By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Published · Updated
Kentucky sets a continuous residency period before filing, and the couple must live separate and apart for 60 days before the final decree. Kentucky does grant legal separation.
Kentucky divorce runs on a no-fault standard, but two firm timing rules — a 180-day residency requirement and a 60-day separation period — shape when your case can be filed and when it can actually finish.
| Residency requirement | At least one spouse must have lived in Kentucky (or been stationed there on active military duty) continuously for at least 180 days immediately before filing (KRS 403.140). |
|---|---|
| Grounds | No-fault only — the court must find the marriage is 'irretrievably broken' with no reasonable prospect of reconciliation. Kentucky has no fault-based grounds like adultery or cruelty (KRS 403.140, 403.170). |
| Waiting period | The couple must have lived separate and apart for at least 60 days before a judge can enter the final decree; this can run concurrently with the case rather than starting after filing (KRS 403.170). |
| Legal separation | Kentucky does grant legal separation. It settles the same questions a divorce settles — support, parenting and, depending on the case, property — but leaves the marriage in place, so neither spouse can remarry without a divorce. |
| If you were never married | Kentucky does not create common-law marriage, and living together gives neither partner property or support rights. Claims rest on agreements between you. A common-law marriage validly formed in a state that does create them is generally still recognised. |
| Where you file | The Petition for Dissolution of Marriage is filed with the Circuit Court Clerk (Family Court division, where the county has one) in the county where you or your spouse lives. |
| Filing fee | Varies by county — confirm the current amount with your county Circuit Court Clerk. If you can't afford it, you can file AOC-026 (Motion for Waiver of Costs and Fees) to ask the court to waive fees. Filing fees are set by the court and change without notice: check the current schedule on the court's own website before you file, and ask about a fee waiver if the cost is a barrier. |
| Starting forms | AOC-252, Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (no children under 18). AOC-252A is the same petition in unredacted form rather than a different document — it is not the version for cases with children. If you have minor children, ask the Circuit Court Clerk for the packet that includes custody and support provisions. |
| Simplified option | Kentucky offers a free online guided-interview tool ('Divorce without Children') through the Court of Justice's Legal Self-Help Portal that auto-fills the forms for uncontested cases with no minor children. |
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Kentucky is a no-fault state: the only ground for divorce is that the marriage is 'irretrievably broken,' and courts generally don't weigh fault when deciding whether to grant the divorce itself. Property is a different matter. Kentucky uses equitable distribution, which means marital property — most of what either spouse acquired during the marriage — is divided fairly based on factors like each spouse's contribution, the marriage's length, and each person's economic circumstances, but not automatically split 50/50. Non-marital property, such as what you owned before the marriage, gifts, inheritances, and property excluded by a valid agreement, generally stays with the spouse who owns it, provided it can be traced and wasn't mixed into joint accounts or joint assets along the way.
The rule that surprises the most people is the 60-day separation requirement: Kentucky courts cannot grant a final decree of dissolution until the spouses have lived separate and apart for at least 60 days. That clock can run alongside other steps in the case, but it sets a hard floor on timing — even an otherwise fully agreed, uncontested case cannot finish faster than that. There's also a residency rule: at least one spouse must have lived in Kentucky (or been stationed there on military orders) for 180 days before filing. Cases are filed in Circuit Court; in the roughly 70 counties with a dedicated Family Court division, family cases go there instead of the general civil docket.
Kentucky doesn't rely on one single statewide mandatory disclosure form the way some states do — instead, disclosure obligations and required financial forms are often set at the local Circuit or Family Court level, so it's worth checking your specific court's family rules and forms page early. Whatever the local form, the underlying facts are the same everywhere: gather recent tax returns, pay stubs, and statements for every bank, investment, and retirement account; deeds, mortgage statements, and tax assessments for any real estate; vehicle titles and loan records; and business records if either spouse is self-employed or owns a company.
If you're claiming anything as non-marital — property from before the marriage, an inheritance, a gift meant for you alone — start pulling the paper trail now: the original purchase or deposit records and anything showing where that money went afterward. In Kentucky's equitable distribution framework, that tracing paperwork is often what decides whether an asset stays yours or gets pulled into the marital pot. Keep every letter exchanged with lawyers from the start, since these letters typically carry the deadlines, proposals, and admissions that matter later.
Kentucky law (KRS 403.270) sets a rebuttable presumption that joint custody and roughly equal parenting time serve a child's best interest, meaning courts generally start from the assumption that both parents should share decision-making and significant time with the children unless one side presents evidence that isn't appropriate here. That presumption shifts the practical work: parenting proposals that are specific about schedules, holidays, and decision-making tend to fare better than vague requests for 'primary custody.'
Child support follows the Kentucky Child Support Guidelines, calculated primarily from the parents' combined gross income and divided proportionally between them, with adjustments for things like health insurance and childcare costs. As with disclosure, accurate and complete income information drives the outcome, so gathering pay records early helps avoid disputes later.
