Divorce in Kentucky, start to finish
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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.
Which forms do you actually need?
Your route and its conditions, the forms grouped by route, how filing actually works in Kentucky, and the sequence with its costs.
First, which route you are on. Each one opens to the conditions the rule actually sets.
Without children under 18
KRS 403.140; KRS 403.170; AOC-252 / 252A
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.
- 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).
With children under 18
KRS 403.044; AOC-245; CS-71
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.
Grouped exactly as Kentucky labels them. 16 of 17 link straight to the official PDF; the rest are listed by number so you can find them in the state’s own catalog.
All 7 forms
- AOC-FC-3 — Circuit/District/Family Court Case Data Information Sheet — “Minor Children Involved” is checked where there are minor children
- AOC-238.3 / 239.3 — Acknowledgment of Preliminary/Final Verified Disclosure Statement
- AOC-251.2 / 252.2 — Waiver of Notice of Deposition and Final Hearing
- AOC-251.5 / 252.5 — Deposition of Petitioner — cannot be signed until 60 days after service (KRS 403.044)
- AOC-251.8 / 252.8 — Motion to Submit for Entry of Decree of Dissolution of Marriage
- AOC-250 — Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage
- AOC-026 — Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees, if needed
All — where combined income and combined assets are each under $100,000 1 form
- AOC-238.1 / 239.1 — Simplified Preliminary/Final Verified Disclosure Statement (combined income & assets each under $100k)
All — where combined income or combined assets reach $100,000 1 form
- AOC-238 / 239 — Preliminary/Final Verified Disclosure Statement
All — where the other spouse is served 1 form
- AOC-105 — Civil Summons — for formal service where the other spouse will not sign a waiver
All — where the other spouse signs it 1 form
- AOC-251.1 / 252.1 — Waiver of Service and Entry of Appearance
With children 1 form
- CS-71 — Kentucky Child Support Obligation Worksheet (Cabinet for Health and Family Services)
With children; and without children where no Separation Agreement is filed 1 form
- AOC-245 — Dissolution of Marriage Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law — with children, “child support ordered” is checked
Without children 2 forms
Without children — where a Separation Agreement is filed 1 form
- AOC-252.6 — Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decree of Dissolution of Marriage (without children, with agreement)
Without children — where there is a written agreement 1 form
- AOC-252.4 — Separation Agreement
Kentucky does not let you e-file a divorce yourself
The checklist is not something you file. It is your worktable — what to do, in what order, and what it costs. The forms are what reaches the court, and this is how they get there in Kentucky.
- Who may e-file
- Attorneys, and self-represented parties in small claims only. A KYeCourts account offers 'Self-Represented Litigant' as an account type, 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 on that list, so you file on paper.
- Portal
- KYeCourts / File & Serve (eFiling)
- Paper
- Required of you for a divorce, and it is the normal route rather than a fallback — filed with the circuit clerk.
- 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.
- 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.
Each step with the forms it names and the money it costs. The full detail of every step is in the section below. Print this part.
| # | Step | Forms it names | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm residency | None named | — |
| 2 | File your petition packet | None named | $228 |
| 3 | Get your spouse on record | AOC-105 | — |
| 4 | Exchange the Verified Disclosure Statement | None named | $100,000 |
| 5 | Wait out your 60-day clock see Section 5 | None named | — |
| 6 | Give your sworn deposition | None named | — |
| 7 | File the Motion to Submit for Entry of Decree | None named | — |
| 8 | Decree and certificate | AOC-252.6AOC-245AOC-250AOC-252 | — |
Every figure here is this page’s own, from the costs section below. A fee waiver application is free to file and is listed with the forms above.
| Circuit Court civil filing fee — statewide (CR 3.02(1): $188 base + $20 court technology fee + $20 Access to Justice fee, KRS 27A.630) | $228 |
| Local court facility / law library add-ons (KRS 172.180, KRS 453.060) — varies by county | court facilities fee up to $25, plus library fee where adopted |
| 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 | $228–$300 |
The short version9 points · tap one to jump to it
- 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.
