Kentucky

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 85 out of 100

Kentucky leaves property division, maintenance and fees to the judge’s discretion. Fault is excluded from property division but may raise or lower maintenance. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Kentucky ranks 36 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	15 / 20	The court assigns each spouse’s nonmarital property to that spouse and divides marital property in just proportions considering relevant factors, with no presumption of equality. KRS 403.190(1)
Alimony	20 / 20	Maintenance is set in amounts and for periods the court deems just after considering listed factors, with no formula or cap. KRS 403.200(2)
Fault	10 / 20	Marital property is divided without regard to marital misconduct, but because the maintenance statute omits that phrase, fault may be considered in setting the amount of maintenance. KRS 403.190(1); Chapman v. Chapman, 498 S.W.2d 134 (Ky. 1973)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may order a party to pay a reasonable amount for the other party’s attorney’s fees after considering the financial resources of both parties, and financial disparity is a factor but not a threshold requirement. KRS 403.220; Picard v. Knight, No. 2023-SC-0043-DG (Ky. Oct. 24, 2024)
Second opinion	20 / 20	A judge must disqualify for listed causes such as personal bias, and there is no right to remove a judge without cause or to a jury on property or maintenance. KRS 26A.015(2)

Getting in

No waiting period. Both parties must appear before a county clerk with proof of age. The statutes set no waiting period. The license is valid for 30 days, counting the day of issue, and cannot be used after that.
KRS 402.080; KRS 402.105; KRS 402.210; KRS 64.012(1)(n); KRS 142.010(1)(a)

Who can marry you. Ministers or priests of any denomination in regular communion with a religious society, Kentucky judges, and certain county officials may officiate. A religious society with no minister may solemnize a marriage by consent given before the society if either party belongs. The statute does not address online ordination. Two people besides the couple and officiant must attend.
KRS 402.050; KRS 402.070

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Kentucky. A marriage not solemnized before an authorized person or society is void. Kentucky courts will enforce the rights and duties of a common-law marriage begun in a state where it is valid.
KRS 402.020(1)(c); Pinkhasov v. Petocz, 331 S.W.3d 285 (Ky. Ct. App. 2011)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Kentucky is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Property either spouse acquires after the wedding is presumed marital, whatever the title, until a decree of legal separation or dissolution. Living apart does not stop this. Gifts, inheritances, premarital property and property excluded by agreement stay separate. Growth on premarital property stays separate only to the extent the parties’ efforts during the marriage did not cause it.
KRS 403.190(2), (3); Stallings v. Stallings, 606 S.W.2d 163 (Ky. 1980)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It can stay separate if you can trace it. Joint title alone does not turn separate money into marital money. An heir who traces the inheritance into an asset still owned keeps it, unless the heir gave it to the marriage, as when a spouse paid for a home after promising it would be half the other’s. An heir who cannot trace it loses the claim. The heir carries the burden, though the proof need not be exact.
KRS 403.190(2)(a), (3); Barber v. Bradley, 505 S.W.3d 749 (Ky. 2016); Sexton v. Sexton, 125 S.W.3d 258 (Ky. 2004); Chenault v. Chenault, 799 S.W.2d 575 (Ky. 1990)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

By statute a husband is liable for necessaries furnished to his wife after marriage, while a wife is not made liable for her husband’s; the gender-based rule has been challenged but no court has ruled on its constitutionality.
KRS 404.040; White v. Universal Fidelity, LP, No. 3:17-cv-00044-GFVT (E.D. Ky. Oct. 19, 2018) (declining to reach the constitutional question)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

A surviving spouse who renounces the will takes the dower share: one-third of real estate the decedent owned at death, a life estate in one-third of real estate owned during the marriage but not at death (unless relinquished), and one-half of the surplus personal property. From July 15, 2026, surplus personalty and surplus real estate include payable-on-death and transfer-on-death assets, beneficiary-designated retirement accounts, joint-survivorship property, revocable-trust property, and transfers made within two years of death, but not life insurance.
KRS 392.080(1)(a); KRS 392.020 as amended by 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 134 (SB 50), § 2

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under case law only (Gentry); Kentucky has not adopted the UPAA or UPMAA. The court asks whether the agreement was obtained through fraud, duress, mistake, misrepresentation or nondisclosure of material facts; whether it is unconscionable; and whether facts and circumstances have changed since execution so as to make enforcement unfair and unreasonable.
Gentry v. Gentry, 798 S.W.2d 928, 936 (Ky. 1990), as quoted in Pamela Ford B. v. David Stanley B. (Ky. Ct. App. 2001)

What an agreement needs. No statute sets premarital-agreement formalities; the statute of frauds requires an agreement made in consideration of marriage to be in writing and signed by the party to be charged, and Gentry requires full disclosure of material facts. No notarization, witnesses, waiting period or independent counsel is required by statute.
KRS 371.010(5); Gentry v. Gentry, 798 S.W.2d 928 (Ky. 1990)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Kentucky’s statute has a table keyed to both parents’ combined income, and the amount is split in proportion to income. Support ends at 18, or continues for a high school student through the school year the child turns 19. Beyond that, including for college, support needs a written agreement or an express decree term.
KRS 403.212(5)(a); KRS 403.2122; KRS 403.213(3); Showalter v. Showalter, 497 S.W.2d 420 (Ky. 1973)

Moving away with a child. Before moving, a custodian must file written notice with the court and serve the other parent, giving the new address, the date and the effect on time-sharing. The rule sets no number of days in advance. The other parent has 20 days after service to file a motion. The judge decides based on the child’s best interests.
FCRPP 7(2); Pennington v. Marcum, 266 S.W.3d 759 (Ky. 2008); KRS 403.320(3); KRS 403.340

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. One spouse must have lived in Kentucky, or been stationed there with the armed services, for the 180 days right before filing. The rule does not depend on where the couple married or where the grounds arose.
KRS 403.140(1)(a); KRS 403.025; KRS 452.470

How long it takes. The only ground is an irretrievably broken marriage. No decree may enter until the spouses have lived apart 60 days, which can include living under one roof without sexual relations. With minor children, testimony waits 60 days after service. If a spouse denies the breakdown, the judge can still find it, or may continue the case 30 to 60 days.
KRS 403.140(1)(c); KRS 403.170; KRS 403.044; Putnam v. Fanning, 495 S.W.2d 175 (Ky. 1973)

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 180 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence; the 60 days apart run inside it; no wait after filing without minor children (add 60 from service with minor children)). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

The law of your shared home applies. In 2016 Kentucky’s Supreme Court said the law of the marital domicile applies in a divorce here, and it applied Kentucky law to disability benefits earned in Connecticut, because both spouses lived in Kentucky by then. Three justices would have used a different test.
Kirilenko v. Kirilenko, 505 S.W.3d 766 (Ky. 2016)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Kentucky and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Kentucky lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Kentucky” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.