chapter-397•Kentucky Revised Statutes, Chapter 397 — Uniform Simultaneous Death Act
chapter-397KRS ch. 397Code15 de jul. de 1998
Title XXXIV — Descent, Wills, and Administration of Decedents' Estates
Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session.
The KRS database was last updated on 2026-09-01.
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As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) "Co-owners with right of survivorship" means and includes joint tenants, tenants by the entireties, and other co-owners of property or accounts held under circumstances that entitle one (1) or more to the whole of the property or account on the death of the other or others;
(2) "Governing instrument" means a deed, will, trust, insurance or annuity policy, account with payment on death (POD) designation, pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney, or a donative, appointive, or nominative instrument of any other type; and
(3) "Payor" means a trustee, insurer, business entity, employer, government, governmental agency, subdivision, or instrumentality, or any other person authorized or obligated by law or a governing instrument to make payments.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1998.
Except as provided in KRS 397.1006, if the title to property, the devolution of property, the right to elect an interest in property, or the right to exempt property, homestead, or family allowance depends upon an individual's survivorship of the death of another individual, an individual who is not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived the other individual by one hundred twenty (120) hours is deemed to have predeceased the other individual. This section shall not apply if its application would result in a taking of intestate estate by the state.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1998.
Except as provided in KRS 397.1006, for purposes of a donative provision of a governing instrument, an individual who is not established by clear and convincing evidence to have survived an event, including the death of another individual, by one hundred twenty (120) hours is deemed to have predeceased the event.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 3, effective July 15, 1998.
Except as provided in KRS 397.1006:
(1) If it is not established by clear and convincing evidence that one (1) of two (2) co- owners with right of survivorship survived the other co-owner by one hundred twenty (120) hours, one-half (1/2) of the property shall pass as if one (1) had survived by one hundred twenty (120) hours and one-half (1/2) as if the other had survived by one hundred twenty (120) hours.
(2) If there are more than two (2) co-owners and it is not established by clear and convincing evidence that at least one (1) of them survived the others by one hundred twenty (120) hours, the property shall pass in the proportion that each bears to the whole number of co-owners.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 4, effective July 15, 1998.
In addition to the rules of evidence in courts of general jurisdiction, for the purposes of KRS 397.1001 to 397.1007 only, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status shall apply:
(1) Death shall be deemed to occur when the requirements of KRS 446.400 have been met.
(2) A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by an official or agency of the place where the death purportedly occurred shall be prima facie evidence of the fact, place, date, and time of death and the identity of the decedent.
(3) A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that an individual is missing, detained, dead, or alive shall be prima facie evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.
(4) In the absence of prima facie evidence of death under subsection (2) or (3) of this section, the fact of death shall be established by clear and convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence.
(5) An individual whose death is not established under subsection (2), (3), or (4) of this section and who is absent for a continuous period of seven (7) years, during which the individual has not been heard from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, shall be presumed dead. His or her death shall be presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier.
(6) In the absence of evidence disputing the time of death stipulated on a document described in subsection (2) or (3) of this section, a document described in subsection (2) or (3) of this section that stipulates a time of death one hundred twenty (120) hours or more after the time of death of another individual, however the time of death of the other individual is determined, establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the individual survived the other individual by one hundred twenty (120) hours.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 5, effective July 15, 1998.
Survival by one hundred twenty (120) hours is not required if:
(1) The governing instrument contains language dealing explicitly with simultaneous deaths or deaths in a common disaster and that language is operable under the facts of the case;
(2) The governing instrument expressly indicates that an individual is not required to survive an event, including the death of another individual, by any specified period or expressly requires the individual to survive the event for a stated period, but survival of the event or the specified period shall be established by clear and convincing evidence;
(3) The imposition of a one hundred twenty (120) hour requirement of survival would cause a nonvested property interest or a power of appointment to be invalid under the rule against perpetuities, but survival shall be established by clear and convincing evidence; or
(4) The application of a one hundred twenty (120) hour requirement to multiple governing instruments would result in an unintentional failure or duplication of a disposition, but survival shall be established by clear and convincing evidence.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 6, effective July 15, 1998.
(1) (a) A payor or other third party shall not be liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument who, under this chapter, is not entitled to the payment or item of property, or for having taken any other action in good faith reliance on the beneficiary's apparent entitlement under the terms of the governing instrument, before the payor or other third party received written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this chapter. A payor or other third party shall be liable for a payment made or other action taken after the payor or other third party received written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this chapter.
(b) Written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be mailed to the payor's or other third party's main office or home by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or served upon the payor or other third party in the same manner as a summons in a civil action. Upon receipt of written notice of a claimed lack of entitlement under this chapter, a payor or other third party shall pay any amount owed, or transfer or deposit any item of property held by it, to or with the court having jurisdiction of the probate proceedings related to the decedent's estate, or if no proceedings have been commenced, to or with the court having jurisdiction of probate proceedings relating to the decedent's estate located in the county of the decedent's residence. The court shall hold the funds or item of property and, upon its determination under this chapter, shall order disbursement in accordance with the determination. Payments, transfers, or deposits made to or with the court shall discharge the payor or other third party from all claims for the value of amounts paid to or items of property transferred to or deposited with the court.
(2) A person who purchases property for value and without notice, or who receives a payment or other item of property in partial or full satisfaction of a legally enforceable obligation, shall not be obligated under this chapter to return the payment, item of property, or benefit and shall not be liable under this chapter for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit. But a person who, not for value, receives a payment, item of property, or any other benefit to which the person is not entitled under this chapter shall be obligated to return the payment, item of property, or benefit or shall be personally liable for the amount of the payment of the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who is entitled to it under this chapter.
(3) If this chapter, or any part of this chapter, is preempted by federal law with respect to a payment, an item of property, or any other benefit covered by this chapter, a person who, not for value, receives the payment, item of property, or any other benefit to which the person is not entitled under this chapter shall be obligated to return the payment, item of property, or benefit or shall be personally liable for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who would have been entitled to it were this chapter, or part of this chapter, not preempted.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 7, effective July 15, 1998.
This chapter shall be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this chapter among states enacting it.
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 8, effective July 15, 1998.
This chapter may be cited as the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act (1991).
Effective: July 15, 1998
History: Created 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 415, sec. 9, effective July 15, 1998.
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