- Every form Kentucky publishes for a dissolution of marriage — Each row says which track it belongs to and carries the revision date clerks check.
- Getting the forms and filling them in — 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.
- Your deadlines, calculated — If you have children, a second, separate 60-day clock runs from service instead.
- 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.
- The order it actually happens in
- The rejection-proofing checklist — Every one of them costs weeks.
- 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.
- What this costs — 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 $228 base ($188 + $20 + $20) under Kentucky Supreme Court Order 2026-15, effective July 1, 2026.
In this subject 9
1 · The two tracks, and what the rule requires
The short version9 points · tap one to jump to it
- 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.
- Every form Kentucky publishes for a dissolution of marriage — Each row says which track it belongs to and carries the revision date clerks check.
- Getting the forms and filling them in — 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.
- Your deadlines, calculated — If you have children, a second, separate 60-day clock runs from service instead.
- 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.
- The order it actually happens in
- The rejection-proofing checklist — Every one of them costs weeks.
- 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.
- What this costs — 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 $228 base ($188 + $20 + $20) under Kentucky Supreme Court Order 2026-15, effective July 1, 2026.
In this subject 9
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.
Kentucky does not let you e-file a divorce yourself You file on paper
- Who may e-file
- Attorneys, and self-represented parties in small claims only. A KYeCourts account offers 'Self-Represented Litigant' as an account type, 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 on that list, so you file on paper.
- Portal
- KYeCourts / File & Serve (eFiling)
- Paper
- Required of you for a divorce, and it is the normal route rather than a fallback — filed with the circuit clerk.
- 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.
- 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.
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 + $20 Access to Justice fee, KRS 27A.630) | $228 |
| Local court facility / law library add-ons (KRS 172.180, KRS 453.060) — varies by county | court facilities fee up to $25, plus library fee where adopted |
| 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 | $228–$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 $228 base ($188 + $20 technology fee + $20 Access to Justice fee) 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+ |
Does cheating change the money in Kentucky?
The statute says nothing either way, which is not the same as permission. What we read: KRS 403.200(2) omits it. How all fifty states answer this.
Reconciled, and it did not work? No fault ground survives in Kentucky, so forgiving an affair cannot cost you the divorce — which is an answer rather than a gap: condonation, state by state. If the decision itself is what you are sitting with rather than the law, start here.
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 guide 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.
Four things can happen to the house in a Kentucky divorce
Kentucky is not one of the twenty states where filing freezes both spouses automatically. That is not permission to sell: either of you can still ask a court for an order, and one may already exist in your case. But the automatic-order trap is not one you fall into here.
One of you buys the other out, you sell later, you sell now, or the court decides. For a great many people the right answer is not to sell at all – and three of the four routes earn us nothing.
The four routes, compared · Keeping it: the buyout and the carrying cost · Selling: capital gains, basis and timing · Finding an agent who has done a divorce sale · What two households cost
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.
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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.
Everything we have written about Kentucky specifically. Every figure on these pages is quoted from Kentucky’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
- Modifying support after divorce
- Modifying custody and parenting time after divorce
- Check your state’s rules in one place (modification checker)
- What it costs to file
- Child custody
- Child support
- Guardians ad litem and child representation
- Travel, custody and relocation
- Alimony
- Property, support and legal fees
- Protective orders
- Changing your name back
- Legal help you can afford
- Verified professionals
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.
All 19 Kentucky divorce forms, listed by the number the clerk will ask for — 17 with an official form number, 17 linked straight to the state’s own file, each with its revision date where the state publishes one. Open the Kentucky form list →
Common questions about filing for divorce in Kentucky
Short answers to what people ask most before they start. Each one points at the part of this page that covers it in full.
How do I file for divorce in Kentucky?
This page sets out the order it happens in for Kentucky: which form opens the case, what has to be served on the other person and when, and what the court needs before it will finish. It is written to be followed in sequence rather than read through.
What forms do I need to file for divorce in Kentucky?
