WomensLaw serves and supports all survivors.

Legal Information: Kentucky

Custody

View all
Laws current as of December 10, 2025

Who can file for custody?

In Kentucky, you can file for custody if you are:

  • a parent; or
  • a “de facto custodian.”1

A “de facto custodian” is a person who has been the child’s primary caregiver and who financially supported the child. Also, within the last two years, the child must have lived with this person for the following amount of time:

  • if the child is less than three years old, a total of six months or more;
  • if the child is three years old or older, a total of one year or more; or
  • if the child has been placed with the person by the Department for Community Based Services, a total of one year or more.2

​Once a judge determines that a person meets the definition of de facto custodian, that person has the same right to file for custody that a parent has.2

1 See Ky. Rev. Stat. § 403.270
2 Ky. Rev. Stat. § 403.270(1)

Legal Information

© 2008–2025 WomensLaw.org is a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, Inc. All rights reserved. This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). NNEDV is a 501©(3) non-profit organization; EIN 52-1973408.