Alabama’s Child Support Guidelines have been amended, effective May 1, 2022, incorporating significant changes to the prior child support guidelines. You may be wondering how these changes to Alabama child support laws could affect how you make child support payments. Some of the most important key changes are as follows:

• All of the support amounts have increased.
• The cap for the maximum combined family income for both parents is now $30,000 per month instead of $20,000 per month.
• The guidelines take into consideration which parent is paying all or part of both health insurance and work-related child care, essentially giving that parent a credit for same; whereas the old guidelines only credited the parent who pays health insurance.
• The new guidelines include a subsistence-level self-support reserve amount to ensure that paying parents who are below a certain income level still have income left to pay for their own basic needs.

Whether you have a pre-existing child support order, a divorce decree, or a subsequent modification order, these changes to the child support law could potentially result in a decrease or increase of the child support amount from your prior order.

If you would like to discuss a possible child support modification, contact our office for a consultation.