The form list on this page gives the official Kentucky form numbers, each one’s revision date, and a link to the copy on the court’s own site rather than a copy hosted here. Using a superseded revision is one of the most common reasons a filing comes back, which is why the dates are shown.
How much does it cost to file for divorce in Kentucky?
$228.00 at a minimum to open the case, and that is only the filing fee — it does not cover service, copies, any required class, or a lawyer. The full breakdown for Kentucky, with every figure traced to the court’s own published schedule and dated, is at what it costs to file in Kentucky.
What gets a Kentucky divorce filing rejected?
This page has a section on exactly that — the specific mistakes that get a filing returned in Kentucky rather than a general list. Most of them are procedural and cost weeks rather than money: the wrong form revision, a missing signature or notarization, service done in a way the state does not accept, or filing before a residency requirement is met.
How long does a divorce take in Kentucky?
There is a timeline on this page built from Kentucky’s own statutory day-counts, not from averages. The honest short answer is that the waiting period is a floor and not a prediction: an uncontested case can finish close to it, and a contested one is governed by the court’s calendar rather than the statute.
Where does the information on this page come from?
Kentucky’s own courts and statutes. Every form links to the court’s site, every fee is quoted from the published schedule with the date it was last checked, and where something could not be confirmed from an official source this site says so instead of estimating. It is free, with no account and no paywall.
Does cheating change the money in Kentucky?
Probably not, but for a different reason than you might think: Kentucky’s support statute contains no misconduct factor at all. Silence is not permission and it is not a prohibition — seventeen states are in this position, and in them the written rule simply does not address it. The fifty-state table sets out the section this comes from, and the card higher up this page quotes your state’s own words.
Choosing an agent for a divorce sale is a different problem from choosing one for an ordinary sale: who the agent is allowed to talk to, who has to sign, what happens when one of you will not, and the three separate conflicts of interest that come up when one spouse found the agent first. How to choose a real estate agent for a divorce sale sets out what to ask, and how to check a credential yourself — no divorce credential is official with the National Association of Realtors.
The Cusp receives a referral fee from agents it vets and trains to handle divorce clients.
Key deadlines at a glance
These are the same deadlines the calculator above works out, shown as days counted from the day you file or the day your spouse is served. Use the calculator for your exact dates.
No minor children
| Step | When | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filed | The day you file | Doesn’t reset or advance the living-apart clock — see Section 5. |
With minor children
| Step | When | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filed | The day you file | Doesn’t reset or advance the living-apart clock — see Section 5. |
| Spouse served / appearance entered | The day your spouse is served (or signs a waiver) | Starts the separate KRS 403.044 testimony clock for cases with minor children. |
| Earliest your Deposition of Petitioner can be signed (KRS 403.044) | 60 days after service | This clock runs from service, not from your separation date — it’s the one that usually controls timing when children are involved. |
Your county
Divorce rules are set by the state, but each county or court has its own forms, deadlines, classes and filing habits. Choose yours.
Or go straight to your county or court:
Fayette CountyJefferson CountyKenton County (call to confirm)Warren County (call to confirm)Fayette County
In Fayette County the Circuit Civil Division also handles Family Court matters such as dissolution of marriage, custody and support. The office is at the Robert F. Stephens Circuit Courthouse, 120 N. Limestone, Suite C-103, open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. A separate Domestic Violence Division accepts emergency protective order petitions around the clock. The court page links to a family motion docket schedule and Zoom links, but the times were not readable, so confirm them with the clerk.
Who to contact: 859-246-2141, Robert F. Stephens Circuit Courthouse, 120 N. Limestone, Suite C-103, Lexington KY 40507, M-F 8-4
Local rules · Local forms · Court website
Where this comes from
Last checked 2026-11-10. Tell us if this is out of date
Jefferson County
Jefferson County’s Family Division has its own local rules of practice, approved by the Kentucky Supreme Court by an order entered August 23, 2024 and effective September 23, 2024. The Family Court clerk’s office is on the first floor, Room 105, of the Judicial Center, open Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The clerk’s site links to self-help resources and an eFiling page that appears to cover civil and criminal cases. Specific requirements such as classes or mediation were not confirmed, so check the rules and the clerk.
