Timeline in Kentucky

The 60-Day Living-Apart Rule

KRS 403.170(1) requires the spouses to have lived apart for 60 days before any decree of dissolution can be entered. Kentucky defines living apart broadly. It expressly includes living under the same roof without sexual cohabitation. A couple who can't yet afford or arrange separate housing can still satisfy this requirement while under one roof, as long as they aren't functioning as a married couple in that home.

A Separate 60-Day Rule for Cases With Children

If the marriage produced minor children, KRS 403.044 imposes an additional, separately triggered 60-day rule. No testimony other than on temporary motions can be taken or heard until 60 days have passed from whichever comes first. That could be service of the summons, the appointment of a warning-order attorney, or the filing of an entry of appearance or responsive pleading by the other spouse. This clock is distinct from the living-apart clock in KRS 403.170(1), since it's tied to service or appearance rather than to how long the spouses have physically lived apart. Both requirements must be satisfied in a case involving children before it can be finalized.

Residency: 180 Days

KRS 403.140(1)(a) requires at least one spouse to have resided in Kentucky for the 180 days immediately before the petition is filed. Being stationed there while a member of the armed services also counts. Kentucky was one of the earliest states to move to pure no-fault divorce, abolishing all fault-based grounds and defenses by statute in 1972. The only question a court asks is whether the marriage is irretrievably broken with no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.

How an Uncontested Case Moves, and What Delays It

Kentucky has no separate statutory summary or simplified dissolution track distinct from the standard no-fault process. An uncontested case where both spouses agree, and neither denies the marriage is irretrievably broken, can move through the standard KRS 403.170(1) process without the additional fact-finding a contested case requires. That functions as Kentucky's de facto fast path rather than a formally separate procedure.

Kentucky doesn't publish a standardized fill-in-the-blank statewide petition form or a general civil fee-waiver form the way many states do. Self-represented filers are routed instead to a guided-interview tool linked from the official Self-Help Portal. Paper filing at the county Circuit Court Clerk's office remains the reliable path, since Kentucky's next-generation e-filing platform for pro se filers has not launched statewide.