Alabama · Rule 32, Ala. R. Jud. Admin.
How it works
Alabama uses the income-shares model: the support obligation is the amount the parents would spend on the children if the household were intact, divided between them in proportion to income. Every step below is what the calculator does, with the rule that authorizes it.
Step 1
Determine each parent's adjusted gross income
Rule 32(B), (C)(1); CS-42 Lines 1–2
Start from each parent's gross income, then subtract preexisting child support and preexisting periodic alimony actually paid to reach adjusted gross income. The income page covers self-employment, imputation, and what counts as income.
Step 2
Combine income and read the schedule
Rule 32(C)(1)
Add both parents' adjusted gross incomes and read the basic obligation from the schedule at the nearest $50 row for the number of children. The schedule runs to $30,000 combined monthly income.
Step 3
Prorate by income share
Rule 32(C)(2)–(3); CS-42 Line 3
Each parent's percentage share of combined income — rounded to the nearest 1% — is their share of the basic obligation. The noncustodial parent pays their share to the custodial parent.
Step 4
Add the mandatory add-ons
Rule 32(C)(4); CS-42 Lines 6–9
Work-related childcare, the children's health-insurance premium, and extraordinary uninsured medical are added to the obligation and prorated by income share. A parent who pays an add-on directly is credited for it.
Step 5
Shared 50/50 custody — Form CS-42-S
Rule 32(C)(7) (eff. 6/1/2023)
For shared 50/50 physical custody, the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5 (150%); each parent is credited half of that adjusted obligation; and the parent with the higher adjusted obligation pays the difference. On CS-42-S the self-support reserve, the $50 minimum, and the zero-dollar provision do not apply. Alabama has no overnight band — parenting time substantially in excess of customary but short of 50/50 is handled as a discretionary deviation (Rule 32(A)(1)(a)), not a formula.
Step 6
Self-support reserve and the minimum order
Rule 32(C)(5)–(6)
A low-income obligor's order is limited to the income available after a $981/month reserve, discounted by an 85% economic-incentive factor (~15% payroll taxes). If that available amount is below $50, a rebuttable $50 minimum order applies. A zero-dollar order is presumed for an obligor with no income who receives only means-tested assistance or is incarcerated/institutionalized 180+ days.
Step 7
Above the schedule, and deviations
Rule 32(C)(1) & Editors' Notes; Ex parte Dyas, 683 So. 2d 971 (Ala. 1996)
Above $30,000 combined monthly income the amount is discretionary — it must rationally relate to the children's reasonable needs and the obligor's ability to pay, with findings on the record; a pure chart-extrapolation is reversible. A court may otherwise deviate from the guideline amount with written findings (Form CS-43) that applying the guidelines would be manifestly unjust or inequitable.