Here’s an alternative. If you use Internet Explorer Version 4.01 or higher, you can click here to use an interactive child support calculator here on Divorceinfo.com.
And here’s another alternative. If you’d like a spreadsheet to figure your child support in Alabama, you may want to know about a diligent and creative Divorceinfo.com user, John Mason, who has produced a spreadsheet to figure child support in Alabama. He’ll share it with you for free if you e-mail him and ask for it. Also, Divorceinfo.com user Annie Walker has a program available. You can e-mail her as well.
Now as for this page, it’s a simplification of Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration. Click here for the full text of Rule 32. You can do this without printing anything, but it will be much easier if you first print this page and the page containing the form called CS-42.
Here are the step by step instructions. Enter each of your monthly gross incomes on Line 1. If one of you is self-employed, it’s the gross revenue from the business minus ordinary and necessary business expenses.
If either of you is paying alimony from a previous marriage or child support for a previous child (that is before the children for whom you are figuring now), enter it on Lines 1(a) or 1(b) as appropriate.
Line 2 is Line 1 minus 1(a) and minus 1(b). Add the Line 2 amounts for the Mother and the Father and show the total under “Combined” for Line 2. Divide the Mother’s Monthly Adjusted Gross Income by the Combined figure and enter the percentage for the Mother on Line 3. Then do the same thing for the Father.
Look for the figure in the Alabama Child Support Table that is the closest to the Combined Monthly Adjusted Gross Income for you and your spouse. Then look across from that figure to the column for the number of children under 19 you have. If you have one child, it’s the next column. If you have two children, it’s two columns over, etc. Enter that figure on Line 4 under “Combined.”
If you can’t find a figure on the Table that’s close to your income, that means you’re either below or above the guidelines (which only cover incomes from $6,600 to $120,000 per year). Above and below those points, child support is in the discretion of the judge.
Add on Line 5 the expenses for Work Related Child Care. The figure you can use varies in each county and varies according to the age of the child and the child care arrangement (full service facility, private home, etc.). Click here to look up the rate for your county. The rates shown on the worksheets are weekly amounts, and you’re figuring monthly support, so you would want to multiply the weekly rates times 4.33 for the number of weeks in an average month.
Enter the cost for Health Insurance for the children on Line 6. This probably should be the extra cost for the children, but some judges want to see the entire amount of the insurance. That also varies from county to county.
Add Lines 4, 5, and 6 and enter the sum on Line 7.
Multiply Line 7 by each parent’s percentage from Line 3 and enter each parent’s figure (or more specifically, the figure for the non-custodial parent, the “Obligor”) on Line 8.
If the Obligor is paying health insurance, enter it on Line 9 and subtract it from Line 8. The difference on Line 10 is the guideline child support.