How to modify child support or maintenance in Kentucky

Sources last checked: 4 November 2026. Information only, not legal advice. The Cusp is not a law firm. Kentucky’s statutes call alimony “maintenance”, and this page uses that word for court-ordered support paid to a former spouse.

Kentucky divorce kit How child support is calculated Alimony (maintenance) in Kentucky Legal aid in Kentucky After your divorce

The short version

In Kentucky, KRS 403.213 says a child support decree may be modified “only as to installments accruing subsequent to the filing of the motion” for modification and only on a material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing, so a change cannot reach back before you file. The same section says a change of fifteen percent or more in the guideline amount is rebuttably presumed to be a material change. For maintenance, KRS 403.250 allows a change only on “changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unconscionable”. We could not read the Kentucky Court of Justice forms or rules, because its website returned an access-denied error to our requests (see the end of this page), so we cannot name a court form for either kind of change.

What a motion can ask for

Child support: KRS 403.213(1) says the child support guidelines may be used by the parent, the custodian, or an agency substantially contributing to the child’s support as the basis for periodic updates of support and for modification of orders for health care. The change must rest on “a material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing”.
The fifteen percent presumption: KRS 403.213(2) says that applying the guidelines to the parties’ circumstances when the motion is filed, with a result that is “equal to or greater than a fifteen percent” change in the monthly amount, is rebuttably presumed to be a material change. A result of less than fifteen percent is rebuttably presumed not to be one.
Health care and child care: KRS 403.211(7) says that if health care coverage is reasonable in cost and accessible to either parent, the court orders a parent to obtain or maintain it and divides its cost in proportion to the parents’ combined monthly adjusted gross income. KRS 403.211(6) divides work-related child care costs the same way.
Ending child support: unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree says otherwise, KRS 403.213(3) ends support when the child is emancipated, except that support continues while the child is a high school student at eighteen, but not beyond the end of the school year in which the child turns nineteen. A parent’s death does not end support, but the amount may be modified, revoked or commuted to a lump sum.
Maintenance: KRS 403.250(1) is the test for changing a maintenance order. Under KRS 403.250(2), unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree says otherwise, the duty to pay future maintenance ends on the death of either party or the remarriage of the party receiving it.
Property: KRS 403.250(1) also says property disposition may not be revoked or modified unless the court finds conditions that justify reopening a judgment under state law. This page does not cover that.

What else you file

Forms: we found no court form to cite. The Kentucky Court of Justice website (kycourts.gov) answered our requests with an HTTP 403 (forbidden) error, so we read none of its forms or self-help pages. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services site (chfs.ky.gov), which would describe state child support services, and the Attorney General’s site (ag.ky.gov) returned the same error.
The filing itself: the statutes we read refer to a “motion for modification” (KRS 403.213(1)) and a “motion or petition for modification” (KRS 403.213(2)). We did not read the rule that sets out what such a motion must contain.
Attorney fees: KRS 403.220 says the court may, after considering the financial resources of both parties, order a party to pay a reasonable amount for the other party’s cost of maintaining or defending any proceeding under the chapter and for attorney fees, including for services after entry of judgment.

What the statutes say

The wording below is a plain-language summary of the Kentucky Revised Statutes as published on the Legislature’s website, read on 4 November 2026, with short quotations. We read KRS 403.180, 403.200, 403.211, 403.213, 403.220 and 403.250.

No change for earlier installments, KRS 403.213(1): modification is “only as to installments accruing subsequent to the filing of the motion”. The date that matters is filing.
Guidelines in a modification case, KRS 403.211(2): in any proceeding to modify a support order, the guidelines serve as a rebuttable presumption for the amount. Courts may deviate where applying them “would be unjust or inappropriate”, with a written finding or specific finding on the record giving the reason.
Reasons for deviation, KRS 403.211(3): the listed criteria include a child’s extraordinary medical, dental, educational or special needs, a parent’s own extraordinary needs, the child’s independent financial resources, combined income above the guidelines, a parents’ agreement to a different amount made with knowledge of the guideline amount, and failure by one party to consistently exercise the court-ordered timesharing schedule.
Where an action may be brought, KRS 403.211(1): an action to establish or enforce child support may be brought in the county where the child lives or where the defendant lives. The section does not say this applies to a motion to modify.
Maintenance agreements, KRS 403.180(6): except for terms about children, a decree may expressly preclude or limit modification of terms if the separation agreement says so. Otherwise, terms of a separation agreement are automatically modified when the decree is modified.
Maintenance when first ordered, KRS 403.200: the court may order maintenance only if the spouse seeking it lacks sufficient property for reasonable needs and cannot support himself or herself through appropriate employment, or is the custodian of a child whose circumstances make it appropriate not to work outside the home. This is the test for an original award, not for a change.
Review of the guidelines table, KRS 403.213(4): a commission reviews the guidelines table at least once every four years.

Notice, service and hearing

Filing date: KRS 403.213(1) makes the filing of the motion the cutoff for child support changes.
Service and hearing: the statutes we read do not say how the other party must be served, what notice is required, or how a hearing is scheduled. We did not read the Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice or the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Before you file

Court staff cannot give legal advice. See legal aid in Kentucky for free or low-cost help, or the Kentucky divorce kit for the wider process.
Timing matters: because a child support change applies only to installments accruing after you file, file as soon as your circumstances change.
Run the guidelines on today’s numbers before filing. The fifteen percent presumption looks at the result when the motion is filed.
Check your decree and any separation agreement. They may say maintenance is not modifiable or that it ends on events other than those in the statute.
Child support amounts follow the state guidelines. See how child support is calculated in Kentucky and alimony in Kentucky. For other changes after a divorce, see After your divorce.

What we could not confirm

Court forms and rules. kycourts.gov returned HTTP 403 to every request we made, including for its robots.txt file. We do not try to get around a block, so we read no court form, self-help page or court rule, and we cannot say which form to use or what it asks for.
State child support agency. chfs.ky.gov and ag.ky.gov returned the same 403 error. We cannot say whether the agency reviews or modifies orders, or how to ask.
Filing fees and fee waivers. No fee appears in the sources we read, so this page states none.
Service, notice and deadlines. Not stated in the statutes we read.
What counts as “unconscionable” or as a substantial and continuing change. The statutes do not define these, and we read no court opinions, so we do not say how judges apply them.
Cohabitation. KRS 403.250 as we read it lists remarriage and death as events that end maintenance and says nothing about cohabitation. We do not say whether it affects maintenance.
Whether maintenance changes can reach back before you file. KRS 403.250 as we read it says nothing either way.
Amendments. The history shown for KRS 403.213 on the Legislature’s page ends in 2005, and we did not check for later changes. We did not read KRS 403.212 (the guidelines table), 403.2122 (shared parenting time) or the administrative regulations, so we give no support amounts.
Local practice. We did not read any county’s procedures.

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