (5)(a) of this section;

(b) Was released, separated, or discharged from the Armed Forces under other

than dishonorable conditions or is still serving on active duty;

(c) Was a resident of the Commonwealth at the time of his or her entry into active

service in the Armed Forces and for at least six (6) months prior thereto; and

(d) Has not received a similar bonus for such service from any other state;

(7) "Resident of the Commonwealth at the time of entry into the active service" means

any person who gave the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or any specific place in this

Commonwealth, as his or her place of residence at the time of entry. Conclusive

and exclusive evidence of the giving of place of residence shall be the official

records on file in the Department of Defense of the United States, or any official

record thereof in the files of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; but

if it be shown to the satisfaction of the administrator that for any reason no such

record was made, or that it has been lost, misplaced, de stroyed, or was in error, or

that an authenticated copy thereof cannot be obtained within a reasonable time,

other evidence of bona fide residence may be accepted if deemed sufficient by the

administrator;

(8) "Resident," in any context other than as in su bsections (5) and (6) of this section,

means a legal resident as determined by generally established principles of law, as

may be defined, and subject to proof, according to the regulations the administrator

promulgates;

(9) "Beneficiary" means the followi ng persons who were alive at the time of

application, in this order: widow, if none to the child or children equally, if none to

the mother and father equally, but if the father is dead, the mother, if living, shall

take the whole amount; but if the mother is dead, the father, if living, shall take the

whole amount;

(10) (a) "Widow" means a woman who was the wife of a qualified veteran at the time

of his death;

(b) The term "widow" also includes "widower" in the case of a man who was the

husband of a female qualified veteran at the time of her death;

(11) "Child" means a person:

(a) Who is under the age of eighteen (18) at the time application is made or who

was under the age of eighteen (18) at the time of the veteran's death;

(b) Who, before attaining the age of eighteen (18), became permanently incapable

of self-support; or

(c) Who, after attaining the age of eighteen (18) and until completion of

education or training, but not after attaining the age of twenty -three (23), is

pursuing a course of instructio n at a bona fide educational institution; and

who, in relationship to the veteran, is a legitimate child; a legally adopted

child; a stepchild who is a member of a qualified veteran's household or was a

member at the time of the veteran's death; or an ille gitimate child, but, as to

the alleged father, only if acknowledged in writing signed by him or if he had,

before his death, been judicially decreed to be the father of such child;

(12) "Mother" means a mother, a mother through adoption, or a woman who for a period

of not less than one (1) year stood in the relationship of a mother to a qualified

veteran before his or her entry into active service in the Armed Forces, or if two (2)

persons stood in such relationship for one (1) year or more, the person who last

stood in such relationship before the veteran's last entry into active service in the

Armed Forces;

(13) "Father" means a father, a father through adoption, or a man who for a period of not

less than one (1) year stood in the relationship of a father to a qualified veteran

before his or her entry into active service in the Armed Forces, or if two (2) persons

stood in such relationship for one (1) year or more, the person who last stood in

such relationship before the veteran's last entry into active se rvice in the Armed

Forces;

(14) "In the continental United States" means any place in the District of Columbia and

the states of the United States which are on the North American continent,

exclusive of Alaska;

(15) "Outside the continental United States" means any place elsewhere than as defined

in subsection (14) of this section;

(16) "Bonus" and "Vietnam veterans' bonus" mean the compensation authorized by KRS

40.410 to 40.560;

(17) "Bonus claim" means a claim or potential claim for a Vietnam veterans' bonus; and

(18) "Claimant" means one who seeks to obtain payment of a bonus claim.

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