Judicial Administration Emergency Continuity of Operations

MEDIA RELEASES

PRACTICE DIRECTIONS

BUSINESS HOURS

General Opening Hours: – 9:00am to 4:00pm

Registry & Finance Hours: 9:00am to 3:00pm

COURT ATTENDANCE

Resumption of Business

Judicial Administration continues to provide full court services, albeit in a manner that facilitates social distancing.

Social Distancing and Personal Protective Equipment Requirements (PPE)

All persons entering the court building will be required to wear face masks and to sanitize their hands.

Persons are to continue to wear masks for the duration of their time in court buildings.

Persons are to keep a minimum of 2-meter distance from other persons at all times and will follow the directions of the Court Marshals for entering, moving around in and exiting the court buildings.

When speaking to another person, save for during actual court proceedings, persons are required to wear masks.

The Head of Security is responsible for providing PPE for prisoners in custody.

COURTROOM OCCUPANCY

Each courtroom has limitations on the number of persons permitted to be in the courtroom at any given time.

Up to 2 press persons are permitted to attend Open Court in the event that there is space permitted beyond the number of persons permitted to be in each courtroom.

Maximum Number of persons permitted to attend courtrooms:

Court Room 1 – 20 persons
Court Room 2 – 20 persons
Court Room 3 – 9 persons
Court Room 4 – 8 persons
Court Room 5 – 25 persons
Court Room 6 – 10 persons
Court Room 7 – 6 persons

ONLINE & ACH PAYMENTS

Please click here https://pay.judicial.ky/

PUBLIC & PRESS ACCESS

Practice Directions governing the Press

All press are advised that rules set out in Practice Direction 8 of 2020 govern conduct of the press during court hearings and that they must familiarize themselves with these requirements. Please see PD 8 of 2020 in the link below.

Practice Direction 8 of 2020 Public Accessing to Court Proceedings by Audio or Video Links

KEY COURT INFORMATION

GRAND COURT

Grand Court Filings

All Attorney Grand Court filings in the Civil Division, FSD Division and Family Division must now be filed through our e-filing portal. Click here [https://efile.judicial.ky/Account/Login]
All filed applications that attract a fee should include the attached receipt as evidence or proof of payment.
Receipts will be provided only once confirmation has been made by our Finance Offices that funds have been deposited into Judicial Administration accounts
Litigant in Person filings may be submitted through the portal if permission is granted or may be submitted to the Civil Registry.

Grand Court Criminal Division.

All Grand Court trials have resumed.
Please see attached Court Criminal Trial Protocol for up to date information. [ attach]
Jurors wishing to contact the Court may do so by telephone at 244-3867 or by email: jury@judicial.ky or 244-3867.

Grand Court Family Division

Normal Operations have resumed in the Grand Court Family Division
Contact: Civil.Registry@judicial.ky if you have any queries.

Grand Court Financial Services Division (FSD)

Normal operations have resumed in the Financial Services cases and hearings are being conducted both in person and through video link.
Please see published Practice Directions on Video-link Proceedings.
Parties and their attorneys are advised to contact the FSD Registrar to identify those cases which must proceed by way of video-link and to confirm the arrangements with the designated Judges: bridget.myers@judicial.ky [ link]
Subject to the directions of the Judge in each case, the use of electronic bundles is especially encouraged at this time to reduce the need for photocopying and circumstances for the transmission of COVID-19.

Grand Court General Civil and Admiralty Divisions

Normal operations have resumed in this division and hearings are being conducted both in-person and through video link.

SUMMARY COURT

Summary Courts – Criminal Division (including traffic)

Normal operations have resumed in the traffic court, albeit in a socially distanced manner. In person attendance required in compliance with personal protective requirements.
All defendants should check the court website https://www.judicial.ky/courts/cause-lists-all for their court date.
Defendants who require further information are to call the Criminal Registry Help Desk – 244-3867 or Email: criminalregistry@judicial.ky.

Coroner’s Court

Normal business operations have resumed in this court.
Persons summonsed to attend as coroner’s jurors should monitor the website for updates or call the Criminal Registry at 244-3867 or by email to: criminalregistry@judicial.ky.

Summary Court Family Division

Normal business operations have resumed in this court.

Drug Court

Normal business operations have resumed in this court.

Specialist Diversionary Courts

Applications under the Protection from Domestic Violence Law (dealt with by the Specialist Domestic Violence Court); persons should contact the Family Proceedings Unit for more information.

REGISTRIES

Criminal Registry

Internal Agencies: All Government Agencies are being asked to utilize our online dropbox services to file charges. No paper applications, please.
File Inspection: File inspection requests may be made by emailing Courts@judicial.ky. As our offices are not currently open, requests will be purchased electronically and all requests should be addressed to the Deputy Clerk of Court, Mrs Cecile Collins.
Contacts: Email: Criminalregistry@judicial.ky/ Help Desk – 244-3867

Grand Court Case Progression

Meetings & Appointments: Please contact the Case Progression Officer to confirm whether your case progression meetings or other meetings will be held in person or via video link. Contact Suzanne.Livingston@Judicial.ky or 244-3871.

