Question: Is there a residency requirement in Kentucky before someone can file for child support? I know that someone must be there for 6 months to file for divorce.
I live in Ohio, but my wife left and took the kids to Kentucky and now has filed for child support. It has only been 2 months since she left.
Answer: You are correct that Kentucky does have a residency requirement for filing divorce as most states do.
The purpose of the residency requirement is to prevent people from fleeing to states with more favorable divorce laws when they want to file for divorce. While child support is an issue in a dissolution of marriage, when there are children, child support can also be established in several different actions that do not have the same residence requirement as a dissolution of marriage.
Without knowing the specific facts of your case, or knowing what your wife has filed in Kentucky, it is impossible to determine what procedure your wife is using to attempt to establish support in Kentucky.
Jason Bowman is an attorney in the Louisville, Kentucky office of Cordell & Cordell, P.C. He is licensed in the states of Kentucky and Texas. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Louisville, and received his Juris Doctor from Texas Wesleyan University.
