How long does the other parent have to respond to a Kentucky relocation notice?

Twenty days. Under Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2), a non relocating joint custodian may file a motion to modify custody or time sharing within 20 days of service, and a non custodial parent may file a motion contesting the change in time sharing in the same window.

Does a Kentucky judge have to hear what my child wants?

Kentucky sets no age at which a child gains a right to be heard. KRS 403.270 lists the wishes of the child as a factor, with due consideration given to the influence a parent or de facto custodian may have. KRS 403.290 says the court may interview the child in chambers and shall record it.

How much does it cost to file a custody modification motion in Kentucky?

No statute sets the amount. KRS 23A.200 provides that the Supreme Court shall by rule set the filing fees and miscellaneous costs for civil cases filed in the Circuit Court, so ask your circuit clerk. The same section does set a $20 fee per process paid directly to the serving officer.

Can a Kentucky court order me to pay the other parent's fees for filing?

It can, and in one situation it must. KRS 403.340(6) provides that attorney fees and costs shall be assessed against a party seeking modification if the court finds the modification action is vexatious and constitutes harassment. That makes a thin or retaliatory motion an expensive choice.

What happens to parenting time if a Kentucky judge modifies my custody decree?

KRS 403.340(5) applies a presumption, rebuttable by a preponderance of evidence, that joint custody and equally shared parenting time serve the child's best interest. Where a deviation is warranted the court shall build a schedule maximising each parent's time. KRS 403.315 removes the presumption for a party under a domestic violence order.

How to Modify Child Custody in Kentucky

Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team · Kentucky · Last updated October 7, 2026

Kentucky closes the courthouse door for a fixed period, and the only two ways back through it early are written into the statute itself. Modifying child custody here means asking the Circuit Court that entered your existing custody decree to change it because something significant has changed since that decree was signed. KRS 403.340(2) says no motion to modify a custody decree shall be made earlier than two years after its date. The clock runs from the date of the decree, not from a prior motion and not from any outside event. Two things lift it, and each needs the court's permission on affidavits: reason to believe the child's present environment may endanger seriously the child's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health, or reason to believe the custodian named in the prior decree has placed the child with a de facto custodian. Past the two years, KRS 403.340(3) asks whether a change has occurred in the circumstances of the child or the custodian, on facts arising since the decree or unknown to the court then, and whether modification is necessary to serve the child's best interests. Read that wording closely, because the statute says a change, not a material or substantial change. KRS 403.350 then adds a screen that applies every time: you file an affidavit with your motion, and the court shall deny the motion unless the affidavits establish adequate cause for a hearing. A modified order also carries the joint custody and equal parenting time presumption added by 2018 House Bill 528. If a move is driving this, the rule you need is FCRPP 7, not a statute. Attorney review of your filing is available through DocDraft.

Find out where you stand in Kentucky

What is prompting the change to your custody order?

DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.

Is there a waiting period before you can modify custody in Kentucky?

Yes. KRS 403.340(2) provides that no motion to modify a custody decree shall be made earlier than two years after its date. The court may allow an earlier motion only on affidavits showing reason to believe the child's present environment may endanger seriously the child, or that the prior custodian placed the child with a de facto custodian.

How do I modify a child custody order in Kentucky?

File a motion in the Circuit Court that entered the decree, under the same case number. KRS 403.350 requires an affidavit setting out the supporting facts to be submitted with the moving papers, with notice and a copy to the other parties, who may file opposing affidavits before the judge rules on a hearing.

What must a Kentucky parent do before relocating with a child?

Under Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2), written notice must be filed with the court and served on the other parent before a custodian seeks to relocate. The notice states the proposed address, the relocation date, and the effect on court ordered time sharing. No minimum lead time and no mileage threshold appear in the rule.

Which court changes a custody order in Kentucky?

The Circuit Court that entered the order, through its family court division where the county has one. KRS 23A.100 gives a family court division of Circuit Court jurisdiction over child custody and visitation and makes those divisions the primary forum, while preserving the concurrent jurisdiction of District Court.

Kentucky custody modification at a glance

Changing child custody in Kentucky means asking the Circuit Court that entered your existing custody decree to change it because something significant has shifted since that decree. Kentucky is a genuine two year state. KRS 403.340(2) bars the motion itself for two years from the decree date, and only two affidavit grounds unlock it early: serious endangerment in the child's present environment, or placement of the child with a de facto custodian by the prior custodian. The relocation rule is somewhere a parent rarely looks. It is not in the statutes at all. Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2) sets it out, routing written notice to the court and to the other parent, then opening twin 20 day windows for motions, with no distance threshold anywhere in the rule.

