Alabama Family Law Blog

As many of the readers of this blog know, the age of majority in Alabama is 19. That means that child support is terminated at that time (there is provision for post minority support for assistance with college that may come up, but that is a separate issue - you can read a post I've made about that here).

A reader of this blog recently asked me a very good question: his child was only 18 (so not yet at the age of majority) but the child had joined the military. Does the obligation to pay child support stop under those circumstances?

As I explained in an e-mail to that reader the child support does not automatically stop. However, there is a statute in Alabama that would allow that parent to file a petition with the court and request that the child be declared emancipated, and if granted, the child support would then be terminated.

I explained to the reader that in that situation, my experience with our local judges is that they would grant his request, declare the child emancipated and terminate the child support.

I am trying to find out can you stop child support before 19 if child drop out of school or go to job corp.

My ex-wife filed for post-minority education for our daughter. We have not gone to court yet. Our daughter dropped out of a community college after the first semester and is now planning to attend a trade school. Under Bayliss would the parent be required to pay the tuition for the child to attend a trade school?

i have been paying child support.my son turned 21.i never stop paying child support for him.my daughter just finish high school.can i file too stop payment for my son.my salary and my ex-wife salary has increast since the divorce. should i file to get my son off or should i wait until my daugther turn eighteen.

Slim,

I cannot answer that question in the abstract without knowimg more about the specifics of your situation. The question you pose involves some important strategic decisions that would need to be made depending upon the particular facts of your case. But, keep in mind that the age of majority in Alabama is still 19 (not 18).

I recommend you set up a consult with a lawyer in your area that specializes in divorce and family law.

Joe,

Yes, there is case law authority that MAY allow a trial judge to order contribution to a trade school. But, it could depend on her grades, current enrollment status, etc.

My son lives in alabama with his mother he is 18.the custody papers and child support order is in effect in florida where the age of majority is 18.he wants to move to florida with me, can he legally without any repercussions,since the age in alabama is 19.

I have just turned 18 and am planning to attend college in the fall. I have moved out of my mother's house, but she still helps me with bills and household supplies as I am not employed. However, my father is trying to cut off my child support and declare me emancipated. Can he do this???

Jessica,

He can attempt to have you declare emancipated by trying to prove you are self supporting. Your mother will need to get a lawyer to represent her to file a petition for him to contribute to college expenses and to assert that you are not self supporting. The petition regarding college support must be filed before your 19th birthday.

We are currently in the middle of an ongoing battle with my husband's ex-wife concerning his daughters college expense. This was filed after he notified his ex-wife he would be losing his job in January and needed to file for temporary relief for child support and because he found out the daughter had received $3000 in scholarship money that she put in her pocket instead of applying it to her expenses...so they sued him. He was sued for things he didnt pay, like 1/2 of the scholarship he applied to her expenses, summer meals and gas (mostly to come visit her mother though she didnt have time to visit her father),etc, though he paid for her major expense during the summer like rent, utilities, car ins, etc. The girl also had a part time job...she made $12,000 in 2005 alone. During the school year she sent him receipts for everything down to chewing gum...which he paid. I am not too worried about this part of the case as we have kept good records on everything. He has paid over $26,000 since Oct 2003 for his two children.

Now to my question: also included in her last petition (after the loss of my husband's job) was an increase in child support for his 18 year old son because of "his dynamic needs". The boy is spoiled and manipulative. In Sept 05, she was begging us to take him because she could not control him. In January 06 or so his 16 year old girlfriend moved into the home with the boy and his mother and stepfather. He did not graduate from high school with his class because of his failing grades (since his freshman year), but she is planning for him to attend college. He did pass everything during last semester, so i guess that is why she purchased him a brand new car. (guess that was the dynamic need). Now at the time of their divorce, they agreed to each pay for 1/2 of the college. But (1) my husband's income is now 1/2 of what is way...also about 1/2 of hers (2) the boy did not even graduate from high school (3) the boy is living like a married man in his mothers house with his girlfriend. What are your thoughts on how the Alabama court will look at the case with the son? My husband feels his failure in high school already breaches the clause in the agreement for good academic standing. And as you can imagine, his son co-habitating with a girl and the mother wanting more money from him does not set very well with him.

