Office's duty to locate custodial and noncustodial parents -- Enforcement of child support obligations -- Registry of information relating to parents -- Assistance from governmental agencies -- Limits on availability of information

KRS 15.814

in effect

15.814. Office's duty to locate custodial and noncustodial parents -- Enforcement of child support obligations -- Registry of information relating to parents -- Assistance from governmental agencies -- Limits on availability of information (1) Unless the Office of the Attorney General has reason to believe allegations of child abuse or domestic violence and that the disclosure of the information could be harmful to the custodial parent or the child of the parent, the office shall attempt to locate a noncustodial parent of a child described in KRS 15.812, and establish or set an amount of modification, and enforce the child support obligation. (2) Upon the request of a putative father and for the purpose of establishing paternity only, the Office of the Attorney General shall attempt to locate a custodial parent of a child described in KRS 15.802 if the office finds the action to be in the best interest of the child. (3) If paternity is established for a child described in KRS 15.812 as a resul t of the location of the custodial parent, the Office of the Attorney General shall establish a child support obligation or a modification for a child support obligation and shall enforce the child support obligation if the office finds the enforcement of the order to be in the best interest of the child. (4) The Office of the Attorney General shall serve as a registry for the receipt of information which directly relates to the identity or location of absent parents, and, upon request of a putative father, the location of a custodial parent, in order to establish paternity, to answer interstate inquiries concerning deserting parents or custodial parents, to coordinate and supervise any activity on a state level in search of an absent parent or custodial par ent, to develop guidelines for coordinating activities of any governmental agency in providing information necessary for location of absent parents or custodial parents, to obtain information on the location of parents to enforce state and federal laws aga inst parental kidnapping and to make or to enforce a child custody or visitation order, and is to process all requests received from an initiating county or an initiating state which has adopted the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act or the Unif orm Interstate Family Support Act. (5) In order to carry out responsibilities imposed under this chapter, the Office of the Attorney General may request information and assistance from any governmental agency. All state, county, and city agencies, officers , and employees shall cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General in determining the location of parents who have abandoned or deserted children and shall cooperate with the office in determining the location of custodial parents for the purpose of e stablishing paternity with all pertinent information relative to the location, income and assets, property, and debt of the parents, notwithstanding any provision of state law making the information confidential. (6) The information which is obtained by the Office of the Attorney General shall only be available to such governmental agency or political subdivision of any state for purposes of locating an absent parent to enforce the parent's obligation of support and for the purposes of location of custodial parents to establish paternity of putative fathers. Effective: July 1, 2025 History: Repealed, reenacted, renumbered, and amended 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 124, sec. 15, effective July 1, 2025. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 255, sec. 8, effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 330, sec. 4, effective July 15, 1994. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 277, sec. 4, effective June 17, 1978. -- Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 343, sec. 6. Formerly codified as KRS 205.730.

Source: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission (legislature.ky.gov)URL: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=54318Fetched: 10/20/2026