Kentucky revises custody findings concerning abuse allegations

Kentucky's 2026 chapter 92 changes the order of consideration in custody determinations under KRS 403.270. Before considering the other enumerated factors, a court must consider allegations of domestic violence and abuse or of an abused or neglected child committed by one party against another party or a child of the parties, and make written findings on the record about the impact, if any, on the child.

The act retains, subject to KRS 403.315, the rebuttable presumption that joint custody and equally shared parenting time is in the child's best interests. It moves the list of other relevant factors into subsection (4), after the new written-findings provision, and includes a factor concerning a finding that a party maliciously made an intentionally false child-abuse allegation known to have no basis in fact.

The same act amends KRS 403.315 to provide a separate rebuttable presumption against joint custody and equally shared parenting time if the court finds two or more acts of domestic violence and abuse against another party. It also establishes conditions and later hearings before custody or unsupervised visitation may be awarded to a party found to have committed the specified acts. Those provisions should be read in full and applied alongside the other governing law.

The act was signed April 10, 2026. The official codified KRS 403.270 history identifies July 15, 2026 as the effective date for its amendment. Other sections of chapter 92 have different express effective dates; this report does not assign those dates to section 3.