A. Sessions for Family Court shall be held in each county of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit. The motion docket schedule and the holiday schedule is available upon request to the Circuit Clerk, the Family Court Office, on the Family Court website and via email transmission to attorneys who have provided an email address to the Family Court Office.

A. From time to time schedule modifications may be made at the discretion of the Family Court Judge and such changes will be made available as soon as practicable in the same manner set forth herein.

B. There shall be no motion hour during dates of judicial training, except for new cases of domestic violence if required by statutory time limits. If the court is closed for any unforeseen reason, i.e. inclement weather, all matters will be renoticed for a subsequent motion hour.

A. Unless otherwise allowed by rule or statute, all motions to be set on a docket must be filed with the Circuit Clerk and served on the opposing parties or attorney, if represented, and clocked no later than close of business 10 days in advance of the scheduled motion date. All responses must be filed with the Circuit Clerk and served on the opposing parties or attorney, if represented, and clocked no later than close of business 3 days in advance of the scheduled motion date. Failure to timely respond to a motion may be grounds for granting the motion. Further, the Court may impose sanctions upon an attorney or party for failure to comply with this rule, including overruling the motion or not considering the response.

B. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, all motions untimely filed or improperly noticed shall be automatically passed to and docketed by the Circuit Clerk for the next appropriate motion hour. It is the responsibility of the parties and attorneys to check both the Family Court calendar prior to filing pleadings and the Family Court docket prior to motion hour. The Circuit Clerk is not responsible for informing parties or attorneys that an untimely filed or improperly noticed motion has been set on the next motion docket.

C. Motions for matters in Family Court, not an emergency, shall be noticed for the beginning of the appropriate regularly scheduled motion docket, unless otherwise advised by the Family Court Judge or Family Court Office. It is the responsibility of counsel and parties to check the web site or with the Circuit Clerk to determine the appropriate time and place for any motion docket.

D. Arraignment on bench warrants served shall be heard on the appropriate regularly scheduled motion docket.

E. Any motion on which arguments need to be heard or evidence taken may be passed by the Court to a hearing date or heard at the end of the motion hour docket.

F. The docket for calendared proceedings in each respective county is controlled by the Family Court Judge. No calendared proceeding shall be removed from the motion docket or hearing docket, without prior approval of the Family Court Judge and no proceeding may be placed on the docket without the proper written pleadings, or other authorization of the Family Court Judge or Family Court Office.

A. Electronic Filing or Service.

B. No document shall be filed in the Court record unless the document is accompanied by a proper motion with a certification of service upon the opposing parties that the motion and its attachments have been properly served on all parties or the document is accompanied by a notice of filing of said document with a certification of service that the document has been properly served on all parties. Exhibits properly marked and introduced in a Court hearing are an exception.

C. Any filing to be served by certified mail shall include the completed certified mail cards and return receipts. The return card shall reflect the Circuit Clerk's address. Upon receipt of the return card, the Circuit Clerk shall enter this document into the record.

D. Pursuant to CR 5.01, “... every pleading subsequent to the original complaint unless the court otherwise orders because of numerous defendants, every paper relating to discovery required to be served upon a party unless the court otherwise orders, every written motion other than one which may be heard ex parte, and every written notice, appearance, demand, offer of judgment, designation of record on appeal, and similar papers shall be served upon each party except those in default for failure to appear.”

E. All pleadings, motions, notices of filing, agreements and orders shall specifically state which party the attorney represents and set forth the correct mailing addresses and telephone numbers for the attorneys and parties, if unrepresented by counsel. If an unrepresented party is a victim of domestic violence or has approval from the Court for good cause shown, the information shall remain confidential.

A. All petitions filed in dissolution or custody actions shall include the summons to be served on all necessary parties.

B. Pursuant to KRS 403.130(3) an initial pleading in all proceedings under KRS chapter 403 shall be denominated a petition. A responsive pleading shall be denominated a response. Other pleadings, and all pleadings in other matters under KRS chapter 403, shall be denominated as provided in the Rules of Civil Procedure.

C. The Circuit Clerk shall attach a copy of the Status petition to all Status summonses.

D. Upon the filing of a petition for protection from Domestic Violence the Circuit Clerk shall attach a copy of the petition to the required summons as set forth in CR 4.01(1)(a), KRS 403.740 or KRS 403.745. In cases where the respondent is unserved, attempts to serve shall continue as provided in statute and the Circuit Clerk shall attach a copy of the petition to each subsequent summons issued for respondent until initial service is accomplished.

A. Any attorney or party prior to filing any Motion, except an Ex Parte Motion, shall make reasonable efforts to contact opposing counsel to obtain an agreeable date on which to set the matter on the motion docket. In the event the attorneys cannot agree upon a date for said motion, other than one of an emergency nature or which may be required by statute to have a ruling within a set time, the moving attorney may set the matter on the motion docket. All Certificates of Service shall certify that opposing counsel was contacted concerning the date set for the proceeding, set forth the efforts made to contact if contact was not made, or why the matter shall be set without an agreement as to date.

