Wife forced to pay for abusive husband's divorce lawyer

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Choked and knocked unconscious, Jeanette McCue said a her husband's violent attack in 2016 left her bruised and battered with black eyes, a split lip and marks around her neck.

McCue of Springfield, Ky., figures she would have been killed except her husband was too drunk to aim when he fired a gun at her.

The attack that sent her then-husband to prison for 10 years was shocking enough, she said. But she was shocked further when she sought to divorce him and discovered that an obscure provision of Kentucky law required her to pay for his lawyer because as an inmate he had no means to hire an attorney.

"This is crazy," McCue recalled telling her lawyer. "You want me to pay for him so I can divorce him?"

Others, including state Sen. Morgan McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat, think it's crazy too, and they are seeking to change the law in cases where a victim of domestic violence is seeking to divorce a spouse who has been convicted and incarcerated for the abuse. Read More