The Kentucky Divorce Kit
See a different stateKentucky
Kentucky gives you the forms for free. What it doesn’t give you is the order, the two different 60-day clocks, the fact that there’s no fill-in-the-blank petition once children are involved, or anyone to tell you which path you’re actually on. That’s this.
Put in the day you filed and this page works out every deadline in your case, then hands you a calendar file that reminds you a week before each one and again the day before. It opens in the calendar you already use. Free, no account, nothing stored.
1 · The two tracks, and what the rule requires
Kentucky calls it “dissolution of marriage,” not divorce, and its statewide self-represented forms cover only one shape of case cleanly. The biggest time-waster here is not a wrong form — it is assuming a form exists when it does not. Kentucky’s statewide petition, AOC-252/252A, is written and titled “without children under 18”, and there is no equivalent fill-in-the-blank statewide petition once minor children are involved.
Residency first. KRS 403.140 requires that one spouse have “resided in this state … for 180 days next preceding the filing of the petition.” There is no way around that one.
Without children under 18
KRS 403.140; KRS 403.170; AOC-252 / 252A
The track Kentucky’s statewide AOC forms are built for. Where the spouses have a written Separation Agreement and the other spouse signs the Waiver of Service and Entry of Appearance, formal service and an in-person final hearing can both be skipped, and the streamlined AOC-252.6 decree is used instead of the general AOC-245 findings.
This track applies where:
- The spouses have no children together, born or adopted during the marriage, who are under 18 or still in high school — regardless of who they live with.
The streamlined AOC-252.6 decree is available only where both of these are true:
- There is a written Separation Agreement (AOC-252.4) filed with the court.
- The other spouse signs the Waiver of Service and Entry of Appearance (AOC-251.1 / 252.1).
Without a filed Separation Agreement, the decree goes through the general AOC-245 findings instead. The 60-day living-apart clock under KRS 403.170 applies either way — see Section 5. Where maintenance is being asked for, it has to be spelled out in the Separation Agreement and answered on the deposition at item 21; Kentucky will not infer it later. The Waiver of Service has to be notarized, or sworn before the clerk, and filed.
With children under 18
KRS 403.044; AOC-245; CS-71
Everything after the petition — the disclosure statements, the child support worksheet, the waivers, the deposition and the decree — is still a real statewide AOC form. The petition itself is not. Family court Legal Self-Help resources, a Legal Aid packet, or an attorney are where that document comes from.
This track applies where:
- The spouses have children together, born or adopted during the marriage, who are under 18 or still in high school — regardless of who they live with.
A second clock applies on this track: under KRS 403.044 the Deposition of Petitioner cannot be signed until 60 days after service — see Section 5. There is also no standalone statewide with-children settlement form; many self-help centers adapt AOC-252.4, or an attorney drafts one. The Kentucky Child Support Obligation Worksheet (CS-71) comes from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services rather than the AOC.
One choice cuts across both tracks. Where combined income and combined assets are each under $100,000, the simplified disclosure statement (AOC-238.1 / 239.1) may be used in place of the full one (AOC-238 / 239). Both are published below.
2 · Every form Kentucky publishes for a dissolution of marriage
The complete list, not a shortlist — because which forms are needed depends on facts only you and, if you need one, your lawyer can weigh. Everything here is free from the Kentucky Court of Justice, except the child support worksheet, which comes from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Each row says which track it belongs to and carries the revision date clerks check. Where Kentucky has no statewide form, the row says so instead of pointing at a substitute.
The Cusp is not a law firm and cannot tell you which forms are right for your case. Everything here is general information about how Kentucky handles divorce, and every form below is published free by Kentucky itself — you do not have to buy anything from anyone to get them. If your situation is not straightforward, a consultation with a Kentucky family lawyer costs far less than fixing a filing that went wrong.
