How to Fill Out and File a Kentucky Temporary Custody Form

To ask a Kentucky court for temporary custody, you file a packet of documents, not a single Kentucky temporary custody form. The core filing is a verified Petition for Custody together with a Motion for Temporary Custody, a sworn supporting affidavit, a UCCJEA affidavit disclosing the child’s residential history, and a civil cover sheet. You take these to the circuit or family court clerk in the county where the child lives, pay the filing fee, serve the other parent, and the court sets a hearing under KRS 403.280.¹

The Documents You Actually File

Kentucky does not publish a single statewide AOC form labeled “Petition for Temporary Custody.” Many counties and legal aid offices provide local custody packets with fill-in-the-blank versions of the pieces you need. The packet usually contains:

A Petition for Custody identifying the child, both parents, you, and the legal basis for your claim. It must be verified under oath and signed in front of a notary before filing.
A Motion for Temporary Custody asking the court to award custody while the full case is pending. Under KRS 403.280, this motion must be supported by an affidavit.¹
A Supporting Affidavit laying out the specific facts that justify temporary custody: what is happening in the child’s current living situation and why it needs to change now.
A UCCJEA Affidavit disclosing every address where the child lived in the past five years and the adults present at each location. This stops conflicting custody orders from different states.
A Civil Cover Sheet that helps the clerk assign and cross-reference your case.

Two forms get picked up by mistake. Form AOC-852 is a “Petition for Appointment of Guardian/Conservator for Minor,” which is a different proceeding from a custody case.² A guardianship gives you authority over a child’s person or property but does not modify parental rights the way a custody order does. Form AOC-DNA-1 is reserved for dependency, neglect, and abuse cases filed by the state and cannot be used for a private custody petition.³ If you are filing a private custody case, call the circuit clerk in the county where the child lives and ask for the local custody packet, or check the Kentucky Court of Justice website and regional legal aid offices for downloadable versions.

Who Is Allowed to File

You need legal standing. In Kentucky that generally means you are a parent, a de facto custodian, or a person acting as a parent.

A de facto custodian is someone who has been the child’s primary caregiver and financial supporter for a qualifying period. For a child under three, that period is at least six months. For a child three or older, it is one year or more. The time does not have to be one unbroken stretch; Kentucky measures it as an aggregate within the preceding two years. A court must find by clear and convincing evidence that you meet this definition before granting you de facto custodian status.⁴

A person acting as a parent has physical custody of the child and a significant relationship with them, even without meeting the de facto custodian time thresholds. This category often covers relatives who stepped in during a family crisis.

Grandparents do not have an independent right to seek custody. A grandparent who wants custody still needs to qualify as a de facto custodian or person acting as a parent.

How to Complete the Petition and the Affidavit

The petition requires the child’s full name, date of birth, and current address; your name, address, and relationship to the child; and the full names and last known addresses of both biological parents. Missing parent addresses create real problems. The court cannot move forward until every parent has been properly notified, so track down the best address you can.

State your legal basis for standing. If you are claiming de facto custodian status, give specific dates the child lived with you, the caregiving you provided, and the financial support you contributed. A parent seeking custody from the other parent has straightforward standing but still needs to explain why temporary custody should shift.

The supporting affidavit is where your case lives or dies at the temporary stage. KRS 403.280 lets the court rule on affidavits alone if no party objects, so judges often decide these motions on paper.¹ Write with that in mind. “The child’s father has substance abuse problems” is weak. “On March 12, 2026, the child’s father was arrested for DUI while the child was in the vehicle” gives the judge something to act on. For every claim, answer four questions: what happened, when it happened, who was involved, and how it affected the child.

The UCCJEA affidavit asks for every address where the child has lived during the past five years. For each address, identify the period the child lived there and the name of every adult in the household. If you do not have all the information, say what you know and explain the gaps rather than leaving blanks. Also disclose any other custody or visitation proceedings involving the child, in Kentucky or elsewhere.

Every form that requires your signature must be signed in front of a notary public. Do not sign any verification page beforehand. A pre-signed form will be rejected.

Where to File and What It Costs

Take your documents to the circuit clerk’s office, or the family court clerk in counties with a separate family court, in the county where the child currently lives. Kentucky’s eFiling system is available only for attorneys in domestic relations cases. If you are filing without a lawyer, you file in person.⁵

The base filing fee for a civil case in circuit court is $150, plus a mandatory $20 court technology fee and additional local surcharges that vary by county, such as a court facility fee or library fee. Total filing costs in most counties run between $170 and $200.⁶ If you cannot afford the fee, file a Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (Form AOC-026) with a financial affidavit. The court can waive the fee entirely or set a reduced amount.⁷

Once the clerk accepts your paperwork, you receive a case number and a judge assignment. Ask the clerk when the next “motion hour” is scheduled. That is the designated court session for temporary motions, and you need that date to complete the notice section of your temporary custody motion.

Serving the Other Parent

Every parent named in the petition must receive formal notice. Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure 4.04 requires personal service, meaning copies of the summons and petition are delivered directly to each parent, usually by the sheriff.⁸

If a parent lives outside Kentucky, service can be accomplished by certified mail with a return receipt requested. After service is completed, file the proof of service, meaning the sheriff’s return or the signed receipt, with the clerk. The court will not schedule a hearing until it has confirmation that every party was properly served. If you cannot locate a parent despite reasonable effort, ask the court about service by warning order, a published notice that substitutes for personal delivery.

