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Kentucky Court of Justice 
Chief Justice Lambert announces additional Family Court judge for Fayette County
LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 19, 2005 -- Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert has announced that Fayette County will gain one additional Family Court division to assist with the growing family law caseload in the 22nd Judicial Circuit. The change will take effect Jan. 1, 2007.
"Three years ago, the voters of Fayette County were 82 percent in favor of making Family Court a permanent part of the Kentucky Constitution," said Chief Justice Lambert. "We implemented Fayette Family Court several months after the Family Court amendment was approved and now we must add another judge to fulfill our promise to this county's families and children. This change will only enhance Fayette Circuit Court's fine reputation."
Currently there are nine Circuit Court divisions in Fayette County, six for civil/criminal cases and three for family law. This change will occur by transforming one civil/criminal division into a family law division. This will provide four circuit judges to handle family law cases and five circuit judges to handle civil/criminal cases. The changes are as follows:
Current Divisions Divisions Effective Jan. 1, 2007
Division 1, Family Family
Division 2, Civil/Criminal Family
Division 3, Civil/Criminal Civil/Criminal
Division 4, Civil/Criminal Civil/Criminal
Division 5, Civil/Criminal Family
Division 6, Family Family
Division 7, Civil/Criminal Civil/Criminal
Division 8, Civil/Criminal Civil/Criminal
Division 9, Family Civil/Criminal
Family Court is a division of Circuit Court, Kentucky's highest trial court level. It employs full-time judges with the same qualifications as those who serve other divisions of Circuit Court. Family Court provides one judge to hear all of a family’s issues relating to divorce, child custody, adoption, termination of parental rights, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect. Because Family Court is devoted exclusively to cases involving families and children, family law cases do not compete for court time with criminal and other civil cases. Family Court became a permanent part of the Kentucky Constitution with passage of an amendment in the 2002 general election. Today Kentucky Family Court serves more than 2 million Kentuckians in 43 counties. Fayette Family Court became fully operational in June 2003.
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