Kentucky law is deliberately broad about who can step forward. If you are a parent, spouse, adult child, sibling, grandparent, or close friend of the person you are worried about, you can file a Casey’s Law petition on their behalf ^{1, 15}. You do not need to be their legal guardian. You do not need power of attorney. You do not need to be the person they listen to most. You just need to be someone who has seen what’s happening and is willing to put their name on a sworn document.

The petitioner is called the “applicant” in court paperwork, and you become responsible for two things the moment you file: the truthfulness of what you swear to, and the cost of the two professional evaluations the court will order ¹⁵. That second piece catches families off guard, so know it now rather than later.

One practical note. Only one person files, but the court will weigh the situation more seriously when the petition reflects a pattern that multiple family members have witnessed. If your sister, your father, and your loved one’s best friend have all seen the same things, the petition is stronger when their observations are written into it — even if only your name appears at the top.

Before you walk into the county circuit court clerk’s office, sit down with a notebook or a phone note and write everything down. The petition asks you to describe, in specific terms, why you believe your loved one has a substance use disorder, why they present a danger to themselves or others, and why they can reasonably benefit from treatment ¹⁵. Vague worry is not enough. Dates, behaviors, and observable consequences are what the court reviews.

Start with what you’ve seen with your own eyes:

• Overdoses, even ones reversed at home.
• Lost jobs.
• Driving while impaired.
• Weight loss.
• Money or property missing.
• Hospital visits.
• Threats made, whether to themselves or to you.

Note the date as best you can remember, even an approximate month, and what happened. If there are police reports, ER discharge papers, or text messages that corroborate what you saw, gather those too.

Then list what you have already tried. Voluntary conversations. Offers to pay for rehab. Boundaries you set and what happened when you set them. This isn’t a confession of failure. It’s evidence that less restrictive options have not worked, which is part of what the judge needs to see ¹⁵.

While you’re preparing, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP. It’s free, confidential, and runs 24/7 — and the referral specialists can help you start identifying treatment placements your loved one could be ordered into ². You’ll want a facility in mind before the hearing, not after.

The form you need is called the AOC-700A. It’s a verified petition, which means you’ll sign it under oath, and you file it with the circuit court clerk in the county where your loved one lives ¹³. Some clerks have the form on hand. Others will point you to the court’s website. Either way, you can ask the clerk’s office for help with where to file and what to bring — they handle these regularly, and your questions are not unusual.

On the petition, you’ll spell out three things the judge has to see:

1. That your loved one has a substance use disorder.
2. That they present a danger to themselves or others.
3. That they can reasonably benefit from treatment ¹⁵.

This is where the notes you’ve been keeping become evidence. Specific incidents with specific dates carry more weight than general worry.

Once you file, the judge reviews the petition for probable cause. This first review is on paper — your loved one does not have to be there, and you typically don’t either ¹³. The judge is asking one question: do the sworn statements, if true, meet the statutory criteria? If the answer is yes, the case moves forward. If the petition is too thin, the court can dismiss it or ask you to add more detail.

If probable cause is found, the court appoints an attorney to represent your loved one and schedules the next steps ¹³. Take a breath here. You’ve cleared the first gate.

After probable cause is established, two things happen in parallel. Your loved one is evaluated by two qualified professionals — typically a physician and a qualified mental health professional — and the court sets a hearing date that must fall within 14 days of the probable-cause determination ^{13, 15}. Two weeks. That’s the window.

The evaluations are the clinical backbone of the case. One of the two evaluators must examine your loved one in person, and both submit findings to the court on whether the statutory criteria are met and whether treatment would help ¹⁵. As the petitioner, you are responsible for the cost of these evaluations ¹⁵. Ask the clerk what local evaluators charge before you file, because this is the line item families most often miss.

Your loved one has the right to an attorney throughout. If they can’t afford one or refuse to retain one, the court appoints counsel for them ¹³. That attorney’s job is to advocate for their client’s position, which may include opposing the petition. This can feel personal. It isn’t. Due process is what keeps the law from being misused, and the same protections that frustrate you here are the ones that protect every Kentuckian from a baseless petition by someone else.

You can also retain your own attorney, though it isn’t required. Many families file pro se — on their own — and the clerk’s office can answer procedural questions, though they cannot give legal advice.

Use the 14-day window. Call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP to identify specific facilities that accept court-ordered patients and have a bed available ². The judge will want to know where treatment would happen. Walking into the hearing with a named program is stronger than walking in with a wish.

At the hearing, the judge reviews the petition, the two evaluations, and any testimony — yours, your loved one’s, and the evaluators’ if they’re called. If the court finds the criteria met and that your loved one can benefit from treatment, it issues an order ^{13, 15}.

The length of that order depends on what you requested in the petition and what the evaluations recommend. Casey’s Law allows the court to order treatment for as little as 60 days or as long as 360 days ¹³. The shorter end is usually paired with detoxification and stabilization. Longer orders allow for the layered work most people with substance use disorder actually need — medical stabilization, then residential or intensive outpatient care, then step-down recovery supports.

If the judge denies the petition, the case ends. You can refile later if circumstances change. That isn’t failure either. It’s the system working as designed, and you’ll know more next time about what the court needs to see.

If your loved one’s substance use involves opioids, the single most important question to ask any program before the hearing is whether they prescribe medications for opioid use disorder. Not whether they “offer” it. Not whether they “can refer out.” Whether their own clinicians prescribe it on site, from day one.

The FDA has approved three medications for opioid use disorder: buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone ⁵. Each works differently, each has a place, and which one fits depends on your loved one’s history, what they’ve used, and what the prescriber recommends after evaluating them. This is a clinical decision, not a family preference, but knowing the three names by heart will help you ask the right questions.

Medication is not optional reading in this conversation. The CDC has linked medication treatment for opioid use disorder to reduced risk of overdose and reduced overall mortality ⁴. The same guidance warns that detoxification alone is not adequate for opioid use disorder — in fact, detox without follow-on medication can raise overdose risk after discharge, because tolerance drops while the underlying disorder remains ⁴.

Medication is the floor, not the ceiling. SAMHSA describes effective care as a “whole-patient” approach — medications combined with counseling and behavioral therapies, working together rather than as substitutes for each other ³. When you call a facility, ask what individual counseling looks like in a typical week. Ask which therapy models the program uses. Cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement, and group counseling are common, and any program worth its license should be able to describe them in plain terms.

Then ask the harder question: can they treat co-occurring mental health conditions in the same building, with the same team? Depression, PTSD, anxiety, bipolar disorder — these travel with substance use disorder more often than not, and a program that treats only the addiction while sending the psychiatric piece down the road is fragmenting care your loved one cannot afford to have fragmented.

This is called dual-diagnosis or integrated treatment, and it’s worth asking about explicitly:

• Is there a prescribing psychiatrist on staff?
• Are mental health diagnoses assessed at intake, or only if the patient brings them up?
• Are the therapy sessions informed by both the substance use and the mental health picture, or is the patient toggling between two separate clinical lanes?

You’re allowed to ask. You’re paying for the evaluations, and your loved one will be living inside the answer.