Former KY Gov. Bevin’s adopted son can pursue financial support, appeals judge says
The Kentucky Court of Appeals dismissed appeals by former Gov. Matt Bevin and former First Lady Glenna Bevin, creating the opportunity for their adopted son to testify in an evidentiary hearing why he’s entitled to the retroactive financial support.
An evidentiary hearing would also allow the Bevins to share their reasoning as to why he should not get that support.
Larry Thompson, the chief judge of the court of appeals, ruled the Bevins had no legal basis to appeal in a six-page order released Monday.
The Bevins’ appeal, filed in June, attempted to prevent their son from being able to intervene in their divorce proceedings. Glenna Bevin requested a Jefferson County family judge’s order be reversed, and their proceedings be kept private.
In May, Louisville Family Court Judge Angela Johnson ruled in Jonah Bevin’s favor, allowing him to be an intervenor in his adoptive parents’ divorce case and opening the door for Jonah to petition to get retroactive financial support from his now-divorced parents until he gets his high school diploma.
When Glenna filed for divorce from the one-term Republican governor in 2023, Jonah Bevin was 16 and living at Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica. He was later held in the care of Jamaican child welfare services after they discovered facility staff were physically and emotionally abusive.
Part of why Jonah says he is seeking financial support from his parents now is to earn his high school diploma or GED. The Bevins paid for Jonah to attend and graduate from Veritas Mission Academy in Florida in 2024, a school that bills itself as providing “classical education from a Christian worldview.”
But Jonah and his lawyers have since said his diploma from Veritas doesn’t carry any meaningful weight, since the school wasn’t accredited.
The Oct. 27 ruling also denied Matt and Glenna’s request that their divorce settlement remain under seal. Glenna appealed June 13, and in a brief opinion June 18, an appellate judge said it was too early in the process to appeal.
But in the order issued Monday, the court said there was never an evidentiary hearing that would have provided any additional reasoning as to why the Bevins’ appeals should not be dismissed.
With the appeals dismissed, the courts can now move forward with holding an evidentiary hearing, where Jonah Bevin can testify against his adoptive parents.
“We are happy that Jonah looks to be able to have his day in court on the issues of child support and his access to an education,” said John Helmers and Melina Hettiaratchi, Jonah’s attorneys.
How the Bevins’ case began
The case began in March, when Johnson granted Jonah an emergency protective order against Matt and a restraining order against Glenna, blocking his adoptive parents from contacting him.
The Bevins adopted Jonah from Ethiopia when he was 5.
Bevin, a Christian conservative, served as governor from late 2015 through 2019 before he was defeated in his bid for a second term by current Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat.
The Bevins were married for 26 years and share four adopted children from Ethiopia and five biological children.
Jonah, now 18, had petitioned for the court’s protection after he said his parents at the last minute tried to coerce him to fly home to Ethiopia earlier this year to see his birth mother, whom Jonah says he had been told most of his life was dead.
Jonah said he was afraid of being lured to another country and left there. He told the court he has long distrusted his adoptive parents — he described his adoptive father as “threatening,” “intimidating” and “manipulative” — in part because he has said they abandoned him at Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica, a faith-based behavioral health facility where staff were physically and emotionally abusive.
When the facility was shut down by Jamaican authorities in March 2024, Jonah was placed in the Jamaican foster care system. Even after his removal from the abusive facility, “my parents did not come to support me,” Jonah told a court in March.
After the no-contact orders were issued against Matt and Glenna, to get the financial support Jonah says he was denied when he was living in Jamaica and still a minor, Jonah filed to intervene in his adoptive parents’ divorce case.
Johnson allowed it, which opened an avenue for Jonah to make a case for why he’s entitled to that retroactive support, at least until he earns his high school diploma from an accredited school.
An evidentiary hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 3.
Herald-Leader writer Alex Acquisto contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM.
