Kentucky Court Rules Help

Print Versions of Kentucky Court Rules

A print version of the Kentucky Rules of Court Pamphlet can be purchased at the Thomson Reuters Online Store. Information on other Kentucky legal products is available as well.

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Navigating Within the Kentucky Court Rules Site

Several commonly used sets of rules are listed on the Kentucky Court Rules home page. Just click a rule to view its table of contents.

You can also search for statutes related to your issue.

Click Home at the top of any page to return to the Kentucky Court Rules home page at any time. To go to the Kentucky Court of Justice site, click Kentucky Court of Justice Home Page.

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Using the Table of Contents

Links to Kentucky Statutes
As you browse the table of contents, you may see links to Kentucky statutes (Kentucky Statutes). You can view the complete table of contents for Kentucky statutes. The text of Kentucky statutes documents, however, is not included with this site. If you click a document link, you will get a message similar to this: The TOC command which you entered is not valid. Type toc pubs and press ENTER for available commands. You can click your browser's Back button to return to the Kentucky court rules table of contents or click Table of Contents to return to the Kentucky Court Rules table of contents.

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Searching Kentucky Court Rules

You can search for Kentucky court rules using the Natural Language search method. Natural Language allows you to retrieve relevant documents by typing a description in plain English. To search using Natural Language, complete the following steps:

  1. Click Search at the to of any page. The Search page is displayed.
  2. Type a description of the court rule in the Natural Language Description text box. For example, to retrieve rules pertaining to requirements for service of process, type the following description:
    what are the requirements for service of process
  3. Click Search next to the Natural Language Description text box to run your search.

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Browsing Documents

Citations List
When you are viewing a search result, the citations list is shown first. Click the number preceding a citation to view that document's full text.

To see the next 20 documents that match the concepts in your description, click the right arrow at the bottom of the citations list.

Browsing by Search Terms
In a search result, you can click the right or left Term arrow to move to the next or previous occurrence of your search terms in the displayed document.

Browsing by Document
In a search result, you can click the right or left Document arrow to move to the next or previous document in your search result.

Documents in Sequence
You can use Documents in Sequence to view consecutive documents even if they were not retrieved by your search.

For example, if you retrieve Rules of the Supreme Court (SCR), Rule 3.090, click Docs in Sequence to view Rule 3.091. Click the Prev and Next arrows located at the bottom of the document to view other consecutive documents. To cancel Documents in Sequence and return to the document you were viewing, click Cancel Docs in Sequence.

Currentness Information
A current-through line tells you how current the document is. For Kentucky Court Rules, the current-through line will appear at the end of the document.

Some documents will also include a reference to Scope, which is a Thomson Reuters Westlaw feature that provides information about coverage. Scope is not available on this site; the current through line provides the coverage information.

Updates to a Rule
An Update link is displayed when court orders that amend or repeal your rule are available. Click Update to view the court order. (You are not charged for viewing these court orders.)

Cited Documents
Links are available for some cited documents that are outside the scope of the Kentucky Court Rules site.

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Using the Update Feature

An Update link is displayed at the top of a retrieved document when court orders that amend or repeal your rule are available. Click Update to view the court order. (You will not be charged for viewing these updates.)

After viewing the court order, you can click your browser's Back button to return to the document you were viewing.

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Charges for Accessing Cited Documents

You are not charged for viewing any of the unannotated Kentucky court rules included at this site.

You will be charged for retrieving cited documents not included at this site, such as sections of the United States Code Annotated®.

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