Former Gov. Matt Bevin again faces jail or fine for not complying with court orders
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin again faces jail time or a $250 fine for failing to comply with court orders in the divorce case involving his ex-wife and son, who has intervened to request child support.
It’s the latest development in a more-than yearlong legal battle within the Bevin family. Jonah Bevin, now 19, filed to intervene in the couple’s divorce case to seek financial support after he said his parents abandoned him at an abusive youth facility in Jamaica when he was 16 and are no longer financially supporting him.
Matt Bevin appeared at the sentencing on Friday via Zoom, saying he was unable to attend in person because a boulder had fallen onto a home he owns in Maine. He had previously been ordered to attend in person.
“You’d think that your potential liberty being removed would be more important than repairing property damage,” Johnson said to Bevin.
Jonah Bevin’s lawyers argued that the financial documents Matt Bevin had provided were inadequate, and would not allow for accurate child support to be determined. Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson said after reviewing the documents submitted, there were “holes in some of the evidence.”
On Friday, Johnson said she was holding Matt Bevin to the same standards she would any other person who failed to provide such documents and failed to appear in person when ordered. Johnson said she was issuing a warrant for Matt Bevin’s arrest on Friday, in which he will either serve 14 days in jail or pay a $250 fine.
“I have to treat you, sir, as I treat every other litigant that appears in this court, and I would be doing a disservice, I would be damaging the trust in the court system if I gave you a pass,” Johnson said to Bevin.
If Bevin does not comply with the request for financial documents by June 5, Johnson said Bevin will serve 60 days in jail and pay a $500 fine.
“You will serve the time, sir,” Johnson said if Bevin does not turn over the documents.
Bevin said Friday that he and his ex-wife Glenna had continued to financially provide for each of their children, including Jonah, and still provided health insurance and paid medical bills for Jonah.
“Every single one of them is loved by us,” Bevin said of his children. “We’ve made a commitment to them while they were young, and we’ve made a commitment to them as they’re older.”
Jonah’s lawyer, John Helmers, said during the sentencing that part of the divorce settlement included an agreement to pay for each of their children’s postsecondary education. That had not been revealed until the settlement was submitted to the court this week, and is part of what Jonah has requested in the case, Helmers said.
Matt Bevin was previously held in contempt of court for repeatedly failing to turn over financial records in the case, a standard part of cases involving child support. In March, he told Johnson he was attempting to gather the financial records, but needed additional time because he did not have traditional documentation of income.
Helmers said they were disappointed that Matt Bevin was not facing more severe consequences and said it was “frustrating” that the former governor again did not come to the court in person. Helmers said the financial documents provided so far have been “woefully inadequate.”
Johnson told Helmers to submit a list of financial documents still needed in the case to the court by Monday at noon. In turn, Matt Bevin will have until June 5 at noon to provide those documents.
Bevin’s lawyer, Jesse Mudd, said additional tax returns were not available because the former governor last filed a tax return in 2021 and had filed for an extension from the IRS in each year since. Instead, Matt Bevin had submitted 18 months of bank statements to show his income.
Mudd, did not immediately comment after Friday’s sentencing.
When Bevin was previously held in contempt, he had been ordered to appear in person for that hearing, too, but he attended by Zoom. Bevin told Johnson he had to travel out of state for his ex-wife’s father’s funeral, and was driving with several of their children.
He missed the deadline to produce records showing his income, including bank statements and tax returns. Glenna Bevin was not held in contempt and had previously provided her financial documents.
Johnson told Bevin he had been asked repeatedly over several months to provide the information, which is common in family court cases involving child support, and as a result, was in contempt of the court. Bevin was ordered to serve 60 days in the Jefferson County Jail, unless he paid the $500 bond and provided the information to the court.
However, the arrest warrant was later recalled, with a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge saying Johnson did not have the authority to issue the warrant until the state’s chief justice ruled on the motion for Johnson to recuse herself from the case.
The Kentucky Supreme Court then remanded the decision for Johnson’s recusal back to Johnson’s court, after which she ruled she did not have to recuse herself.
The Bevins also filed with the Kentucky Supreme Court to have Johnson disqualified from the case, saying she was biased against the former couple, though the court declined to remove Johnson.
Jonah Bevin is one of four children the Bevins adopted from Ethiopia. They also have five biological children.
Glenna Bevin filed for divorce in May 2023 from the former governor.
Matt and Glenna Bevin have argued that their divorce proceedings should be kept private, though the Louisville Courier-Journal has intervened in the case and argued they should remain public. In October, the Court of Appeals denied the request to seal the proceedings, and ruled that Jonah Bevin had a right to intervene in the case.
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 6:00 PM.