{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-403.211","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 403.211","heading":"Action to establish or enforce child support -- Rebuttable presumption for","body":"award -- Allocation of child -care costs and health care expenses -- Order for\npayment of health care coverage -- Noncustodial parent's health plan --\nAttachment of income -- Credit for disability payments.\n(1) An action to establish or enforce child support may be initiated by the parent,\ncustodian, or agency substantially contributing to the support of the child. The\naction may be brought in the county in which  the child resides or where the\ndefendant resides.\n(2) At the time of initial establishment of a child support order, whether temporary or\npermanent, or in any proceeding to modify a support order, the child support\nguidelines in KRS 403.212 or 403.2122 sh all serve as a rebuttable presumption for\nthe establishment or modification of the amount of child support. Courts may\ndeviate from the guidelines where their application would be unjust or\ninappropriate. Any deviation shall be accompanied by a written fin ding or specific\nfinding on the record by the court, specifying the reason for the deviation.\n(3) A written finding or specific finding on the record that the application of the\nguidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case shall be suff icient to\nrebut the presumption and allow for an appropriate adjustment of the guideline\naward if based upon one (1) or more of the following criteria:\n(a) A child's extraordinary medical or dental needs;\n(b) A child's extraordinary educational, job training, or special needs;\n(c) Either parent's own extraordinary needs, such as medical expenses;\n(d) The independent financial resources, if any, of the child or children;\n(e) Combined monthly adjusted parental gross income in excess of the Kentucky\nchild support guidelines;\n(f) The parents of the child, having demonstrated knowledge of the amount of\nchild support established by the Kentucky child support guidelines, have\nagreed to child support different from the guideline amount. However, no\nsuch agreement shall be the basis of any deviation if public assistance is being\npaid on behalf of a child under the provisions of Part D of Title IV of the\nFederal Social Security Act;\n(g) Failure by one (1) party to consistently exercise the court -ordered timesharing\nschedule or timesharing agreement between the parents; and\n(h) Any similar factor of an extraordinary nature specifically identified by the\ncourt which would make application of the guidelines inappropriate.\n(4) \"Extraordinary\" as used in this section shall be determined by the court in its\ndiscretion.\n(5) When a party has defaulted or the court is otherwise presented with insufficient\nevidence to determine gross income, the court shall order child support based upon\nthe needs of the child or the previous standard of living of the child, whichever is\ngreater. An order en tered by default or due to insufficient evidence to determine\ngross income may be modified upward and arrearages awarded from the date of the\noriginal order if evidence of gross income is presented within two (2) years which\nwould have established a higher  amount of child support pursuant to the child\nsupport guidelines set forth in KRS 403.212 or 403.2122.\n(6) The court shall allocate between the parents, in proportion to their combined\nmonthly adjusted parental gross income, reasonable and necessary child  care costs\nincurred due to employment, job search, or education leading to employment, in\naddition to the amount ordered under the child support guidelines.\n(7) (a) Pursuant to 45 C.F.R. sec. 303.31(a)(2), for the purposes of this section,\n\"health care co verage\" includes fee for service, health maintenance\norganization, preferred provider organization, and other types of private\nhealth insurance and public health care coverage under which medical\nservices could be provided to a dependent child. If health c are coverage is\nreasonable in cost and accessible to either parent at the time the request for\ncoverage is made, the court shall order the parent to obtain or maintain\ncoverage, and the court shall allocate between the parents, in proportion to\ntheir combi ned monthly adjusted parental gross income, the cost of health\ncare coverage for the child, in addition to the support ordered under the child\nsupport guidelines.\n(b) A parent, who has one hundred percent (100%) of the combined monthly\nadjusted parental gr oss income, shall be entitled to a reduction in gross\nincome of the entire amount of premiums incurred and paid.\n(c) The court shall order the cost of health care coverage of the child to be paid\nby either or both parents of the child regardless of who has  physical custody.