Legal separation is available in Kentucky. It is a court proceeding, and in most respects it runs like a divorce: the court can settle support, parenting arrangements and, depending on the case, the division of property, and the resulting order binds both spouses.
What it does not do is end the marriage. People choose it for a range of reasons — health coverage, religious conviction, immigration status, or simply not being ready — and it leaves the door open to reconciling without starting over.
Two consequences follow. Neither spouse can remarry unless they later obtain a divorce, and modifying the order generally takes the court's approval rather than a private agreement between you. If you expect to divorce eventually, ask what converting the separation into a divorce involves here before you start.
Kentucky does not create common-law marriage. There is no number of years of living together that turns into a marriage here, and none of the divorce machinery on this page applies to a couple who never married — no property division, no spousal support, no residency requirement to satisfy, because there is nothing to dissolve.
What unmarried partners have instead are ordinary civil claims: whatever you agreed between yourselves, in writing or by clear conduct, and claims over property you actually hold jointly. These are argued like any other contract or property dispute rather than as family-law entitlements, and they turn on what can be proved.
One qualification runs the other way and matters. A common-law marriage validly formed in a state that does create them — Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas or Utah — is generally recognised elsewhere. A couple who met that state's test while living there, and later moved here, are married, and separating means divorcing. Children are unaffected either way: custody and child support are decided on the same basis whether or not the parents married.
1) Note your separation date precisely and start counting toward the 60-day mark — it gates your final decree regardless of how quickly everything else resolves. 2) Confirm the 180-day residency requirement is met before filing, especially if you or your spouse moved to Kentucky recently. 3) Build a disclosure binder now, before positions harden, and check your local Circuit or Family Court's specific forms and rules. 4) If any property is arguably non-marital, gather the tracing documents before assets get commingled further. 5) If children are involved, prepare a concrete parenting proposal that accounts for Kentucky's joint-custody presumption. 6) Track every deadline that appears in a letter from either side's lawyer — Kentucky cases often move through a series of short response windows, and missing one can cost leverage later.
You or your spouse must have lived in Kentucky (or been on active military duty stationed there) for at least the 180 days right before you file. If neither of you meets this yet, you'll need to wait before filing.
Use form AOC-252 (Petition for Dissolution of Marriage) if you have no children under 18 or still in high school. If you have minor children, custody, support, and parenting-time provisions must be addressed in your filing — check with the Circuit Court Clerk or kycourts.gov's Legal Forms page for the packet that covers children.
If your case is uncontested and you have no minor children, the Kentucky Court of Justice's Legal Self-Help Portal offers a free 'Divorce without Children' guided interview that walks you through the questions and generates a completed petition to print.
Fill in details about both spouses, the marriage date, separation date, property and debt, and whether you're asking to restore a former name. You must sign it in front of a notary or the Circuit Clerk, since it's a sworn statement.
Take the signed petition to the Circuit Court Clerk's office in the county where you or your spouse resides. Pay the filing fee, which varies by county — ask the clerk for the current amount, or file AOC-026 if you need a fee waiver.
Your spouse (the Respondent) must be formally notified of the case, typically through sheriff service or certified mail arranged by the clerk, unless they voluntarily sign a Waiver of Service and Entry of Appearance (AOC-252.1) to skip formal service.
Kentucky law requires the parties to have lived apart for at least 60 days before a judge will enter a final decree. Use this time to work out any agreement on property, debt, or (if applicable) custody and support.
Once the waiting period has passed and any agreements are in writing, file the proposed Findings of Fact and Decree of Dissolution (and a Motion to Submit, AOC-252.8, if uncontested) so the judge can review and sign the final decree.
After the judge signs the decree, request certified copies from the Circuit Court Clerk — you'll need these to update your name, insurance, or other records.
No. Kentucky is a no-fault state — the only ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Courts generally don't weigh fault when granting the divorce itself, though it can occasionally surface elsewhere in a case.
Kentucky courts cannot grant a final divorce decree until the spouses have lived separate and apart for at least 60 days. This sets a minimum timeline even for fully agreed, uncontested cases.
Not automatically. Kentucky uses equitable distribution, dividing marital property fairly based on factors like contributions and length of marriage — non-marital property such as pre-marriage assets, gifts, and inheritances generally stays separate if it can be traced.
A legal separation in Kentucky settles much of what a divorce settles — support, parenting and, depending on the case, property — and the order binds both spouses. The difference is that it does not end the marriage, so neither spouse can remarry without later obtaining a divorce. People use it for health coverage, religious reasons, immigration status, or because they are not ready to divorce. Changing the order generally requires the court's approval.
No. Kentucky does not create common-law marriage, and living together for any length of time gives neither partner property division nor spousal support. Unmarried partners rely instead on agreements between themselves and on claims over jointly held property, argued as ordinary civil matters. One important exception: a common-law marriage validly formed in a state that does create them — such as Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas or Utah — is generally recognised here, so that couple would need a divorce. Custody and child support apply regardless of marriage.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. There is no statewide crisis line here that we could verify, so use the national one: contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788 if a call is not safe. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
Last reviewed August 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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