To file for child support in Kentucky, submit an Application for Child Support Services to the Department for Income Support, either online through the Kentucky Child Support Interactive portal at csws.chfs.ky.gov or on paper at your local child support office. You will need identifying and income information for yourself, your children, and the other parent. Once the agency opens your case, it serves the other parent, and a court applies Kentucky’s income-based guidelines at a hearing to set the monthly support amount.
What to Gather Before You Apply
Collect your paperwork first. Pulling it together before you start the application cuts down on the back-and-forth that stalls cases.
For yourself, your children, and the other parent, you need full legal names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. For each child, you also need the birth certificate, which confirms the legal parent-child relationship and helps the agency check existing paternity records.
Kentucky calculates support from both parents’ incomes, so income documentation is central. Have ready:
- Your last three pay stubs
- Your most recent federal and state tax returns
- Proof of any other income, such as rental payments or self-employment earnings
- The other parent’s employer name and address, if you know them
Bring copies of any existing court orders that involve the children: divorce decrees, custody agreements, or prior support orders from another state. These keep the agency from creating conflicting obligations. If either parent currently provides health insurance for the children, have the policy details on hand.
Finally, anything that helps locate the other parent is worth including even when a field looks optional. A physical description, current address, and vehicle information can save weeks if the other parent proves hard to find.
Submitting the Application
The primary form is the Application for Child Support Services (Form KISPT-BSP-1), available through the Kentucky Child Support Interactive portal or in paper form at your local child support office. Filing online tends to be the fastest route: you submit through csws.chfs.ky.gov and receive electronic confirmation immediately, and typing the fields avoids the handwriting errors that slow paper submissions.
If you file on paper, you can mail the printed application to your local child support office or hand-deliver it. Keep a photocopy of everything you submit.
Several sections of the form deal with medical support and paternity. You indicate whether the child already has health insurance or whether a parent should be ordered to provide coverage, and if the child’s father has not been legally established, the form prompts you to start that process. Your answers here shape the final order, so take them seriously.
Fill out every field completely. The most common reason for processing delays is the agency circling back for missing information.
An application fee of up to $25 applies if you are not receiving Medicaid, foster care, or cash assistance benefits.1Administration for Children and Families. Is There an Application Fee? Pay by money order or check so the application is not rejected for non-payment.
If Paternity Hasn’t Been Established
Before a court can order support, the child’s father must be legally identified. Kentucky handles this in two ways. When the father comes forward voluntarily, both parents can sign an acknowledgment of paternity. When paternity is disputed, the Office of the Attorney General can order genetic testing.
The state initially covers the cost of genetic testing, but if the test confirms paternity, the father is responsible for reimbursing that cost. In a contested case, the child, the mother, and the alleged father must all submit to testing unless someone shows good cause why it cannot be performed. If the original result is challenged, the person contesting it pays in advance for additional testing.2Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 405.430 – Genetic Testing to Establish Paternity
Providing false information during the paternity process is a Class A misdemeanor and can result in financial penalties equal to the difference between the correct and incorrect child support calculations.3Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 405.991 – Penalties
What Happens After You File
Once the agency receives your application, it assigns a case number and begins administrative processing. You should receive a written confirmation notice by mail within roughly 10 to 20 days.4Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Frequently Asked Questions – Kentucky Child Support Website That notice confirms your case is open and the legal review has started.
The agency then works to locate the non-custodial parent and serve them with formal notice of the support request. This step can be quick if the parent’s address and employer are known, or it can stretch into weeks or months if the agency needs to track them down through employment databases, tax records, or other government systems. The case cannot move to a hearing until the other parent is properly served.
What to Bring to the Hearing
After service is complete, the court schedules a hearing to set the support amount. Kentucky’s Family Court Rules lay out what each side must bring. The parent seeking support files:
- A completed child support guidelines worksheet
- The last three pay stubs, or proof of self-employment income
- The most recent federal and state tax returns
- Verification of what health insurance costs for the children
The other parent must file the same documents with the court and serve them on the requesting parent at least 24 hours before the hearing.5Kentucky Courts. Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice If a party fails to appear, the court can proceed without them and take evidence from whoever is present. Preparation pays off: if you show up with complete documentation and the other parent does not, the court works with what it has.
The judge or hearing officer reviews both parents’ income, applies the guideline table, and considers any relevant factors such as child care costs or existing support obligations for other children. The resulting order specifies the monthly support amount, who provides health insurance, and how payments are made. It is legally binding from the date it is entered.
How Kentucky Calculates the Amount
Kentucky uses an income shares model. The court looks at what both parents earn together and splits the child support obligation proportionally based on each parent’s share of that combined income. The specific dollar amounts come from a guideline table in the statute, which courts treat as a presumptive starting point.6Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.211 – Action to Establish or Enforce Child Support
Here is how the calculation runs. The court adds both parents’ adjusted gross monthly incomes together, then looks up the combined total on the guideline table to find the base child support obligation for the number of children involved. That base obligation is divided between the parents in proportion to their individual incomes. The parent who does not have primary custody pays their share to the custodial parent. The minimum support amount under the guidelines is $60 per month.7Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.212 – Child Support Guidelines
For a rough sense of scale: if the parents’ combined adjusted gross income is $4,000 per month with one child, the guideline amount is $621. With two children at the same income, it jumps to $912. For incomes above the top of the table, the court has discretion to set an appropriate amount.7Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.212 – Child Support Guidelines
Courts can deviate from the guidelines when applying them would be unjust, but any deviation must be accompanied by a written finding explaining why.6Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.211 – Action to Establish or Enforce Child Support In split custody situations where each parent has physical custody of at least one child, two separate worksheets are prepared and the parent with the larger obligation pays the difference to the other parent.7Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.212 – Child Support Guidelines
Filing When the Other Parent Lives Out of State
You can still file your initial application through a Kentucky child support office even if the other parent lives elsewhere. Kentucky follows the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, adopted in KRS Chapter 407,8Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes – Chapter 407 and the Kentucky agency cooperates with the other state’s enforcement agency to serve the out-of-state parent and establish the order. The process takes longer than a purely in-state case, but the legal machinery exists to handle it.
The core principle under the Act is that only one state can have a controlling support order at a time. If a Kentucky court later needs to modify an existing order, Kentucky keeps that authority only as long as at least one party still lives here. If both parents have left Kentucky, modification has to be pursued in the state where the other parent lives.
Changing the Order Later
Support orders can be revisited when life changes. Kentucky allows a modification when there has been a substantial and continuing change in circumstances that causes the support obligation to increase or decrease by 15% or more.4Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Frequently Asked Questions – Kentucky Child Support Website Common triggers include a significant raise or job loss, a change in custody, or a change in the child’s medical needs.
To request a modification, file a motion with the court and provide the same financial documentation required at the original hearing: a completed guidelines worksheet, your last three pay stubs, and your most recent tax returns.5Kentucky Courts. Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice The other parent must respond with their own financial documents at least 24 hours before the hearing. The court then reruns the guideline calculation with updated numbers.
One thing people get wrong: you cannot stop paying or reduce your payments on your own just because your income dropped. The existing order stays in effect until a court officially changes it. If you wait months to file for a modification, you will owe the original amount for every month that passes in the meantime.