Kentucky is a one-party consent state: your own consent as a participant is enough to lawfully record a call with your co-parent.
Because Kentucky only requires your own consent as a party, a call you were part of is generally usable in a custody case, but recording a conversation between others that you are not on at all is a felony.
You may record a call or conversation you are part of.
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The direct answer: yes, if you are on the call
Kentucky is a one-party consent state. Kentucky Revised Statutes § 526.010 defines “eavesdrop” as overhearing, recording, amplifying, or transmitting a wire or oral communication without the consent of at least one party to it. Read that carefully: the crime is defined by the absence of any consent at all. If you are a participant in the call — talking with your co-parent about a schedule change, a missed exchange, or a dispute — your own consent is that one party’s consent, and the statute is satisfied. You do not need the other parent to know.
The exact statutes and how they fit together
KRS § 526.010 supplies the definition; KRS § 526.020 supplies the crime: a person is guilty of eavesdropping when they intentionally use a device to eavesdrop, whether or not they are present at the time. Because “eavesdrop” is defined to exclude any recording where at least one party consented, a parent recording their own conversation never meets the definition of eavesdropping in the first place — there is no gap to fall through.
The penalty if you record a call you are not part of
Eavesdropping under § 526.020 is a Class D felony in Kentucky, carrying one to five years in prison under KRS § 532.060(2)(d) and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 under KRS § 534.030(1). Related offenses in the same chapter — installing an eavesdropping device (§ 526.030), possessing one with intent to use it unlawfully (§ 526.040), or divulging illegally obtained information (§ 526.060) — carry their own felony or misdemeanor exposure. None of this touches a recording you made of your own conversation. Tampering with a private communication under § 526.050, such as altering a message before passing it along, is also a separate offense, which is one more reason to preserve any recording exactly as it was captured rather than editing it before showing it to anyone, including your own attorney.
A narrow exception unique to Kentucky
Chapter 526 also contains § 526.070, “Eavesdropping — Exceptions,” which carves out incidental overhearing on a shared telephone party line or an extension line, so long as you do not repeat what you heard to someone else. It is a narrow carve-out for old-fashioned shared phone lines, not a license to tap a line you are not using — and it has nothing to do with the ordinary case of a parent recording their own call, which is already lawful under the one-party rule.
Using a recording in a Kentucky custody case
Because your consent as a participant means the recording was never unlawfully obtained, a Kentucky family court can consider it like any other evidence, weighing relevance and authenticity rather than a consent objection. Preserve the original file exactly as recorded, log the date and the parties present, and avoid clipping the audio down to a single exchange — a continuous recording holds up far better under cross-examination than an isolated snippet, and it protects you from an accusation that you cherry-picked the worst moment out of context.
The interstate caveat: what if your co-parent lives elsewhere?
Kentucky protects your side of a call you are part of, but that protection does not automatically travel with the call across a state line. If your co-parent takes the call while physically present in an all-party consent state like Illinois, Pennsylvania, or Michigan, that state may treat its own resident’s conversation as protected by its stricter rule — independent of what Kentucky says about you. Because you usually cannot verify exactly where the other parent is standing when they answer, the prudent approach used across every state in this series is the same: when in doubt, follow the strictest applicable rule and announce that the call is being recorded.
Beyond the call: what a strong record looks like
Kentucky family courts, like most, are not persuaded by a single angry recording pulled out of context — they respond to a calm, consistent, dated record built over time. If you are lawfully recording calls with your co-parent as a participant, treat each recording as one entry in a larger timeline rather than a standalone piece of ammunition. Keep the text message thread that surrounds a disputed exchange intact rather than cropped, note the date and time precisely, and where possible corroborate a missed pickup or a broken agreement with more than one source — a calendar entry, a location timestamp, a witness. Kentucky courts applying the “best interest of the child” standard under KRS § 403.270 weigh the pattern of cooperation or conflict between parents, and a chronological, factual record does far more work than a single dramatic clip. Because Kentucky eavesdropping law also criminalizes divulging illegally obtained information under § 526.060, make sure every piece of your record was captured lawfully in the first place — a call you were part of is safe, but do not be tempted to add in something a friend or relative recorded on your behalf without being a party to it themselves, and never share a recording’s contents with someone outside the case simply to vent, since divulging illegally obtained information carries its own exposure under Kentucky law.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to tell my co-parent I am recording our call in Kentucky?
No. Because you are a party to the call, your own consent satisfies KRS § 526.010’s definition of eavesdropping, which requires the consent of only one party.
Is it a felony to record a call I am not part of?
Yes. Recording a wire or oral communication where no party has consented is eavesdropping under KRS § 526.020, a Class D felony punishable by one to five years in prison and a $1,000–$10,000 fine.
Can I use a recording of a threatening call from my co-parent in family court?
Generally yes, subject to the judge’s discretion on relevance and authenticity. Because the recording was lawfully made with your own consent as a participant, there is no consent-based bar to admissibility.
What about a call where my co-parent is out of state?
Kentucky law covers your consent, but the other party’s state may apply its own rule to them. If you cannot confirm their location, announcing the recording keeps you compliant everywhere.
Can law enforcement record my calls with a warrant even if I do not consent?
Yes. KRS § 526.070 and related wiretap authority allow judicially authorized interception by law enforcement independent of the one-party consent rule that applies to private citizens.
Kentucky’s one-party rule (KRS § 526.010) makes the calls you join yours to keep — the exposure only starts when a recording is made to harass or to commit a crime. Copareo Secure Line is built for that legitimate half: it records, transcribes, and time-stamps your calls and texts with your co-parent into a tamper-evident archive, delivered with an admissibility one-pager for your attorney — a one-time $9.90, with no subscription. Read how to document co-parenting for court for the full workflow, or check the call recording laws by state before a call crosses a state line.
Not legal advice. This page summarizes Kentucky law for general information and is not a substitute for advice from a licensed Kentucky attorney. Recording and evidence rules change and courts decide admissibility case by case. Verify against the official statute (Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 526.010, 526.020) and consult an attorney about your situation.