Kentucky Court of Justice
Chief Justice Lambert announces Family Court is coming to Kenton County by January 2007

FRANKFORT, Ky., Oct. 12, 2005 ¾ Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert announced today that Kenton County citizens will gain access to the services of Family Court in January 2007. Kenton is currently the largest county in Kentucky without the benefits of Family Court.

Family Court became a permanent part of the Kentucky Constitution when voters approved the Family Court amendment in the November 2002 general election with more than 75 percent of the vote and passage in all 120 Kentucky counties. Kenton County voted overwhelmingly for Family Court, with 79 percent of the voters saying yes to the amendment.

“This was a strong statement of support for Family Court from the voters of Kenton County,” said Chief Justice Lambert. "It is time to fulfill our promise to the people of the 16th Judicial Circuit and assist them with their heavy family law caseload."

Currently there are four Circuit Court divisions and four District Court divisions in Kenton County. The implementation of Family Court will occur by transforming one Circuit Court division into a Family Court division and by assigning one District Court judge to also serve in Family Court.

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. Today Kentucky Family Court serves more than 2 million Kentuckians in 43 counties.

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