Menifee County Probate Court
Kentucky probate matters generally run through District Court. KRS 24A.120 gives District Court probate jurisdiction, including probate of wills, appointment and removal of personal representatives, and settlement of accounts, subject to statutory limits. For Menifee County, probate records route to the Menifee Circuit Court Clerk and District Court office at the courthouse in Frenchburg.
Menifee County is in the 21st Judicial District with Bath, Montgomery, and Rowan counties. The District Court judges listed for Menifee are Division 1 Judge William W. Roberts and Division 2 Judge Don Blair. The Circuit Court Clerk is Kelly Botts, phone 606-768-2461. District Court schedules on the Menifee KCOJ page include civil motions and other Tuesday settings, but probate-specific local checklists or probate motion schedules were not found in the official research.
Menifee District Court Probate Jurisdiction
Clerk: Kelly Botts, Circuit Court Clerk
12 Main St.
Frenchburg, KY 40322
606-768-2461
21st Judicial District
Menifee County Probate Records
Probate records can include the will, petition to probate a will, petition for appointment of an executor or administrator, order admitting a will, order appointing a personal representative, letters testamentary, letters of administration, bonds, inventories, settlements, creditor notices, guardianship or conservatorship filings, orders approving distributions, and final settlements. A short estate may have only a few entries. A contested estate may have motions, hearings, orders, and accountings.
| Record Type | What It May Show |
|---|---|
| Will | Document naming beneficiaries, property directions, and executor choice. |
| Petition | Request to open an estate or admit a will to probate. |
| Letters | Authority for an executor or administrator to act for the estate. |
| Inventory | Estate property reported to the court where required. |
| Settlement | Accounting or final distribution information. |
| Guardianship filing | Appointment or oversight records that may include restricted personal details. |
The KRS Chapter 394 wills source is assigned to Menifee probate research for the Kentucky will-law framework.
Those statutes frame the will side of probate, while the Menifee District Court file shows the local estate action.
Menifee Probate Terms Defined
Probate files use terms that can sound technical. The short definitions below help separate the person who died, the person appointed to act, and the type of case or estate issue being searched.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Executor
- A person named in a will to carry out the will after court appointment.
- Administrator
- A person appointed when there is no valid executor available.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will.
- Guardianship
- A court process for care or decision-making authority involving a protected person.
- Conservatorship
- A court process involving management of property or financial affairs for a protected person.
Search Menifee Probate Records
Public probate case information may appear through KYeCourts guest public records when the case is public and indexed. Hearing information may be checked through the KCOJ docket search by using Menifee as the county and District as the division. For copies, certified documents, older files, or stored records, contact the Circuit Court Clerk.
- Decide whether the search is for an estate case, a recorded will, or another legal instrument.
- For an estate case, search public KYeCourts if available and check District Court docket dates when a hearing is expected.
- Call the Menifee Circuit Court Clerk with the decedent name, date of death, case number if known, and requested document type.
- Ask whether the file is in the clerk's office, stored offsite, restricted, or unavailable under retention rules.
- For a recorded will or legal instrument, check the Menifee County Clerk's in-office indexes or eCCLIX access.
- Confirm current copy, certification, and filing fees before ordering or filing.
| Field or Item | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Decedent name | Text | Full legal name and aliases help locate the estate. |
| Date of death | Date | Exact or approximate date narrows the search. |
| Case number | Text | Optional but important for clerk and storage requests. |
| Record type | Text | Will, estate file, letters, inventory, settlement, order, or bond. |
| Copy type | Selection | Plain, certified, or other copy type if available. |
| Requester contact | Text | Phone, email, or mailing address for response. |
Recorded Wills and Probate Records
Some probate-related documents also appear in Menifee County Clerk legal records. The county clerk records page lists wills among online real-estate and legal records, and the recording-fees page lists a will recording fee. This does not make the County Clerk the probate court. It means a recorded will or legal instrument may be searchable through County Clerk indexes while the estate case itself remains a District Court matter.
Public records and indexes are available to view free in the Menifee County Clerk office. Online eCCLIX access uses an account and password assigned by SMI, with access fees charged. The county clerk is also the channel for its own open-records request form and policy, which allows hand delivery, mail, fax, or email requests and gives a five-working-day determination window for noncommercial requests.
The KRS Chapter 395 fiduciaries statutes source supports the personal-representative and fiduciary side of Menifee probate records.
That law source pairs with the court file when the search concerns executor, administrator, or settlement authority.
Menifee Probate Fees
Menifee-specific probate filing fees were not found in the official sources reviewed. The safest approach is to verify current court probate filing and certified-copy fees with the Circuit Court Clerk, especially because the KYeCourts guest page posts a civil filing fee change effective July 1, 2026. County Clerk legal-record fees are better documented for recorded instruments and copies.
| Item | Fee or Status |
|---|---|
| County Clerk recorded will | $47 minimum recording fee |
| County Clerk certified copies | $5 per page |
| County Clerk mailed copies | $0.50 per page |
| Court probate filing fee | Not located in Menifee-specific sources; confirm with Circuit Court Clerk |
| Court probate certified copies | Not clearly published on Menifee page; confirm with Circuit Court Clerk |
Restricted Menifee Probate Records
Not every probate-adjacent record is open to the general public. Guardianship, conservatorship, minor, mental-health, sealed, and privacy-sensitive filings may be restricted or redacted. Kentucky open-records exemptions, court-record control statutes, and specific confidentiality rules can limit access to medical details, minor names, protected-party information, financial identifiers, and sealed documents.
Access caution: If a public search does not show a Menifee probate record, the file may be restricted, stored, not indexed online, or outside court retention.
For court files, the Circuit Court Clerk can explain whether a public file is at the office or at a record facility. For files at storage, KCOJ says the clerk must provide case and file locator numbers before the State Records Center can process a request. The State Records Center cannot search by name or Social Security number.
Federal vs Menifee Probate Records
Federal records are separate from Menifee probate records. A bankruptcy, federal civil case, or federal estate-related dispute does not become a Menifee District Court probate file merely because a Menifee resident or asset is involved. Federal court access uses PACER, PACER Case Locator, the Eastern District of Kentucky, or the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
The bankruptcy court locations source is included for federal-record separation.
Use bankruptcy court only for federal bankruptcy records, while Menifee estate administration remains with District Court probate jurisdiction.
The PACER access source is also assigned to probate research for federal case lookup context.
PACER is not a substitute for the Menifee Circuit Court Clerk when the needed record is a local estate file.