| Form | What it is | Route | Rev. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AOC-FC-3 | Circuit/District/Family Court Case Data Information Sheet — “Minor Children Involved” is checked where there are minor children | All | 07/25 | Download |
| — | Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (With Children Under 18) — no statewide AOC number exists; it comes from a family court self-help center, a Legal Aid packet, or an attorney | With children | — | see self-help center |
| AOC-252 | Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, without children under 18 (Redacted Copy — this is the one that gets filed) | Without children | 10/21 | Download |
| AOC-252A | Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, without children under 18 (Unredacted Copy — confidential) | Without children | 02/23 | Download |
| AOC-238 / 239 | Preliminary/Final Verified Disclosure Statement | All — where combined income or combined assets reach $100,000 | 01/15 | Download |
| AOC-238.1 / 239.1 | Simplified Preliminary/Final Verified Disclosure Statement (combined income & assets each under $100k) | All — where combined income and combined assets are each under $100,000 | 01/15 | Download |
| AOC-238.3 / 239.3 | Acknowledgment of Preliminary/Final Verified Disclosure Statement | All | 01/15 | Download |
| CS-71 | Kentucky Child Support Obligation Worksheet (Cabinet for Health and Family Services) | With children | — | Download |
| AOC-252.4 | Separation Agreement | Without children — where there is a written agreement | 10/21 | Download |
| — | Separation & Custody/Support Agreement — no standalone statewide with-children form; many self-help centers adapt AOC-252.4, or an attorney drafts one | With children — where there is a written agreement | — | see self-help center |
| AOC-251.1 / 252.1 | Waiver of Service and Entry of Appearance | All — where the other spouse signs it | 10/21 | Download |
| AOC-105 | Civil Summons — for formal service where the other spouse will not sign a waiver | All — where the other spouse is served | 01/07 | Download |
| AOC-251.2 / 252.2 | Waiver of Notice of Deposition and Final Hearing | All | 10/21 | Download |
| AOC-251.5 / 252.5 | Deposition of Petitioner — cannot be signed until 60 days after service (KRS 403.044) | All | 10/21 | Download |
| AOC-251.8 / 252.8 | Motion to Submit for Entry of Decree of Dissolution of Marriage | All | 10/21 | Download |
| AOC-252.6 | Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decree of Dissolution of Marriage (without children, with agreement) | Without children — where a Separation Agreement is filed | 12/23 | Download |
| AOC-245 | Dissolution of Marriage Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law — with children, “child support ordered” is checked | With children; and without children where no Separation Agreement is filed | 08/16 | Download |
| AOC-250 | Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage | All | 02/10 | Download |
| AOC-026 | Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees, if needed | All | 10/22 | Download |
Every AOC form here is free. Download fresh each time — clerks reject superseded revisions, and saved copies go stale.
3 · Getting the forms and filling them in
Nobody explains this part, so here it is. Every AOC form is free, most are fillable on screen, and Kentucky’s circuit clerks are used to self-represented (“pro se”) filers in family court.
You may e-file, but you do not have to Your choice
- Portal
- KYeCourts / File & Serve (eFiling)
- Paper
- Still accepted — you can file over the counter.
- What it costs
- card surcharge Tyler charges convenience fees calculated as a percentage of the total filing fees; the percentage is not published on the AOC page. Service-of-process printing is $0.10/page for certified mail/sheriff service.f service.f service.
- Account
- A KYeCourts account is needed to e-file, and 'Self-Represented Litigant' is a selectable account type. But see notes — the available case types for pro se filers are narrow.
- With a fee waiver
- Filing fees must be paid at the time of eFiling 'unless waived by court order or if filing an in forma pauperis affidavit.'
- Worth knowing
- Kentucky's real-world answer for a pro se divorce filer is the important one and it is easy to get wrong. The eFiling rules formally allow self-represented parties to register, but the Court of Justice's own eCourts Help site states: 'At this time, self-represented litigants are only able to electronically file small claims cases.' Divorce and domestic relations are not available to pro se e-filers; the alternative given is 'Conventional filing… at the local circuit clerk's office.' So: mandatory for attorneys in divorce cases, unavailable to self-represented parties in divorce cases, and paper at the circuit clerk is the pro se route.e's own eCourts Help site states: 'At this time, self-represented litigants are only able to electronically file small claims cases.' Divorce and domestic relations are not available to pro se e-filer
Step one — download them free
All Kentucky Court of Justice legal forms live here, at no cost:
kycourts.gov/Legal-Forms · child support worksheet from the Kentucky Child Support site (Cabinet for Health and Family Services)
Don’t reuse a saved copy or one a friend sent you. The revision code (“Rev. 10-21,” “Rev. 12-23,” etc.) is printed in the top corner of every AOC form, and clerks reject superseded versions.
Step two — fill them in on screen
Kentucky’s AOC family forms are fillable PDFs with a Print Form button built in. Open them in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, or any browser, type directly into the fields, then print. Type everything — write “N/A” where something doesn’t apply rather than leaving a field blank, and use the same legal name on every document.