\nThe court order shall include:\n1. A judicial directive designating which parent shall have financial\nresponsibility for providing health care coverage for the dependent\nchild, which shall include but not be limited to health care coverag e,\npayments of necessary health care deductibles or copayments;\n2. If appropriate, cash medical support. \"Cash medical support\" means an\namount to be paid toward the cost of health care coverage, fixed\npayments for ongoing medical costs, extraordinary medi cal expenses, or\nany combination thereof; and\n3. A statement providing that if the designated parent's health care\ncoverage provides for covered services for dependent children beyond\nthe age of majority, then any unmarried children up to twenty -five (25)\nyears of age who are full -time students enrolled in and attending an\naccredited educational institution and who are primarily dependent on\nthe insured parent for maintenance and support shall be covered.\n(d) If health care coverage is not reasonable in cos t and accessible at the time the\nrequest for the coverage is made, the court order shall provide for cash\nmedical support until health care coverage becomes reasonable in cost and\naccessible.\n(8) (a) For purposes of this section, \"reasonable in cost\" means  that the cost of\ncoverage to the responsible parent does not exceed five percent (5%) of his or\nher gross income. The five percent (5%) standard shall apply to the cost of\nadding the child to an existing policy, the difference in the cost between a\nsingle and a family policy, or the cost of acquiring a separate policy to cover\nthe child. If the parties agree or the court finds good cause exists, the court\nmay order health care coverage in excess of five percent (5%) of the parent's\ngross income.\n(b) For purposes of this section, \"accessible\" means that there are providers who\nmeet the health care needs of the child and who are located no more than sixty\n(60) minutes or sixty (60) miles from the child's primary residence, except\nthat nothing shall prohibit u se of a provider located more than sixty (60)\nminutes or sixty (60) miles from the child's primary residence.\n(9) The initial two hundred fifty dollars ($250) of medical expenses shall be covered by\nthe parent who maintains health insurance for the child o r children subject to the\norder per calendar year, unless the parties have agreed otherwise.\n(10) (a) The cost of extraordinary medical expenses shall be allocated between the\nparties in proportion to their combined monthly adjusted parental gross\nincomes.\n(b) 1. \"Extraordinary medical expenses\" means uninsured expenses in excess\nof two hundred fifty dollars ($250) for the child or children subject to\nthe order per calendar year.\n2. \"Extraordinary medical expenses\" includes but is not limited to the costs\nthat are reasonably necessary for medical, surgical, dental, orthodontal,\noptometric, nursing, and hospital services; for professional counseling or\npsychiatric therapy for diagnosed medical disorders; and for drugs and\nmedical supplies, appliances, labor atory, diagnostic, and therapeutic\nservices.\n(11) The court order shall include the Social Security numbers, provided in accordance\nwith KRS 403.135, of all parties subject to a support order.\n(12) In any case administered by the Cabinet for Health and Fam ily Services, if the\nparent ordered to provide health care coverage is enrolled through an insurer but\nfails to enroll the child under family coverage, the other parent or the Cabinet for\nHealth and Family Services may, upon application, enroll the child.\n(13) In any case administered by the cabinet, information received or transmitted shall\nnot be published or be open for public inspection, including reasonable evidence of\ndomestic violence or child abuse if the disclosure of the information could be\nharmful to the custodial parent or the child of the parent. Necessary information and\nrecords may be furnished as specified by KRS 205.175.\n(14) In the case in which a parent is obligated to provide health care coverage, and\nchanges employment, and the new empl oyer provides health care coverage, the\nCabinet for Health and Family Services shall transfer notice of the provision for\ncoverage for the child to the employer, which shall operate to enroll this child in the\nobligated parent's health plan, unless the obl igated parent contests the notice as\nspecified by KRS Chapter 13B.\n(15) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any wage or income shall not\nbe exempt from attachment or assignment for the payment of current child support\nor owed or to-be-owed child support.\n(16) A payment of money received by a child as a result of a parental disability shall be\ncredited against the child support obligation of the parent. A payment shall not be\ncounted as income to either parent when calculating a child suppor t obligation. An\namount received in excess of the child support obligation shall be credited against a\nchild support arrearage owed by the parent that accrued subsequent to the date of\nthe parental disability, but shall not be applied to an arrearage that accrued prior to\nthe date of disability. The date of disability shall be as determined by the paying\nagency.","path":["KRS Chapter 403"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=55604","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:59:29Z","sha256":"37a59f328df022098a1503c983476ce0f8aa8016f1b72827b82ea876d7f2d06f","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-403.210","next":"us-ky/krs-403.212"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}