I live in Washington State and my ex lives in Florida. My child is 18, and lives with her mother in Florida. She graduated last year. Can she file for an extension on child support?

I was divorced in Ala in 1991. Was the age of majority at that time 18 or 19? The reason that I am asking is that my decree says that child suppor stops as of the date that my child begins college. He is a freshman and just turned 18. Thank you!!

Frustrated,

I can see why you are frustrated! I can't tell you what your husband's judge will do (since I don't know who it is). But, I can tell you that based on what you presented in your question, if I were the Judge I would not be ordering college support and I think the judge could properly order that under Alabama law, regardless of the prior agreement (the agreement can be modified).

Jerry,

I am unable to answer your question. I only know Alabama law. The laws regarding emancipation and child support vary from state to state. I don't know what state your child support is out of. Either that state or Florida's law will govern. If we were looking at Alabama law, the answer would be yes - as long as they file before the 19th birthday the court has jurisdiction to look at post minority support.

J. Beckwith,

The age of majority was then and remains now - 19. However, it sounds like you guys may have specifically agreed to another arrangement in your Agreement. You may want to talk with the lawyer that represented you in the divorce and get their opinion on what your obligation is at this point.

My son is 17. My ex and I divorced in 1989, 6 months after he was born. The div decree says he will pay child support until 18 & be responsible for 1/2 of all med bills not paid by insurance. I had to take him to court in 2002 to get him to pay bills he ignored, won the case, but judge said I would have to send bills more "timely". Since 2002 my son has begun to rebel, big time. Criminal activity, probation twice, skipping school, failing grades, general teenage angst x 100. After I made my ex pay his bills in 2002 he stopped seeing my son (not that he was a regular visitor anyway) and limited his calls to 3 maybe 4 a year. I stopped sending him bills, hoping it would make things easier between the two, but it has not. My ex told me he doesn't have the time nor the patience to "deal with a teenager" so he stopped getting him for ANY visitation, barring an occasional afternoon at Christmas.

My question is - I have over $5,000 in medical expenses I've paid (doctors, psychiatrists, inpatient hospitilization for bi-polar/drugs, etc) and I want to have my ex pay half of them.

Am I too late? Do you think a judge would enforce the order or say I've waited too long? And can I get the child support modified so he pays until 19 since the decree already says 18?

My son is bi-polar and I've kept my ex informed all along about his condition - but he has never expressed an interest in helping nor paying any bills. His comment is "Well, you'll just have to wait until he is 18 and then you can be free. He'll either sink or swim! I made it, so can he, without help."

Curious Mom,

It is difficult to say ithout knowing all of the facts of your case and reviewing your court orders specifically. If the Judge has already warned you about not submitting them on a timely basis, or if the Judge put a time restriction on you in the court order, then the Judge may rule in your ex's favor. Nevertheless, if you already have to go back to court to see about extending the child support then you really have nothing to lose by including a contempt petition at the same time and seeing what the judge does with it.

My ex-husband and I divorced in Louisiana. I have since relocated to Alabama. To my knowledge he is now living in Mississippi.

Though his wages are garnished he is in arrears to the tune of $2375.50. HIs total support is $500.00 per month. But there is a deduction of $50.00 a month for Summer visits so only $450.00 is garnished monthly.

At the end of the Summer if he has not spent at least 75% of the time with her he is to reimburse me $600.00. I am to send him a certified letter requesting this refund. Last year he refused the certified letter. I am still waiting to see what happens this year. $1275.50 is the result of the child support increase being retroactive. He was supposed to pay me, out of pocket, $75.00 a month until paid in full. I have received no payment.

In the event he does not pay he must pay all court costs and attorneys fees associated with collecting these funds. Also, I am not required to file a motion for contempt or any other pleadings with the court to effect the payment or reimbursement of the amounts owed.

My question is this, since neither he nor I are residents of Louisiana any longer, would the courts of Alabama enforce this child support order or would I be best served leaving this in the Louisiana courts?

