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Kentucky Family Court: Custody and Parenting-Time Guide

Plain-language Kentucky information for a custody or parenting-time route, including filing, official forms, free help, fee waivers, and legal-cost context.

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This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State law, court rules, forms, and local procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with the court handling the case.

State laws, court rules, and forms can change. Automated link checks will run every week once the monitoring job is deployed. Please check each cited source before relying on it. Report a broken link or changed law.

Find the right family court

The custody or parenting-time route described in this guide is handled through the Kentucky Family Court, a division of Circuit Court. Other family-law matters can follow a different court or procedure.

Find the court for your area.

  • Kentucky law makes Family Court the primary forum for child-custody and visitation cases, while preserving District Court's concurrent jurisdiction.Sources:23A.100 Jurisdiction of family court

  • The Kentucky Court of Justice says Family Court is a division of Circuit Court and describes it as handling child custody, support, and visitation matters.Sources:Family Court

How Kentucky courts decide custody

Kentucky law directs a court to determine custody in the child's best interests and to give equal consideration to each parent and any de facto custodian.Sources:403.270 Custodial issues -- Best interests of child to be determining factor

Key legal sources

Parenting time

Kentucky statutes use the terms shared parenting time and visitation. A parent not granted custody or shared parenting time is entitled to reasonable visitation unless the court makes the statutory serious-endangerment finding after a hearing.Sources:403.320 Visitation of minor child

  • On either party's request, KRS 403.320 says a visitation order must be specific about frequency, timing, duration, conditions, and scheduling method, and reflect the child's developmental age.Sources:403.320 Visitation of minor child

Key legal sources

How to file

This draft is limited to an initial Kentucky child-custody determination involving parents, when no prior custody determination or out-of-state proceeding is involved. It excludes divorce, modification, enforcement, emergency, interstate, nonparent, dependency, neglect, abuse, adoption, and guardianship routes.Sources:403.822 Initial child custody jurisdiction

  1. Check initial-custody jurisdiction first

    KRS 403.822 identifies when a Kentucky court can make an initial child-custody determination. Its home-state and other jurisdiction criteria are case-specific, so this draft does not apply them to a reader's facts.Sources:403.822 Initial child custody jurisdiction

  2. Confirm the current county court contact and local process

    The Kentucky Court of Justice says Offices of Circuit Court Clerk are in every county and provides county contact information through its Legal Self-Help page. Court staff cannot give legal advice.Sources:Legal Self-Help

  3. Do not treat the statewide forms portal as a complete initial-custody packet

    The current Court of Justice forms portal lists individual forms, including the AOC-FC-3 Family Court Data Information Sheet, but the researcher did not locate current official statewide instructions identifying every required and conditional document for this limited initial-custody route.Sources:Legal Forms

  4. Obtain route-specific official instructions before relying on a filing sequence

    Because the statewide sources reviewed do not establish a complete packet for this limited route, this draft does not state a filing venue, service method, deadline, proposed-order practice, or final-order procedure.Sources:Legal Forms, Legal Self-Help

Official forms

Open the official forms portal.

  • Kentucky's official legal-forms portal says its forms are provided as a convenience and can be searched by keyword, topic, or known form number. Confirm the current form and the applicable court's requirements.Sources:Legal Forms

  • The portal currently lists AOC-FC-3, Circuit, District, Family Court Data Information Sheet, revised July 2025, under Family and Children General. It does not by itself establish a complete initial-custody packet.Sources:Legal Forms

Free court self-help

Find court self-help near you.

  • Kentucky Legal Aid

    Area served: Kentucky Legal Aid describes itself as serving South-Western Kentucky.

    The provider says it handles select family-law cases among other civil legal matters.Sources:Kentucky Legal Aid - Free Legal Assistance

    Eligibility: Kentucky Legal Aid's page does not promise acceptance of a particular case; check its current intake and eligibility requirements.

  • Legal Aid Society

    Area served: Legal Aid Society lists Breckinridge, Bullitt, Grayson, Hardin, Henry, Jefferson, Larue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble, and Washington counties.

    The provider says it offers free civil legal help on family matters as well as income, housing, safety, and health matters.Sources:legal aid society

    Eligibility: The provider says its services are accessible to individuals and families with incomes at or below 125% to 200% of federal poverty guidelines; current intake and capacity still determine whether help is available.

Fee waivers

KRS 453.190 allows an eligible poor person residing in Kentucky to file or defend an action or appeal without paying costs. The court decides the request; the law requires an application by motion supported by an affidavit.Sources:453.190 Poor person defined -- When allowed to sue without paying costs, Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees and to Proceed In Forma Pauperis

Who may qualify

What to do

  1. Use the current civil fee-waiver motion and financial statement

    AOC-026 is titled Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees and to Proceed In Forma Pauperis; Affidavit; Financial Statement; and Order. Its motion asks the court to waive costs and fees based on inability to pay.Sources:Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees and to Proceed In Forma Pauperis

Official fee-waiver forms

Key statute or rule

Attorney cost benchmark

Lawyer fees vary by county, experience, services, and the facts of a case. This state benchmark is context for planning, not a quote.

State and local details to confirm

  • The statewide forms portal displays individual family and custody-related forms, including AOC-FC-3 and foreign-custody-order registration forms, but the official sources reviewed do not identify a complete statewide packet for this draft's initial parent custody route. Local requirements must be confirmed before any filing sequence is used.Sources:Legal Forms, Legal Self-Help

Part of Family Law in Your State.