The Fayette County Attorney’s Office contracts with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to assist non-custodial parents fulfill their financial obligations to their children to ensure their basic needs are met.
- Hours
Open Monday – Friday 8:00 – 4:30
- 120 N. Martin Luther King, Ste 600 Lexington, Kentucky 40507
We are located at the Chase Building Annex in downtown Lexington.
Take the parking garage elevators to the sixth floor.
The Fayette County Attorney’s Office collects millions of dollars every year in child support owed to custodial parents, guardians, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Our office has over 18,000 open child support cases, making it the 2nd most active county in the Commonwealth.
The Child Support Enforcement office provides a wide range of services including:
- Establishing paternity
- Setting and modifying child support obligations
- Establishing Medical Support Orders
- Monitoring child support payments
- Enforcing child support orders
Fully processing a case through the court system can take several months. Our office works closely with federal, state and local agencies, and private employers to obtain the required information to process cases and locate non-custodial parents as quickly as possible. You can help in this effort by providing and updating our office on the residence and employment of the non-custodial parent, and when the guardian or custodial parent’s contact information changes.
FAQs
Anyone who has a child support and/or medical support order, or wants to establish one, can apply for child support enforcement services. If paternity has not been established for your child/children, it will be established prior to a child support obligation being established. Custodial or noncustodial parents can apply for support services. Contact the Fayette County Child Support Office for a Non-Public Assistance application. Currently, there are not fees for completing the application for services. Child support services are automatically provided to current and former recipients of K-TAP and medical assistance.
It is helpful if you can provide the non-custodial parent’s address, social security number, date of birth, employer, bank account numbers, property holdings and investments. Look for this information in old insurance policies, credit card or other applications, state and federal tax returns, hospital records, police records and birth certificates.
You may be able to get information from the non-custodial parent’s business associates, friends, or relatives. Also, please provide copies of any existing court orders and records of payments.
If you can provide the non-custodial parent’s date of birth, father’s name, and mother’s maiden name, the child support agency may be able to obtain information from the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Veterans’ Administration, the Department of Defense, the Armed Forces, and/or the Selective Service Administration.
If you can provide the non-custodial parent’s social security number, the child support agency can obtain information from all state and federal files. Be aware, however, that finding a non-custodial parent through these sources make take several months.
The Kentucky Legislature has established a mathematical formula for setting child support. Parties’ income, medical insurance costs, day care expenses and child support being paid for older children are all factored into the formula to arrive at the amount of support to be paid.
If there is a change in circumstances (i.e. change in one or both parties’ income, an older child being emancipated) that results in a change in the amount of child support of at least 15%, then the amount can be changed.
A motion to modify support must be filed with the same court that set the support originally. Only a court order signed by a judge can legally change the amount of child support. If both parties agree, an agreed order can be signed by both sides and the judge. Without an agreement, there must be a hearing in court and the judge decides.
In accordance with 45 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 303.8(a), Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 405.430(6) and 921 Kentucky Administrative Regulation (KAR) 1:400 Section 3, the following individuals or entities may request a review for possible modification:
- The custodial parent.
- The noncustodial parent .
- A nonparental custodial parent (i.e., grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, etc.) .
A foreign reciprocating country or a foreign country with which Kentucky has an arrangement may request a review of their order and the request shall be treated the same as a request by another state in accordance with SSA 454(32)(A) (42 U.S.C. 654(32)(A)).
Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) Section 351, SSA 466(a)(10) (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(10)), 45 CFR 303.8(b)(6), and KRS 405.430(6) specify that at least once every three years, child support staff must notify each party subject to a IV-D child support order of the right to request a review of the order and, if appropriate, adjust the order.
Contact your child support caseworker and request that enforcement action be taken. There are many enforcement remedies that may be used by child support staff to enforce a child support order. Some examples include: court action, income withholding, denial or suspension of a driver’s or professional license, intercept of lottery winnings, intercept of state or federal taxes, and denial of a passport.
KRS 405.020(1) provides that…“The father shall be primarily liable for the nurture and education of his children who are under the age of eighteen (18) when the child is a full-time high school student, but not beyond completion of the school year during which the child reaches the age of nineteen (19) years.”
Contact your caseworker at the Fayette County Attorney Child Support office to request an application for direct deposit or make the request through the Kentucky Child Support Interactive Website .
Contact your caseworker at the Fayette County Attorney Child Support office to request a copy of your payment history.
Even if the noncustodial parent lives in a different state, a child support case can be opened at the local child support office. The local child support office can work with the other state to establish or enforce the support order. The same location resources and services are available in all states. Although interstate cases are more difficult and generally take longer, new federal legislation and more computer links between states are improving interstate processing of child support.
The legal obligation to pay child support is completely separate from the issue of visitation rights. If you are court ordered to pay child support, you must do so regardless of when or if you see the children. If there is a court order giving you visitation and the custodial parent refuses to let you see the children, your recourse is to file a motion with the court asking that he/she be held in contempt of court.
Electronic payments can be made on the Kentucky Child Support Interactive Website.
Payments are accepted by check or money order (no cash) with your name and case number and/or social security number as identifying information for correct posting to the following address:
Division of Child Support
P.O. Box 14059
Lexington, KY 40512-4059
Child Support Voice Response System
(800) 443-1576
The toll-free number (800) 443-1576 provides automated access to child support payment and account information. This system is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You must use your Individual Child Support ID Number provided by the child support agency to access and obtain information from the IVR. In the event your Individual Child Support ID Number is lost or forgotten, please contact your local child support office for assistance.