“Kentucky's popular joint-custody law shows why it's the most effective at helping families”

By Matt Hale

Last year, Kentucky passed the nation’s first complete “shared parenting law,” which was called the state’s most popular law of the year. The law created a starting point that both parents have equal child custody time if the parents are fit caregivers. The Bluegrass State’s citizens voiced their support by a whopping factor of 6 to 1. Now, the Administrative Office of the Courts has issued a report that the law is as effective as it is popular.

Quite simply, the new law’s results are spectacular. Kentucky’s family court caseload and domestic violence cases had been rising, which is expected because our state’s population is increasing. But, in early July 2017, that trend abruptly stopped and family court cases and domestic violence filings began declining. Why? July 2017 is when Kentucky implemented a partial version of the shared parenting law. The next July, Kentucky’s full-blown shared parenting law took effect and the family court caseload and domestic violence filings dropped further.