The Kentucky motion to dismiss: twenty days to respond, ten if the motion fails
Kentucky procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Kentucky's Civil Rule 12 is close to the federal model, but two of its numbers are shorter than most states', and one of them is measured from a different event than you might expect.
The answer period is twenty days. And after a denied motion you get ten days from entry of the order — not from notice of it.
That distinction matters. An order entered while the mail is in transit has already started your clock.
Twenty days, then ten from entry
Ky. CR 12.01:
A defendant shall serve his/her answer within 20 days after service of the summons upon him/her. A party served with a pleading stating a cross claim against him/her shall serve an answer thereto within 20 days after the service upon him/her. The plaintiff shall serve his/her reply to a counterclaim in the answer within 20 days after service of the answer or, if a reply is ordered by the court, within 20 days after service of the order, unless the order otherwise directs. The service of a motion permitted under Rule 12 alters these periods of time as follows unless a different time is fixed by order of the court: (1) if the court denies the motion or postpones its disposition until the trial on the merits, the responsive pleading shall be served within ten (10) days after entry of the court's order; (2) if the court grants a motion for a more definite statement, the responsive pleading shall be served within 10 days after the service of the more definite statement.
| Event | Time | Measured from |
|---|---|---|
| Answer a complaint | 20 days | service of the summons |
| Answer a cross-claim | 20 days | service |
| Reply to a counterclaim | 20 days | service of the answer |
| After a denied motion, or a deferral to trial | 10 days | entry of the order |
| After a granted more-definite-statement motion | 10 days | service of the more definite statement |
Most states run the post-motion clock from notice of the court's action. Kentucky runs it from entry. Check the docket rather than waiting for something to arrive.
Note too that Kentucky measures the initial period from "service of the summons", not from service of the summons and complaint.
The seven defenses
Ky. CR 12.02:
Every defense, in law or fact, to a claim for relief in any pleading, whether a claim, counterclaim, cross claim, or third-party claim shall be asserted in the responsive pleading thereto if one is required, except that the following defenses may at the option of the pleader be made by motion: (a) lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, (b) lack of jurisdiction over the person, (c) improper venue, (d) insufficiency of process, (e) insufficiency of service of process, (f) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and (g) failure to join a party under Rule 19.
Kentucky letters its grounds rather than numbering them, so the familiar "12(b)(6)" is CR 12.02(f) here. Getting the letter right matters in a brief.
| Ground | Federal | Kentucky |
|---|---|---|
| Subject-matter jurisdiction | 12(b)(1) | 12.02(a) |
| Personal jurisdiction | 12(b)(2) | 12.02(b) |
| Improper venue | 12(b)(3) | 12.02(c) |
| Insufficiency of process | 12(b)(4) | 12.02(d) |
| Insufficiency of service | 12(b)(5) | 12.02(e) |
| Failure to state a claim | 12(b)(6) | 12.02(f) |
| Failure to join a party | 12(b)(7) | 12.02(g) |
Then the timing and joinder sentences:
A motion making any of these defenses shall be made before pleading if a further pleading is permitted. No defense or objection is waived by being joined with one or more defenses or objections in a responsive pleading or motion. If a pleading sets forth a claim for relief to which the adverse party is not required to serve a responsive pleading, he may assert at the trial any defense in law or fact to that claim for relief.
Move before you plead. Answering first closes the motion route for the optional grounds.
Conversion
The tail of CR 12.02:
If, on a motion asserting the defense that the pleading fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56, and all parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such a motion by Rule 56.
Only the failure-to-state-a-claim ground converts. CR 12.03 applies the same conversion to judgment on the pleadings:
After the pleadings are closed but within such time as not to delay the trial, any party may move for judgment on the pleadings. If, on such motion, matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided for in Rule 56, and all parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to present all materials made pertinent to such a motion by Rule 56.
Conversion is worth avoiding by accident, because CR 56 brings its own machinery with it. Under CR 56.03 the motion "shall be served at least 10 days before the time fixed for the hearing", and under CR 56.05 every supporting affidavit "shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein", with sworn or certified copies of any papers referred to attached or served with it.
A defendant who attaches a document to a motion to dismiss may therefore find the motion recast into a form its papers were never built to satisfy. If you want the document considered, move under CR 56 deliberately and meet its requirements. See Kentucky summary judgment.
Judgment on the pleadings as the fallback
Because the twenty days is short, a common Kentucky sequence is to answer within the deadline and then move under CR 12.03 once the pleadings close. That preserves the answer date, keeps the failure-to-state-a-claim argument alive, and avoids the risk of missing the response deadline while drafting a motion.
The trade-off is that the four jurisdiction-and-service defenses must still be raised properly at the outset, so this route only works where your objection is to the substance of the claim.
If judgment has already been entered
Kentucky has two distinct post-judgment vehicles, and choosing the wrong one wastes the deadline:
| What you want | Rule | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| The trial court to reconsider its own judgment | CR 59.05 | 10 days |
| Relief from a final judgment on enumerated grounds | CR 60.02 | reasonable time; 1 year for some grounds |
See the Kentucky motion to alter, amend or vacate and vacating a Kentucky judgment.
How Kentucky compares
| Kentucky | Tennessee | Indiana | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to answer | 20 days | 30 days | — | 21 days |
| After a denied motion | 10 days | 15 days | 10 days | 14 days |
| Post-motion clock runs from | entry of the order | notice | the order | notice |
| Enumerated grounds | seven, lettered (a)–(g) | eight | eight | seven |
| Failure to state a claim is | 12.02(f) | 12.02(6) | 12(B)(6) | 12(b)(6) |
| Motion served before the hearing | 10 days under CR 56.03 | — | — | 14 days |
A short checklist
- Diarise 20 days from service of the summons.
- Decide before you plead. The optional grounds must come by motion first.
- Watch the docket, not the mail. Ten days runs from entry of the order denying your motion.
- Cite the letters. Failure to state a claim is CR 12.02(f).
- Think hard before attaching documents. Conversion moves you to CR 56, with its 10-day service requirement and its affidavit rules.
- Consider answering and moving under CR 12.03 where your only objection is to the substance of the claim.
- Put every available ground in the one motion.
- If a judgment is already entered, pick the right rule — CR 59.05's ten days, or CR 60.02.
Where these rules live
- Ky. CR 8.01 — Claims for relief
- Ky. CR 12.01 — When presented
- Ky. CR 12.02 — How presented
- Ky. CR 12.03 — Motion for judgment on the pleadings
- Ky. CR 15.01 — Amendments
- Ky. CR 56.03 — Motion and proceedings thereon
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the standard for dismissal under CR 12.02(f) is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.