Who to contact: Family Court clerk 502-595-3025, Judicial Center 1st floor Room 105, M-F 8:30-4:30
Local rules · Local forms · Court website
Where this comes from
Last checked 2026-11-10. Tell us if this is out of date
Kenton County Call or check the court website to confirm
Kenton County Family Court has its own local rules of practice, approved by a Kentucky Supreme Court order entered December 17, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026. The rule text itself was not confirmed, so requirements such as classes, mediation or filing steps are unknown here. No clerk contact was verified.
Where this comes from
Last checked 2026-11-10. Tell us if this is out of date
Warren County Call or check the court website to confirm
In Warren County, Division 3 of the Circuit Court is the Family Court and has its own separate local rules; the general circuit rules cover family cases only where Division 3 is not sitting as family court. The general rules include court-referred mediation: the court may refer a case on its own motion or a party’s, parties get 15 days to agree on a mediator, and fees are split equally unless otherwise agreed or ordered. Whether those general mediation rules apply to divorce cases, or what the Division 3 rules require, was not confirmed.
Where this comes from
Last checked 2026-11-10. Tell us if this is out of date
Not listed? Your county clerk of court can tell you the local rules. These are general information from court and clerk pages, last checked 2026-11-10, not legal advice.
Serving the papers in Kentucky? The clerk mails it certified, or an authorized person delivers it; whether you can serve is unclear. No deadline found. (As we read the rules on 29 October 2026.) See who can serve a divorce summons and whether you can do it yourself, and find Kentucky in our state-by-state serving table.
Stay current
We re-check the law. We will tell you when your state’s changes.
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How we can help
Understand the house first. Then talk to someone who gets it.
The house is usually the largest decision in a divorce, and the one people are least ready for. Here is what we do, in the order that makes sense.
1. Start with the facts, free
22 states have automatic orders that freeze both spouses the moment a divorce is filed, barring either one from selling or borrowing against the property. Is yours one of them?
Plain-English guides on what can happen to the house, what an automatic order stops you doing, and how the tax rules decide what a sale is worth. No account and nothing to buy.
- The four things that can happen to the house
- Selling the house: who signs, and the tax rules
- Keeping the house: the buyout and the carrying cost
2. Know when not to call an agent
Often the right answer is to wait, or to talk to your lawyer or an accountant first. We say so plainly. An agent is the wrong first call if nothing is filed, or if an order restricts what either of you can do with the property.
3. Talk to someone who gets it
When you do need an agent, we introduce you to a local agent who has completed our divorce real estate training and passed its 20-question exam. Before any introduction we check the license with the state regulator (any unresolved disciplinary action is a no), the agent’s closed sales, and a review rating of 4.7 or better. The introduction is free, and you are free to say no.
Ask for an introductionHow we are paid
You pay us nothing. Agents are not charged for the training, the exam or the free resources. If an introduction leads to a closed sale, the agent’s brokerage pays a referral fee out of its own commission, not out of your proceeds. A place on the panel cannot be bought.
General information, not legal or tax advice. The Cusp is not a law firm.
Selling a home in a divorce: what to ask a local listing agent
Selling the house is often the largest single decision in a divorce. These questions help you judge whether an agent has done it before. They do not replace your lawyer, who should approve the plan before anything is listed.
- Have you sold homes where both spouses had to sign, or where a court had to approve the sale? How many, and how recently?
- Does filing already restrain a sale in my state? Check the 50-state table and ask my lawyer before we sign anything.
- Who decides on price changes and which offers to accept when we disagree, and how will that be written down?
- Who pays the mortgage, taxes and insurance until closing, and what does the listing agreement say about it?
- Where will the sale proceeds be held until the decree says who gets what?
- How will you handle showings, access and lockboxes if we are not speaking?
- Will you give both spouses and both lawyers the same information at the same time?
- What happens to the listing agreement if we settle, reconcile or the case is delayed? What are the cancellation terms?
- Can I have your fee terms in writing and the names of past clients who sold during a divorce?