The Hearing and the Temporary Order

Under the Family Court Rules of Procedure and Practice (FCRPP 6), the court must hold a hearing on a temporary custody motion within 60 days of filing, unless good cause justifies a delay.⁹ Some local courts operate on faster timelines; check with your clerk. If no party objects, the judge can decide the motion on the written affidavits without an in-person hearing.¹

Kentucky law creates a rebuttable presumption that joint custody with equal parenting time serves the child’s best interests, and this presumption applies at the temporary stage. If you are asking for sole temporary custody, you bear the burden of showing why joint custody or equal time would not work, typically because the child’s safety, stability, or health would be at risk.¹

The judge may appoint a Guardian Ad Litem, an attorney tasked with representing the child’s interests and giving the court an independent recommendation.¹⁰

If the judge grants your motion, the temporary order must include specific findings of fact and conclusions of law, and it must address how physical custody exchanges will occur. A signed temporary custody order gives you legal authority to enroll the child in school, consent to medical treatment, and handle the child’s day-to-day affairs until the court issues a final custody decree.

If the Child Is in Immediate Danger

The standard petition and motion are not the right tool when a child faces immediate danger. Kentucky allows emergency custody orders under KRS 620.060 when there are reasonable grounds to believe the child is in danger of imminent death, serious physical injury, or sexual abuse, when a parent has repeatedly inflicted physical or emotional harm, or when a parent’s failure to provide for the child’s safety puts the child in immediate danger.¹¹

Emergency orders fall under the dependency, neglect, and abuse framework rather than the private custody statutes. The court reviews evidence through an affidavit or recorded sworn testimony and considers whether the child’s best interests require removal, whether staying in the home is contrary to the child’s welfare, and whether less restrictive alternatives exist. If the court issues an emergency order, it must schedule a temporary removal hearing promptly, and the order itself remains in effect for a maximum of 45 calendar days from the child’s removal, although a judge can extend it with written findings that the extension serves the child’s best interests.¹²

What the Temporary Order Does and Doesn’t Cover

A temporary custody order does not erase the other parent’s rights. Under KRS 403.320, a parent who does not receive custody is still entitled to reasonable visitation unless the court finds, after a hearing, that visitation would seriously endanger the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health.¹³ Either party can ask the court to spell out a specific schedule, including frequency, timing, duration, and conditions. When domestic violence allegations exist, the court must hold a hearing to craft an arrangement that protects both the child and the custodial party.

Child support is a separate matter. In dissolution, legal separation, or child support proceedings, either party can file a motion for temporary child support. The court must issue a temporary support order within 14 days of that motion, and the amount is retroactive to the filing date.¹⁴ If your custody case is not part of a dissolution, you may need to file a separate child support action. The Kentucky Child Support Enforcement Office is limited by law to collecting and enforcing support payments and does not handle custody or visitation issues.¹⁵

Temporary orders do not expire on their own. A temporary custody order stays in effect until the court issues a final custody decree, the underlying case is dismissed, or a party successfully moves to modify it. If a dissolution case is dismissed, any temporary custody order is automatically vacated unless someone moves to continue the custody proceeding on its own.¹ To modify a temporary order, the requesting party must show a material and substantial change in circumstances affecting the parents, the de facto custodian, or the child. Routine changes like a new work schedule or a minor parenting disagreement are not enough.

Mistakes That Delay or Sink the Filing

Filing the wrong form is the most frequent problem. People confuse guardianship (AOC-852) with custody or try to use dependency forms (AOC-DNA-1) for a private custody dispute. Make sure you are filing a custody petition and a motion for temporary custody.

A weak affidavit is the next most common issue. If your affidavit reads like a list of complaints rather than a factual narrative with specific dates, incidents, and consequences for the child, the court has nothing to act on. Judges often decide these motions on paper alone.

Incomplete service of process stalls cases for weeks. If you cannot locate a parent, tell the court immediately rather than letting the case sit. Failing to file proof of service means no hearing gets scheduled. And if you are filing without a lawyer, remember you cannot use eFiling for domestic relations cases, so plan to go to the clerk’s office in person.

1
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 403.280 – Temporary Custody Orders
2
Kentucky Court of Justice. AOC-852 – Petition for Appointment of Guardian/Conservator for Minor
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Kentucky Rules – Rule 6 Dependency, Neglect, and Abuse
4
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky House Bill 597
5
Kentucky Court of Justice. Rules for eFiling
6
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 3.02 – Circuit Civil Fees and Costs
7
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Kentucky Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 54 – Motions to Proceed In Forma Pauperis and Appoint Counsel
8
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure 4.04 – Personal Service
9
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. FCRPP 6 General Provisions
10
Finance and Administration Cabinet. Guardian Ad Litem
11
Kentucky Court of Justice. Order Granting/Denying Emergency Custody (AOC-DNA-2)
12
Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Expiration of Temporary Custody Order to the Cabinet
13
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 403.320 – Visitation of Minor Child
14
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statute 403.160 – Temporary Orders
15
Kentucky Child Support Interactive. Frequently Asked Questions