Kentucky’s statewide AOC-252/252A petition is written and titled “without children under 18.” There is no equivalent fill-in-the-blank statewide petition for cases with minor children — see the note in your verdict above. Your circuit’s Legal Self-Help resources, a Legal Aid packet, or an attorney is where that document comes from; everything downstream of it (disclosure, child support worksheet, waivers, decree) is still a real statewide AOC form.
Step three — get the sworn documents notarized (or use the clerk)
Your petition, your Verified Disclosure Statement, and your Deposition of Petitioner are all sworn statements — you don’t just sign them, you swear to them. Kentucky’s own forms print two options on the signature line: “Notary Public or Circuit Clerk/D.C.” — meaning a deputy clerk at the courthouse can administer the oath for free when you file, so you don’t necessarily need to find a notary at all.
If you’d rather not make a courthouse trip for this, Kentucky has authorized remote online notarization since 2019 (KRS 423.455) — the standard national services (Proof, BlueNotary, Notarize, OneNotary) are valid here, usually for $25 or less per session.
You swear to the Deposition of Petitioner and the Verified Disclosure Statement — signing before you’re actually in front of the notary, clerk, or an approved remote session makes the oath invalid, and it’s an easy thing for opposing counsel or a clerk to catch by comparing dates.
Step four — file them
Kentucky is rolling out statewide e-filing (“File & Serve”) through the KCOJ eCourts system, but it isn’t uniformly required for self-represented family law filers in every county yet. The safest default: file your originals in person or by mail with the circuit court clerk in the county where you or your spouse live, and ask the clerk directly whether e-filing self-registration is available for your case type in that county.
Unlike some states, Kentucky doesn’t require a separate corroborating-witness affidavit. Your own sworn Deposition of Petitioner (AOC-251.5/252.5) — where you testify under oath that the marriage is irretrievably broken and that you’ve lived apart at least 60 days — does that work.
4 · Your deadlines, calculated
Kentucky divorces run off a rule almost nobody explains correctly: the 60-day clock is about when you actually started living apart — which can be before you ever filed — not 60 days counted from your filing date. If you have children, a second, separate 60-day clock runs from service instead. Enter what you have and we’ll turn the statute into actual dates on your calendar.
5 · Kentucky’s trap: two different 60-day clocks
Every Kentucky no-fault dissolution requires the court to find the marriage “irretrievably broken,” and it cannot enter a decree until “the parties have lived apart for 60 days” — KRS 403.170. Two things about that rule catch people off guard.
Kentucky law is explicit: “Living apart shall include living under the same roof without sexual cohabitation.” You do not need to establish a second residence to satisfy the 60 days. But the flip side trips people up just as often — the 60 days runs from whenever you actually stopped being a couple, which the petition itself asks you to date (item 4: “Petitioner and Respondent have been separated since ___”). If you file the same week you separate, you still have to wait out the rest of the 60 days before a decree can be entered — filing does not restart or shortcut that clock, and it doesn’t advance it either.
KRS 403.044 adds a separate requirement for cases with minor children: no testimony may be taken until 60 days have passed from whichever happens first — service of the summons, appointment of a warning order attorney, an entry of appearance, or a responsive pleading. Kentucky’s own Deposition of Petitioner form spells this out directly: “If there are children under the age of 18, this form may not be signed until 60 days have passed from the date of service.” This clock starts at service, not at when you actually separated — so with-children cases can’t shortcut the wait even if you and your spouse have already been living apart for months before filing.
Practical takeaway: without children, track your separation date — it may already satisfy the 60 days by the time you file. With children, track your service/appearance date instead, because that’s the clock that actually controls when the case can move to a decree.
6 · The order it actually happens in
7 · The rejection-proofing checklist
These are the specific things that get Kentucky filings bounced, delayed, or stuck waiting on a clock nobody explained. Every one of them costs weeks.
Signing and swearing
AOC-252 is the redacted copy (last four digits of SSNs, birth year only) that goes in the public case file, per CR 7.03. AOC-252A is the unredacted copy with full information, kept confidential. Filing only one, or filing the unredacted version as your public copy, is a real and avoidable rejection.
Forms people forget
Timing
Unlike property, spousal maintenance isn’t something a court can quietly infer later. It has to be reflected in your petition, your Separation Agreement if you have one, and answered explicitly in your Deposition of Petitioner (item 21: “Are you requesting maintenance to be ordered as agreed upon in the Separation Agreement?”). If it isn’t in the paperwork, don’t expect the decree to include it.