I also see that the age of majority in Alabama is 19. No date is specified in our court order as to when child support would cease. If I transferred this to Alabama would that age automatically be 19 years of age?

Lastly, our daughter is a Junior in high school. Hopefully she will be getting scholarships for college but how good are the Alabama courts about having a parent (such as my ex) help pay for college tuition, etc. This is an issue not addressed in our court orders. Frankly, we divorced when she was four and this was not something that crossed my mind until recently.

I thank you in advance for your time and any information you can provide.

My daughter just turned 21 and we have just starting receiving back child support. My ex ran for several years and only recently decided to pay. He owes somewhere around $40,000.00. Someone told me about a 21 plus 7 law. what is that? Does this apply in Alabama?

I have two sons, both for my ex-husband. My oldest has jus' turned 17 & is a senior in high school. When should I start to petition the court for a extention of support for college for him?

i was directed by the courts to pay $600 a month for my two boys their ages are 7 and 3 the thing is their mother stay in tuscaloosa county and they stay in hale county with the great grand parents .she went to court and lied and said that the kids stay with her i am not a dead bet dad i buy my kids everthing even before child support the question i have is why do the government allow some women to get away with beating the system without checking on wht they say is true at this point she dont let me see my kids unless she have them on the weekend and she wants to go out and party can you please let me know what i can do to stop this problem and let the court know that some women uses their kids to get money just to spend on them self and not the kids thank you

I was just wondering if I could sign off on collection of my fathers child support. I am 36 and my brother is 35, my father owes on back support. We would like to releas him of that debt. Can we?

I was amazed when I read Curious Mom's post of Aug 18, 2006. I am in the exact same boat...well, almost exactly. I (at least) didn't put the "support will stop at 18" in the div decree. I thought it WAS in there and I recommend that she look again to make sure it DOESN'T say "until age of majority". I was extremely grateful to see it did say age of majority. I went to a lawyer last week and laid out my case, with the same facts as Curious Mom presented and was told that since I hadn't been "timely" in submitting my bills that I would most likely be out of luck...no matter what the reason AND since my son occasionally has a job, I might lose child support also. Sad, since I had been doing the only thing I saw possible for incresing the chance for my son to see his father.

Dealing with Bi-polar is hard...add drugs, crises with doctors and hospitals, absolutely NO help from the father and the constant abuse a mother with a bi-polar child receives from the mentally ill child ...and it is almost impossible to raise a productive, well-balanced member of society.

And I'm with Curious Mom...I've done the inpatient hospitals, Bradford treatments, residential treatment centers, Narcotics Anon., and on and on. But he still keeps getting in trouble, failing in school, running away (5 times in 10 months - I've retrieved him from 5 different states and as far away as California) and I can't tell you the monies I've spent on lawyer fees, travel expenses, teen counseling, etc.

But when I ask the courts for help - nothing. When I ask his father for help - nothing. The courts just tell me I am responsible for him until he is 19 and they won't emancipate him because of his record even if he DOES get a job or get married at 18. And his father flat out ignores him.

I'm sorry, Curious Mom, truly I am. But don't think you're the only one. I pray you have him on medications and that you are finding some way to convince him that he needs to keep taking meds...otherwise his future looks bleak since there is no cure for bi-polar. All my son has ever wanted was to be "free from my restrictions that keep him from enjoying himself"...but all his freedom has ever gotten him was trouble with the law, homelessness and more. Not to mention all the heartbreak, worry and hurt he has caused at home. But due to his condition - he can't see that.

Mr. Sherman... if you have any advice for me - I'd appreciate it.

My Stepdaughter (18 yrs) had a baby in October and got married in Jan 07. My husband would like to know if he can stop the child support and how. We were told we need a copy of his daughters marriage certificate but she (under influence of bio mom) refuses now to give my husband a copy. We can not afford to pay for an attorney. Any advice is appreciated

Stepmuster,

Sounds like your husband needs to file a petition to emancipate the child and to terminate child support. The marriage certificate should be easily obtainable through the Probate court in the county of marriage.

If he can't afford a lawyer to file, he can file pro se (representing himself).