Let Me Educate You: Child Support and Custody in Alabama

There is physical custody and legal custody.  Alabama defaults to joint legal custody (both parents must be involved in decisions of school, education, major medical) unless there is some reason that the parents cannot communicate about these issues.

Physical custody in Alabama is decided on a 'Best Interests of the Child' standard.  That means that the person that attends parent-teacher conferences, takes the child to the doctor/dentist, helps the child with their daily activities (getting up, dressed, to school, etc) is likely to be the parent to receive primary physical custody.  In our society, it is usually Mom that does these activities.  If more Dads were willing to skip a day of work to take care of these things, more Dads would get custody.

In an unmarried situation, it is very likely that the parent having custody is going to be Mom.  That's because there's a whole bunch of folks around when Mom delivers the child.  One would hope that babies aren't created in a group setting.  By the time many custody/support cases get to court, Mom is already the primary caregiver.  Mom is not allowed to list a legal father unless she is married to him at the time of the birth.  Personally, I think that a DNA test should be required before ANY father is listed.

Alabama does not have a parenting (aka visitation) plan coded in law, it is up to the parties in a child custody case to work out who gets the child when.  There are a few judges that have 'standard' visitation plans, but it is not statewide.
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/CodeOfAlabama/1975/128972.htm

On to Child Support:
Treat your checking account like a swimming pool. Every month, you add 500 gallons of water from child support. You add another 1000 gallons from your job. Maybe you have a birthday and get another 50 gallons for gifts.

Now, you take 300 gallons out to pay your rent. You take 200 gallons out for food. Another 200 gallons for medical care.

How in the world would you be expected to know that the gallons you took out for food, clothing, etc was the same as the money that went in for child care? Obviously, you can't. Treat your checking account like a swimming pool. Every month, you add 500 gallons of water from child support. You add another 1000 gallons from your job. Maybe you have a birthday and get another 50 gallons for gifts.

Now, you take 300 gallons out to pay your rent. You take 200 gallons out for food. Another 200 gallons for medical care.

How in the world would you be expected to know that the gallons you took out for food, clothing, etc was the same as the money that went in for child care? Obviously, you can't.

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Alabama is a shared income model when determining Child Support. The Custodial Parent's and the Non-Custodial Parent's incomes are taken as a whole.  A percentage of that is determined to be the amount of Child Support.

http://www.alacourt.gov/ChildSupportObligations.aspx

And trust me, one can't live on Child Support any more than one can live on Unemployment in Alabama.

Let's look at expenses for a family of two (parent/child).
House:                      $800
Utilities:                  $400
TV:                          $75
Groceries/Sundries:        $ 500
Total:                     $1775

Half that amount is $887.50.  I've not included school supplies, clothing, activities, gas, insurance or cell phones.  If both parents are making $40k/year, Child Support in Alabama will run about $343 a month.

And one cannot DEPEND on child support.  It's considered a happy bonus.