Kentucky Court Records

What is Included in Kentucky Public Court Records

Criminal Court Cases

Assault & Battery, Domestic Violence, Parole Violation, Probation Violation, Sexual Assault, Robbery, Manslaughter, Murder, Drug Offenses, And More...

Civil Court Cases

Bankruptcies, Legal Judgments, Lawsuits, Tax & Property Liens, Contract Disputes, Probates, Family Law, Small Claims, Evictions, And More...

Traffic Court Cases

Driving Under Influence, Driving While Intoxicated, Speeding Tickets, Traffic Citations, Reckless Driving, Driving Without a License, License Suspensions, Criminal Driving Violations, Accidents, And More...

Kentucky Court Record Lookup

Copies of Kentucky KY court records serve many purposes: to enforce a financial judgment, to establish child custody, to take possession of real property, or to prove a term of probation has been served. These Kentucky court records online are public record and can be accessed by performing a Kentucky court records search, with some limitations.

District Courts

Kentucky is divided into 60 judicial districts, each with a district court. These courts handle small claims cases up to $4,000, domestic abuse cases, misdemeanors, juvenile issues, probate, and traffic offenses. Case information can be viewed via Kentucky court case lookup.

Trial Courts

The trial courts of general jurisdiction in Kentucky are the circuit courts, of which there are 57 across the state. The mentioned Kentucky courthouses hear general civil and criminal cases, small claims above $4,000 in value, real property cases, and probate matters. In addition, these courts hear appeals of some state administrative agency and district court decisions. Family courts are a division within the circuit courts that deal with Kentucky child support and custody, divorce, neglect, child support, and other domestic issues.

Records can be accessed by conducting a Kentucky court record lookup, but some records, particularly juvenile matters and those involving sensitive information about victims of crimes may be restricted from the public. You can also find out Kentucky criminal records through Recordsfinder.com's online search.

Circuit courts statewide have averaged about 33,000 criminal cases and nearly 44,000 civil cases per year. There is an average of more than 7,000 domestic and family cases filed each year.

Appeals Courts

Fourteen justices sit in panels of three to hear disputed decisions from lower courts in various locations across the state.

The state supreme court has exclusive jurisdiction over death penalty cases as well as sentences of life imprisonment and the like.

Federal Courts

Each state has at least one U.S. District Court that handles bankruptcy filings, class action suits, violations of federal laws and the like. 

Kentucky Notable Court Cases

A well-publicized act of civil disobedience pitted the county clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky against the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015. After the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a right guaranteed under the Constitution, the county clerk refused to issue marriage licenses to anyone, based on her own religious convictions that gay marriage is wrong. The case quickly escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a one-sentence denial of the appeal, essentially ordering the clerk to issue licenses to any and all couples who met other requirements for a marriage license.

In 2016 the Kentucky governor, who ran for office on a platform that included a pro-life, anti-abortion stance, won an injunction from the state court of appeals to close an abortion provider's clinic because, the governor said, the facility was not properly licensed. The clinic had previously fended off other attempts to curtail its practice and maintains that the license in question has been properly acquired.

Kentucky Civil Case Statistics

Civil Caseload
Civil Caseload 214,449
Caseloads per 100.000 Population
Caseloads per 100.000 Population 4,833
Clearance Rate
Clearance Rate 97%
Small Claims Caseload
Small Claims Caseload 9,396

Civil Caseloads for Kentucky, the sum of all civil cases reported by the state, account for 1,110,782 total cases at the year end of 2016, which makes it 4,833 cases per 100.000 population.

The clearance rate for the state is about 97% which makes up by dividing the outgoing to incoming civil cases and expressing the result in a percentage.

Civil Court Incoming & Outgoing Cases 2012-2016

The number of civil court caseloads in 2016 has decreased since 2012, being 214,449 vs. 243,167, which is by 11.8 % lower than 5 years ago. The same picture is seen with clearance rates, it’s lower compared to 2012, by 15.7% being 208,826 compared to 247,601.

State Small Claims & Rates Timeline

Year: Small Claims Max. Limit Small Claims Caseload per 100.000 Population Percent of Total Civil Caseload
2012$150011,8792715%
2013$150011,0332515%
2014$250010,4402375%
2015$25009,6942195%
2016$25009,3962124%

The caseload for small claims has decreased since 2012, going from 11,879 cases a year to 9,396 of 2016. The maximum limit of small claim charges has also seen a change and has reached $2,500 in 2016 compared to the $1,500 that was registered 5 years ago.

Accordingly the small claims rate has decreased- 212 cases per 100 000 population compared to the 271 of 2012. The total percentage of civil caseloads accounts 25.4% for the state of Kentucky for 2016.

Criminal Caseloads by Type

Criminal Caseloads for Kentucky sum in 330,299 cases at the year end of 2016 .

Criminal Incoming Court Cases by type 2012-2016

Criminal Caseloads Timeline

Domestic Relations Caseloads & Clearance Rates

The state’s domestic relations caseload has counted 64,784 cases which is 1,460 court cases per 100.000 population. It has decreased since 2012, the difference in caseloads is 8,935 for the last 5 years, being 73,719 in 2012.

Find Kentucky Courthouses

State Court Holidays

Holiday: Date:
New Year's Day Monday, January 1, 2018
Martin Luther King Jr. DayMonday, January 15, 2018
Spring Holiday (One-half day)Friday, March 30, 2018
Memorial DayMonday, May 28, 2018
Independence DayWednesday, July 4, 2018
Labor DayMonday, September 3, 2018
Veterans DayMonday, November 12, 2018
Thanksgiving DayThursday, November 22, 2018
Thanksgiving DayFriday, November 23, 2018
Christmas EveMonday, December 24, 2018
Christmas DayTuesday, December 25, 2018

Supreme Court Caseloads & Clearance Rates

Court of Appeals Caseloads