The Pending Tragedy in Kentucky’s Family Court System

Blog Post | 111 KY. L. J. ONLINE | March 23, 2023

The Pending Tragedy in Kentucky’s Family Court System

By: Caleb B. Childers, Staff Editor, Vol. 111

In 1988, the Kentucky General Assembly passed a Concurrent Resolution to establish a “Family Court Feasibility Task Force.”[1] At the time, Kentucky had no Family Court System.[2] Instead, the responsibilities commonly associated with the modern Family Court, such as divorce and child custody, were distributed among the already existing levels of the Commonwealth’s judicial system.[3] As a result of the task force’s findings, in 1991 the Kentucky Supreme Court created a pilot project in Jefferson County to oversee the viability of developing a Family Court system within the Commonwealth.[4] It was a resounding success.[5] Over thirty years later, with the passage of a constitutional amendment making “Family Court a permanent part of the Kentucky Constitution[6] . . . with more than 75 percent of the vote,”[7] the Kentucky Family Court system has indeed seen many successes.[8] Touted under the “One Family, One Judge, One Court” mantra, Kentucky’s Family Court System espouses the promise that it allows “the same judge to hear all matters involving a particular family.”[9] Contrary to this mantra, however, it appears that two counties, and nearly 26,000 people, are at risk of being kicked out of this judicial family called Family Court.[10]

Effective April 30, 2023, the citizens of Knott and Magoffin Counties are losing access to the one judge, one court mantra of Family Court.[11] In December 2022, the former Chief Justice terminated the Knott and Magoffin County Family Court, a renowned and “successful national model” for Family Court “at the request of” its presiding judge.[12] Launched in 2001, the citizens of Knott and Magoffin Counties were part of the statewide approach of initiating pilot programs to slowly launch access to the budding Family Court system.[13] This “Family Court Pilot Project” combined the judicial circuits and districts of Knott, Magoffin, and Floyd Counties into the “Floyd, Knott and Magoffin Family Court Project” with one judge presiding over the project.[14] This special judge for the 31st and 36th judicial circuit presided over the program since its inception over twenty years ago without issue.[15]

Less than one year from the catastrophic flooding in the area, citizens from both Knott and Magoffin are suffering yet another loss. In reverting to the pre-Family Court system, different courts will again have different jurisdictions over family law matters rather than having “all matters involving a particular family”[16] stay within one court.[17] While the Family Court docket in the 31st will significantly shrink, judges in the 36th Judicial Circuit and District must take on far more cases and be significantly hampered in performing their duties. On top of the already backlogged caseloads in the two counties that were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding this past summer, by terminating Family Court the backlog only grows.[18] Further, the order implicitly forces the current judges in the 36th to essentially return to law school in a sense. These judges must learn a new body of law to properly address the issues that these cases will present, having never presided over issues such as these.

Something must change. Nowhere in the Commonwealth has there been such a complete loss of an entire court system such as there currently is in Knott and Magoffin, since the program is itself, one of a kind.[19] Therefore, what can be done?

The Kentucky General Assembly must act to correct the abdication of responsibility the order permits, and it must do so quickly with sine die approaching. There are two paths in fixing this travesty, (1) the Supreme Court can certify the need for a Family Court judge and the General Assembly can create a permanent judicial seat in the 36th for Family Court. (2) The General Assembly could simply ratify the prior Family Court Pilot Project as permanent and mandate that the presiding judge perform his duties. Although the order states that the General Assembly never approved the prior arrangement, that is not the case. In the creation of the 31st Family Court judgeship by the Supreme Court and General Assembly, it was understood that the seat was created in order to serve the both the 31st and 36th.[20] Therefore by terminating access in the 36th, over half of the people it was created to serve lose access. Further, funding by the General Assembly is allocated every budget session, and within each budget is funding for this seat. By funding the project for over twenty years, the General Assembly illustrated its commitment to the arrangement. After twenty plus years of access, terminating access to Family Court only further impoverishes an area of the Commonwealth that is already hurting. The General Assembly must act and resolve the issue before the April 30th deadline and 26,000 people lose access to Kentucky’s “national model”[21] of Family Court. 

[1] Joseph H. Brown, State Just. Inst., Rural Family Courts in Kentucky: Lessons Learned 9 (2001); 1988 Ky. Acts Ch. 128, H.C.R. 30.

[2] Brown, supra note 1, at 10.

[3] Erin J. May, Social Reform for Kentucky’s Judicial System: The Creation of Unified Family Courts, 92 Ky. L.J. 571, 573-74 (2003).

[4] Id. at 579.

[5] Id. at 584.

[6] Family Court, Kentucky Court of Justice, https://kycourts.gov/Courts/Family-Court/Pages/default.aspx (last visited Feb. 15, 2023).

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] See In Re: Rescinding Special Judge Appointment in the 36th Judicial Circuit and District, entered by Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. on Dec. 21, 2022, effective Apr. 30, 2023.

[11] Id.

[12] Family Court, supra note 6

[13] See In Re: Order Assigning Special Judge, entered by Chief Justice Joseph Lambert on Aug. 14, 2002, effective Mar. 1, 2001, nun pro tunc.

[14] Id.

[15] See In Re: Order Approving the Local Rules of Practice and Procedure, for the 31st and 36th Judicial Circuits Family Court Division, Floyd, Knott, and Magoffin Counties, entered by Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. on May 9, 2012 (By reapproving the local rules, the Supreme Court of Kentucky underscored the value and importance of the program and lack of any issue).

[16] Family Court, supra note 6.

[17] Keaton Hall and Ethan Sirles, Extensive Damage Throughout the City of Hindman Following Flooding, (Jul. 28, 2022 at 11:06 AM), https://www.wymt.com/2022/07/28/one-dead-many-still-missing-knott-county-following-overnight-flooding/.

[18] Knott, Kentucky Court of Justice, https://kycourts.gov/Courts/County-Information/Pages/Knott.aspx (last visited Feb. 15, 2023).

[19] See supra note 10.

[20] See supra note 15.

[21] Family Court, supra note 6.