Preparation of Bundles: Binders and papers brought to the Court are potential conveyers of the virus, these should be prepared and handled applying appropriate safety/sanitization measures and must not be handled/delivered to the Registry by staff or persons who are ill.

Civil Registry

Articled Clerks: Registration of Articles of Clerks are to be done electronically for the time being.
Court Searches/ Public Registers: To protect court users from risk of contacting Covid-19 by handling the same materials, court users are directed to inspect public registers on our online platform at https://www.judicial.ky/search-courts-searches
Public Registers can be ordered through our Civil Registry for the time being
File Inspections: File Inspections may be made by appointment only. Please contact our Civil Registry to book an appointment for File Inspections once permission is granted by the Clerk of Court pursuant to GRC Order 63.
Preparation of Bundles: All Hearing Bundles are to be submitted electronically to the Civil Registry. Hard Copy Bundles may be dropped off at the ground floor of Kirk House and the courier is to sign that they have provided the Bundle with the assigned Security Guard. Bundles and papers brought to the court are potential conveyers of COVID-19. Bundles should be compiled in wipeable binders and handled by applying appropriate sanitization measures. Bundles must be delivered to the court in sealed and sanitized envelopes or boxes.
Contact: Email: Civilregistry@judicial.ky /Help Desk Tel: 244-3842

Clerk of Court Services

Swearing: Persons attending upon the Clerk of Court for swearing of affidavits for admissions, notary and justice of peace, will be accommodated via video link/zoom for attestation. Draft documents are to be provided electronically as usual. Applicants will retain the original once sworn via zoom, the document can then be lodged with the Registry for final processing and receipt of payment. Receipts will be sent electronically once processed and thereafter placed in the respective boxes for collection.
Contact: Shiona.Allenger@judicial.ky

Family Proceedings Unit

In-person appointments may still likely to take place via video link or telephone where permitted.
See Grand Court Filings section for making court filings for this division.

Contact: FPUgroup@judicial.ky or tel: 244-3896 for more information.

Mediation

Please contact the Mediation Programme Coordinator Leslie Talbot for assistance.
Contact: Leslie.Talbot@judicial.ky / Tel: 244-3715

ADMINISTRATION

Court Administrator

If you need to contact general Court Administration, you may do so via email or telephone at the following addresses and telephone numbers
Contacts: Suzanne.Bothwell@Judicial.ky or Vennessa.Scott@Judicial.ky / 244-3821

Corporate Clients & Invoices

• All vendors are asked to submit invoices to invoices@judicial.ky to reduce risk of physical contact with contaminated documents.
• Vendors are also invited to submit their banking details to the Finance Centre so that bills may be paid online.
• Corporate Vendors Online Banking Authorisation Form
• Contact: invoices@judicial.ky / Help Desk Tel: 244-3838/917-6650

Corporate Clients & Invoices

Normal business operations are in effect at the Court Funds Office. Maintenance clients however are urgently advised to sign onto our online banking platform by completing and submitting the online banking form to our court funds office.
To sign up our online banking service please complete our bank form and submit it to onlinebanking@judicial.ky
Court Funds Online Banking Authorisation Form
Contact: Roseita.Ebanks@Judicial.ky Tel: 244-3807

LEGAL AID

Processing & Filing of All Legal Aid Applications

Legal Aid Department has resumed normal business operations, albeit in a manner that supports social distancing.

Legal Aid Applications should be submitted either by email to the staff or dropped off at the Legal Aid Office located on the 3rd Floor, Building C.

Contact Limitations

Where possible contact with legal aid clients will be limited to telephone or video link conferencing.

In exceptional cases, and at the discretion of the Legal Aid staff will in person meetings be allowed by appointment only.

Legal Aid Application Forms

Legal Aid form is pdf writable and can be completed, signed and sent via email with the supporting documents. This form is attached below.

Application Forms (Civil & Criminal)

Legal Aid Amendable Form

Civil Legal Aid Form

Checklists

Civil and Family Legal Aid Form – Intake Procedures Checklist

Criminal Legal Aid Form – Intake Procedure Checklist

Lists of Legal Aid Attorneys ( Civil & Criminal)

List of Approved Legal Aid Attorneys: Civil

List of Approved Legal Aid Attorneys: Criminal

Once your completed application has been received, you will receive an email confirmation acknowledging receipt of your email. If the application is granted, you will receive a second email detailing the terms of the legal aid grant. The email confirmation with the details of the grant of legal aid will be sufficient for you to act until the certificate is provided.

Certificates will be provided at this time by mail.

If legal aid is refused, you will receive an email confirmation on the refusal. The application for reconsideration under section 37 of the Law, can be made via email setting out the detailed reasons for reconsideration.

Other Business

All extension requests, bills of costs/duty counsel claims and other matters should be sent via email with documents attached.

Email: legalaid@judicial.ky

Telephone: 345-244-3829 or alternatively: 345-244-3889

Last Updated: January 7, 2022