Alabama child support calculator

Alabama follows the income-shares model. The idea is that a child should receive the same proportion of parental income they would have if the parents lived together. Both parents’ adjusted gross monthly income — gross income less pre-existing child-support orders and periodic alimony actually paid — is combined and applied to the schedule, and each parent is responsible for the share matching their percentage of the combined income. Rule 32 rounds those percentages to the nearest 1% and every dollar figure to the nearest dollar.

The heart of the calculation is the Schedule of Basic Child-Support Obligations, the appendix to Rule 32 — for each number of children (one to six) and each level of combined adjusted gross monthly income, it gives the total support the two parents together owe. It runs up to $30,000 combined per month in $50 increments. Where income falls between two rows, Rule 32 takes the lower row below the halfway point and the higher row at halfway or above.

To the basic obligation Alabama adds work-related child care and health-care-coverage costs; the sum is the total child-support obligation, split in proportion to income. Rule 32(C)(5) then applies a self-support reserve of $981 a month: subtract it from the obligor’s adjusted gross income, take 85% of what is left, and the recommended order is the lesser of that figure and the obligor’s share. Below $50 there is a rebuttable presumption of a $50 minimum order, and a parent with no income who receives only means-tested assistance is presumed to owe nothing.

Alabama does not scale support to the overnight count. Instead, when a court orders shared 50% physical custody, Rule 32(C)(7) switches the calculation to Form CS-42-S, which multiplies the basic obligation by 150% before the split to reflect the cost of two full households. Extraordinary visitation can support an abatement. This calculator runs the standard Form CS-42 calculation.

It combines both parents’ adjusted gross income, reads the Rule 32 schedule, adds child care and health-care coverage, splits the total by income share, and applies the self-support reserve. It does not compute adjusted gross income from your pay stubs, run the shared-50%-custody adjustment, add extraordinary medical, dental or educational expenses, or apply a deviation the court may order. For a figure you can file, use Form CS-42 or consult an attorney.