B. All motions shall be titled NOTICE--MOTION (or NOTICE--FILING, if more applicable). The NOTICE setting forth the date and location of the proceeding shall appear first, followed by MOTION (or FILING, if more applicable) which shall state with specificity the relief or order requested, a statement of the grounds for the relief or order with appropriate citations to supporting authority and any proof including affidavits in support of the relief required at the time of filing. Failure to file a statement of grounds with citations to supporting authority may be cause for overruling or denying the Motion.

C. Copies of all cases cited within legal briefs, memoranda or the body of the motion shall be attached to the original pleading filed in the court file.

D. Only copies of the relevant portions of depositions referenced in pleadings or relied upon in briefs to the Court shall be attached to the motion, brief or memorandum.

E. The Certificate of Service shall include the mailing address, contact telephone number and contact email and/or facsimile number, if provided of record, for all persons served, except in domestic violence actions where the information may be held confidentially.

F. All docketed motions shall be properly noticed and filed with the Circuit Clerk and copies served on all parties or their attorneys of record, including intervening parties or their attorney. The notice shall specify the date, time, and place for the motion to be heard. Only motions for hearing date in adoptions and emergency motions shall be docketed at the convenience of the Court.

G. The original pleading, motion and any other paper filed in the record by counsel or party shall include the signature of the attorney or party. A rubber stamp shall not be deemed a signature on the original pleading or motion either under this rule or CR 11.

H. A motion to compel discovery, for a protective order, or for sanctions may be filed pursuant to CR 26 or CR 37 only if counsel are unable to resolve the dispute between them. Counsel or party has the duty to make a good faith effort to resolve any disputes which arise in the course of discovery. The moving party shall attach to the motion a certification of counsel that he or she has attempted to resolve the dispute and that they have been unable to do so.

I. During any call of the docket, the Court may pass any motion for a hearing.

J. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 675(5) and 45 CFR § 1356.21(o), all motions set on the court docket shall be noticed to the foster parents, if any, of the child and any pre-adoptive parent or relative providing care for the child. The notice shall specifically state that the notice is not an order for the parents to appear, but rather that they have a right to notice of the proceeding and a right to appear and an opportunity to be heard at the proceedings. Where the matter is placed on the docket by the Court, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall provide an address for said parents/custodians to the Circuit Clerk who shall cause a court notice with the qualifying language to be sent out.

A. Tendered orders, judgments and decrees shall include a signature line for the presiding Judge and be prepared as follows:

B. Upon receipt of tendered orders, judgments, decrees, forms and settlement agreements requiring the signature of the Family Court Judge, the Circuit Clerk shall mark the date the document is tendered by affixing a “TENDERED ON __________ (date)” notation or stamp in either the bottom left or bottom right corner of the first page of the document.

C. All filings of any order, decree, judgment, form or settlement agreement to be incorporated by reference into the final order, shall include an original and the appropriate number of copies to be entered and served upon each party, and shall include an appropriate number of stamped and properly addressed envelopes for service upon each party. Each copy tendered to be signed shall be pre-marked “COPY” on the first page. In the event the attorney or party does not include the required number of copies and/or stamped addressed envelopes at the time tendered, the clerk may hold the order, decree, judgment, form or settlement agreement until compliance with this rule. Further, the Court may impose sanctions upon an attorney or party for failure to comply with this rule. It is not the responsibility of the clerk to communicate a defect in compliance to any party or attorney.

D. In an effort to conserve judicial resources and promote an efficient determination of family law matters, if an order is mandated by the FCRPP, many of those orders are written on the calendar sheet or docket sheet during the call of the docket. If the Court does not order a separate written order to be tendered by a party and the order is not otherwise an official AOC form the use of which is required by the FCRPP, the calendar sheet or docket sheet order will be the official order and no unsolicited tendered order will be entered. The Court will strive to provide copies at the conclusion of proceeding in which the motion is called and attorneys are expected to know that this is the practice of the Court and request a copy of the calendar sheet or docket sheet order if one is not provided by the clerk.

E. If an agreed order relating to a motion on the docket, signed by counsel for all parties affected or a party if unrepresented, is submitted to the Circuit Clerk prior to the call of the docket, counsel need not attend the call of the docket. The agreed order shall refer to the motion resolved in the agreed order and set forth the terms of the agreement. Agreed orders to continue Final Hearings are not appropriate and will not be considered by the Court.

A. All post-judgment filings shall be properly served upon all parties and attorneys of record at the time of judgment unless the attorney of record has withdrawn by proper motion and order of the Court.

B. Pursuant to Murphy v. Murphy, 272 S.W. 3d 864 (Ky.App. 2008), the conclusion of a divorce action, including child custody actions, terminates the attorney-client relationship between counsel and litigant. Except motions to amend, alter, vacate or otherwise modify the final decree or other final orders which shall be served on the last attorney of record if not formally withdrawn by order of the Court, all post-judgment motions or filings shall be served upon the party. Service upon the attorney will not be sufficient notice, unless the attorney has filed a notice of appearance subsequent to the final decree or order.