8 · The Verified Disclosure Statement — what it requires
This is sworn, not just signed, and it’s filed and exchanged — Kentucky doesn’t let you skip it by agreement the way some states do.
The simplified statement (AOC-238.1/239.1) is for parties whose combined income is under $100,000 and combined assets are under $100,000 — both conditions, not either. Anyone over either threshold uses the regular, longer AOC-238/239 form. If you’re not sure which side of the line you’re on, the regular form is always acceptable; the simplified form on a case that doesn’t qualify is the more common way to get sent back.
9 · What this costs
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Circuit Court civil filing fee — statewide (CR 3.02(1), $188 base + $20 court technology fee) | $208 |
| Local court facility / law library add-ons (KRS 172.180, KRS 453.060) — varies by county | ≈ $5–$15 |
| Sheriff service of process, Jefferson County (per defendant, current as of 11/2025) | $70 |
| Sheriff or process server service, other counties | confirm with sheriff/clerk |
| Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees (AOC-026), if you qualify | $0 |
| Notary, if not using the circuit clerk (remote online notarization, per session) | $0–$25 |
| Typical all-in, doing it yourselves, uncontested | $210–$300 |
Kentucky sets its base circuit filing fee statewide, not county-by-county — Jefferson (Louisville), Fayette (Lexington), and Kenton (Covington) circuit clerks all charge the same $188 + $20 base under Kentucky Supreme Court Order 2026-15, effective July 1, 2026. We could not independently verify each county’s small local add-on fee (law library/facility fees) at time of writing — several published county fee-schedule pages we checked pre-dated the 2026 statewide fee change. Confirm the exact total with your circuit court clerk before you file.
File AOC-026, Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees and to Proceed In Forma Pauperis, with a judge. It’s a sworn financial statement — if your household can’t reasonably afford the fee, the court can waive it entirely, including sheriff service costs.
If you hire a lawyer (member-reported, illustrative only)
These figures are self-reported by The Cusp’s members, not sourced from any court or bar association — they’re here to set expectations, not as a quote.
| Scenario | Reported range |
|---|---|
| Flat-fee, fully uncontested, no children | $600–$1,200 |
| Uncontested with children / support worksheet | $1,000–$2,000 |
| Contested, negotiated settlement, no trial | $3,500–$9,000 |
| Contested through trial | $10,000+ |
What this is. A guide to Kentucky’s own process, built from the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS Chapter 403, including §§ 403.140, 403.170, and 403.044), the Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice (FCRPP), Kentucky Supreme Court Order 2026-15, and the official AOC forms published by the Kentucky Court of Justice at kycourts.gov/Legal-Forms. The child support worksheet (CS-71) is published by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Every form linked here is free, and this kit links you to the source rather than reselling anything.
What this is not. The Cusp is not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here tells you which choice is right for your particular situation — only what Kentucky requires of each path. If your case involves contested custody, a business, hidden assets, domestic violence, or a spouse with a lawyer, talk to an attorney; many offer free consultations, and one hour of advice is cheaper than a case that stalls on a clock you didn’t know existed.
Where we could not verify a number, we said so. Kentucky’s base circuit filing fee is set statewide by Supreme Court order and is well-documented; small local add-on fees, sheriff service fees outside Jefferson County, and whether e-filing self-registration is available in a given county are not — those sections tell you to confirm with your circuit court clerk rather than guess. Attorney cost figures in Section 9 are explicitly illustrative, member-reported data, not a market survey.
Need a vetted attorney, mediator, or financial analyst in Kentucky?
Browse The Cusp’s professional directory — rated only by verified clients, never ranked by who paid the most.
Browse the directory →The Cusp · All 50 state kits · Find a professional · About
Ask for an introduction to an agent → — who we would introduce you to, what the referral fee is and who pays it, and why the answer is sometimes that you should not sell at all.
The most expensive mistakes in a divorce are made in the year after it, by people who thought the case was over. After the divorce is the checklist for that year — the health-coverage clock, the retirement order a decree cannot replace, and the beneficiary form that outranks your will.
Filing is one household becoming two, and the second one starts empty. The two-household list is what to send the people who keep asking how they can help — the second of everything, and the half of it that costs nothing. Some people call it a divorce registry.