As used in this chapter:
(1) “Adult” means an individual who has attained eighteen (18) years of age or an emancipated minor;
(2) “Caretaking authority” means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to- day basis. The term includes physical custody, parenting time, right to access, and visitation;
(3) “Child” means:
(a) An unemancipated individual who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age;
or
(b) An adult son or daughter by birth or adoption, or under law of this state other than this chapter, who is the subject of a court order concerning custodial responsibility;
(4) “Court” means a tribunal authorized under law of this state other than this chapter to make, enforce, or modify a decision regarding custodial responsibility;
(5) “Custodial responsibility” includes all powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decision-making authority for a child. The term includes physical custody, legal custody, parenting time, right to access, visitation, and authority to grant limited contact with a child;
(6) “Decision-making authority” means the power to make important decisions regarding a child, including decisions regarding the child’s education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities, and travel. The term does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority;
(7) “Deploying parent” means a service member who is deployed or has been notified of impending deployment and is:
(a) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or
(b) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;
(8) “Deployment” means the movement or mobilization of a service member for more than ninety (90) days but less than eighteen (18) months pursuant to uniformed service orders that:
(a) Are designated as unaccompanied;
(b) Do not authorize dependent travel; or
(c) Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed;
(9) “Family member” means a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, stepparent, or grandparent of a child or an individual recognized to be in a familial relationship with a child under law of this state other than this chapter;
(10) “Limited contact” means the authority of a nonparent to visit a child for a limited time. The term includes authority to take the child to a place other than the
residence of the child;
(11) “Nonparent” means an individual other than a deploying parent or other parent; (12) “Other parent” means an individual who, in common with a deploying parent, is:
(a) A parent of a child under law of this state other than this chapter; or
(b) An individual who has custodial responsibility for a child under law of this state other than this chapter;
(13) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
(14) “Return from deployment” means the conclusion of a service member’s deployment as specified in uniformed service orders;
(15) “Service member” means a member of a uniformed service;
(16) “Sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record: (a) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(b) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sounds, or process;
(17) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and
(18) “Uniformed service” means:
(a) Active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States;
(b) The United States Merchant Marine;
(c) The commissioned corps of the United States Public Health Service;
(d) The commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration of the United States; or
(e) The National Guard of a state.
Effective: June 29, 2021
History: Created 2021 Ky. Acts ch. 94, sec. 2, effective June 29, 2021.