A job offer fourteen months after a joint custody decree

Picture a Lexington parent fourteen months past a Fayette County family court decree awarding joint custody, who is offered work in Owensboro. The two year clock in KRS 403.340(2) has not run, so a motion to modify the custody decree is barred unless the court permits it on affidavits alleging serious endangerment or placement with a de facto custodian. The relocation duty is separate and immediate. Under Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2), written notice goes to the court and to the other joint custodian before the move, giving the proposed address, the date, and the effect on time sharing. Because time sharing is affected, that parent then has 20 days from filing the notice to lodge an agreed order or a motion to modify the schedule, and the other parent has 20 days from service to file one. Attorney review of the notice and motion is available.

Relevant Laws

KRS 403.340 (modification of custody decree)

Bars a motion to modify a custody decree earlier than two years after its date unless the court permits it on affidavits alleging serious endangerment or placement with a de facto custodian, sets the change plus necessity standard with six listed considerations, applies the joint custody and equal parenting time presumption to a modified order, and mandates fee shifting for a vexatious modification action.

KRS 403.350 (affidavit and adequate cause screen)

Requires a party seeking modification of a custody decree to submit an affidavit of supporting facts with the moving papers and to give notice and a copy to other parties, who may file opposing affidavits, and directs that the court shall deny the motion unless adequate cause for hearing it is established by the affidavits.

KRS 403.270 (best interest factors and the joint custody presumption)

Carries the rebuttable presumption that joint custody and equally shared parenting time is in the child's best interests, requires the court to consider domestic violence allegations and make written findings before reaching any other factor, and lists the best interest factors including the wishes of the child with no age threshold.

Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7 (custody, including relocation)

The relocation rule, adopted by Kentucky Supreme Court Order 2020-1. Written notice is filed with the court and served on the other parent before a joint or sole custodian seeks to relocate, stating the address, date, and effect on time sharing, and two 20 day windows then run for motions. Confirm against the official rules publication.

KRS 23A.100 (jurisdiction of family court)

Establishes the family court division of Circuit Court, gives it jurisdiction over child custody and visitation among other family matters, and makes family court divisions the primary forum for those cases while preserving the concurrent jurisdiction of District Court.

Regional Variances

Kentucky custody modification levers at a glance

Waiting period before you may file

Two years, and it is a bar on making the motion, not merely a paperwork gate. KRS 403.340(2) runs the clock from the date of the decree being modified, not from the disposition of any earlier motion and not from an outside event. One clock only.

Escapes from the two year bar

Exactly two, both requiring the court's permission on affidavits under KRS 403.340(2): reason to believe the child's present environment may endanger seriously the child's physical, mental, moral, or emotional health, or reason to believe the custodian appointed under the prior decree has placed the child with a de facto custodian.

Standard once the bar has run

KRS 403.340(3) requires a change in the circumstances of the child or the custodian, on facts arising since the prior decree or unknown to the court then, plus a finding that modification is necessary to serve the best interests. The statute says a change, without the words material or substantial.

Relocation notice

Set by court rule, not statute. Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2) requires written notice filed with the court and served on the other parent before a custodian seeks to relocate, carrying the proposed address, the relocation date, and the effect on court ordered time sharing. No minimum lead time is stated.

Relocation distance trigger

None. The rule carries no mileage figure, no state line test, no school district test and no duration test; the trigger is simply that a custodian seeks to relocate. A scan of the custody sections of KRS Chapter 403 returns zero hits for mile and zero for relocat.

Relocation mechanism

A hybrid. The notice is filed with the court, which is file and inform, and the other parent then gets 20 days to move, which is notice then object. What is unusual is that where time sharing is affected the relocating joint custodian must themselves file an agreed order or a modification motion within 20 days of filing the notice.

Procedural screens

Two of them. KRS 403.350 is the statutory one for custody: affidavit with the motion, and the court shall deny the motion unless adequate cause for a hearing appears from the affidavits. Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 8(2) sets a parallel verified or affidavit backed requirement for a motion to modify parenting time.

Court, forms, fee and the child's wishes

Circuit Court, family court division where the county has one, under KRS 23A.100. No statewide form is prescribed for a custody or parenting time modification motion. KRS 23A.200 leaves the filing fee to Supreme Court rule, so confirm it with the circuit clerk. No age threshold exists for a child's preference.

Suggested Compliance Checklist

Pull the decree and write down its date

Before anything else days after starting

KRS 403.340(2) measures two years from the date of the custody decree you want changed. Get the signed decree from the circuit clerk and note the date on its face, because that single date decides whether you file on the ordinary standard or must clear the affidavit route first.

Decide whether you are inside or outside the two year bar

Before drafting days after starting

Outside two years, you argue a change in circumstances plus necessity under KRS 403.340(3). Inside two years, you must give the court a reason to believe one of the two grounds in KRS 403.340(2): serious endangerment in the child's present environment, or placement with a de facto custodian.

Gather dated proof for the affidavit

Before drafting days after starting

The affidavit carries this motion. Collect school records, medical notes, messages, police or protective order paperwork, and a timeline tied to dates since the decree. The judge measures adequate cause from the affidavits alone, so anything you cannot document is unlikely to earn you a hearing.

Draft the motion and the KRS 403.350 affidavit together

When your evidence is assembled days after starting

Kentucky prescribes no statewide form for this motion, so you draft both documents. The affidavit must set forth facts supporting the requested modification and goes in with the moving papers. Attorney review of your motion and affidavit is available through DocDraft.

Prepare the relocation notice if a move is involved

Before you seek to relocate days after starting

Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2) requires written notice containing the proposed relocation address, the date of relocation, and the effect, if any, on court ordered time sharing. It is filed with the court and served on the other parent, and it is separate from your modification motion.

File in the Circuit Court that entered the decree

As soon as the papers are ready days after starting

Use the same case number in the Circuit Court that issued the order, family court division where the county has one. Ask the clerk what the Supreme Court fee rule charges, since KRS 23A.200 leaves the amount to rule, and budget the separate $20 per process fee paid to the serving officer.

Serve the other parent and docket the 20 day windows

Immediately after filing days after starting

KRS 403.350 requires notice and a copy of the affidavit to other parties. For a relocation, calendar both 20 day windows in Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2). Keep following the existing decree until a judge signs a new one, because a unilateral departure is an enforcement problem.

Task	Description	Document	Days after starting
Pull the decree and write down its date	KRS 403.340(2) measures two years from the date of the custody decree you want changed. Get the signed decree from the circuit clerk and note the date on its face, because that single date decides whether you file on the ordinary standard or must clear the affidavit route first.	-	Before anything else
Decide whether you are inside or outside the two year bar	Outside two years, you argue a change in circumstances plus necessity under KRS 403.340(3). Inside two years, you must give the court a reason to believe one of the two grounds in KRS 403.340(2): serious endangerment in the child's present environment, or placement with a de facto custodian.	-	Before drafting
Gather dated proof for the affidavit	The affidavit carries this motion. Collect school records, medical notes, messages, police or protective order paperwork, and a timeline tied to dates since the decree. The judge measures adequate cause from the affidavits alone, so anything you cannot document is unlikely to earn you a hearing.	-	Before drafting
Draft the motion and the KRS 403.350 affidavit together	Kentucky prescribes no statewide form for this motion, so you draft both documents. The affidavit must set forth facts supporting the requested modification and goes in with the moving papers. Attorney review of your motion and affidavit is available through DocDraft.	-	When your evidence is assembled
Prepare the relocation notice if a move is involved	Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2) requires written notice containing the proposed relocation address, the date of relocation, and the effect, if any, on court ordered time sharing. It is filed with the court and served on the other parent, and it is separate from your modification motion.	-	Before you seek to relocate
File in the Circuit Court that entered the decree	Use the same case number in the Circuit Court that issued the order, family court division where the county has one. Ask the clerk what the Supreme Court fee rule charges, since KRS 23A.200 leaves the amount to rule, and budget the separate $20 per process fee paid to the serving officer.	-	As soon as the papers are ready
Serve the other parent and docket the 20 day windows	KRS 403.350 requires notice and a copy of the affidavit to other parties. For a relocation, calendar both 20 day windows in Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice 7(2). Keep following the existing decree until a judge signs a new one, because a unilateral departure is an enforcement problem.	-	Immediately after filing

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Kentucky guides

Adverse Possession in Kentucky: Fifteen Years, or Seven With Record Title

Asset Protection Planning in Kentucky (2026)

Dealing With Debt Collectors in Kentucky (2026)

Expunging a Criminal Record in Kentucky (2026)

Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Kentucky

Filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in Kentucky (2026)

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