Ala. R. Jud. Admin. 32
Preface relating to scope. This rule, as amended effective May 1, 2022, shall apply to all new actions filed or proceedings instituted on or after May 1, 2022. Any actions or proceedings instituted before May 1, 2022, shall be governed by Rule 32 as it read before May 1, 2022.
The existence of one or more of the reasons enumerated in this section does not require the court to deviate from the guidelines, but the reason or reasons may be considered in deciding whether to deviate from the guidelines. The court may deviate from the guidelines even if no reason enumerated in this section exists, if evidence of other reasons justifying deviation is presented.
Ala. R. Jud. Admin. 32
Committee Comments to the Amendment to Rule 32
Effective July 1, 2019
Rule 32 was amended effective July 1, 2019, to address certain issues and changes to the federal regulations that govern child support.
In subsections (A), (A) (3) (c), and (B) (6), the word "award" was replaced with the word "order" to be consistent with the terminology used in federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56.
Subsection (A)(2) was amended to require that the parties, if they have not followed the guidelines, provide the court with the amount of support that would have been required under the guidelines. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56(g).
Subsection (A)(3)(f) was added to clarify that addressing the children's health-care needs is an adequate basis for modifying a child-support order. See 45 C.F.R. 303.8(d).
Subsection (A) (4) was amended to change "health insurance" to "private or public health-care coverage," to provide that the children's health-care needs can be addressed through health-care coverage, cash medical support, or both, to add the language "that can be obtained for the children," and to delete "group" to be consistent with federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56(c) (2) and 45 C.F.R. § 303.31(b) (1) (i).
Subsection (B)(2)(a) was amended to add "veteran's benefits" to the list of sources of gross income to clarify that those benefits can be included as income to calculate child support. See Goldman v. Goldman, 197 So. 3d 487 (Ala.Civ.App. 2015).
In subsection (B)(5), the factors that should be considered when determining voluntary underemployment or unemployment were changed to be consistent with the requirements in federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56(c) (1) (ill). Incarceration may no longer be treated as voluntary unemployment when establishing or modifying child support. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56(c)(3).
In subsections (B)(7)(a), (B)(7)(b), and B(7) (c)(4), "health insurance coverage" was replaced with "health-care coverage." See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56 and § 303.31. In subsection (B) (7) (c) (1), however, the word "insurance" remains and is consistent with 45 C.F.R. § 303.31(a)(1).
In subsection (B) (7) (c) (2), the definition of health insurance was expanded to public and private health-care coverage. See 45 C.F.R. § 303.31(a)(2).
In subsection (B) (7) (c) (3), the word "private" and the language "For purposes of applying the 10% standard, the cost is the cost of adding the child or children to existing coverage or the difference between self-only and family coverage, whichever is greater" were deleted to comply with federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 303.31(a) (3).
In subsection (B) (7) (d), the phrase "of a premium" was deleted and "health-insurance benefits" was changed to "health-care coverage" to be consistent with federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56 and § 303, 31.
In subsection (B) (7) (e), "health-insurance costs" was replaced with "health-care-coverage costs" and "medical-insurance premium" was replaced with "health-care-coverage cost" to be consistent with federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 303.31.
In subsection (B)(7)(f), the word "premium" was changed to "health-care-coverage cost" in one place and to "cost" in another to be consistent with federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 303.31.
In subsection (B)(7)(g), the word "insurance" was replaced with "health-care coverage." See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56 and § 303.31.
In subsection (C)(2), "insurance" was replaced with "health-care coverage." See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56 and § 303.31.
In subsection (C) (4), the word "awards" was replaced with "amounts" and "make" and "making" were replaced with "order" and "ordering," respectively. These changes were made to be consistent with the terminology used in federal child-support regulations. See 45 C.F.R. § 302.56.
Subsection (E) was amended to comply with 45 C.F.R. § 302.56(g) and to require that a Child-Support Guidelines form (Form CS-42 as appended to the rule), a Child-Support-Obligation Income Statement/Affidavit form (Form CS-41 as appended to the rule), and a Child-Support Guidelines Notice of Compliance form (Form CS-43 as appended to the rule) be filed in each action to establish or modify child support, including actions in which there is a stipulation of child support that is not in compliance with the guidelines.
Committee Comments to Amendments to Rule 32
Effective May 1, 2022
Rule 32 was amended effective May 1, 2022, to address certain issues and to make technical changes.
The first paragraph of this rule, entitled, "Preface relating to scope," provides that the amended rule is effective May 1, 2022. The amended rule applies to all new actions filed or proceedings instituted on or after that date. Any actions or proceedings instituted before May 1, 2022, will be governed by Rule 32 as it read before that date.
The appendix to Rule 32, the Schedule of Basic Child-Support Obligations, has been updated after a review conducted in compliance with Rule 32(G). The previous schedule was developed through research sponsored by the National Center for State Courts. The Alabama Administrative Office of Courts contracted with the Center for Policy Research ("CPR") to assist the Committee in its review. The revised schedule is based on the latest extensive economic research on the cost of supporting children at various income levels. Specifically, the revised schedule is based on estimates of child-rearing that were developed by applying the fifth Betson-Rothbarth study (which is the most current) to 2013-2019 expenditures data and updated to September 2021 price levels. The revised schedule uses gross income and has been adjusted for Alabama's income distribution relative to the income distribution for the United States.
Other assumptions incorporated in the revised schedule include:
(1) Tax assumptions. The revised schedule assumes that all income is taxed at the rate of a single taxpayer based on federal and state income-tax withholding formulas;
(2) Health-care costs. In respect to health-care costs, the revised schedule assumes unreimbursed medical costs up to $250 per child per year; these assumed costs include medical expenses not covered or reimbursed by health insurance, Medicaid, All Kids, or insurance from another public entity; and
(3) Visitation. The revised schedule is premised on the assumption that the noncustodial parent will exercise customary visitation rights, including summer visitation. Any abatement of child support because of extraordinary visitation should be based on visitation in excess of customary visitation.
The revised schedule includes combined gross incomes ranging from $0 to $30,000 a month. The previous schedule addressed only combined monthly gross-income amounts up to $20,000. The data to address combined monthly gross incomes up to $30,000 is now available, and the revised schedule based on that data will aid parties, attorneys, and judges in setting an appropriate child-support obligation.
Because the revised schedule addresses combined monthly gross-income amounts down to $0, Rule 32(C)(1) has been amended to no longer give courts "discretion in determining child support in circumstances where combined adjusted gross income is below the lowermost levels ... of the schedule." However, Rule 32(C)(1) still provides that the court may use its discretion in determining child support when the combined adjusted gross income is above the uppermost levels of the revised schedule. When the combined adjusted gross income exceeds the uppermost limit of the revised schedule, the amount of child support should not be extrapolated from the figures in the revised schedule, but should be left to the discretion of the court.
Rule 32(A)(1)(e) has been amended to reflect that the assumption that the custodial parent will claim the federal and state income-tax exemptions for the child or children in that parent's custody is based not on the revised schedule but, instead, on the Internal Revenue Code.
Rule 32(B)(8) has been amended to add subpart (b); that subpart provides for an adjustment for the payment of work-related child-care costs similar to the adjustment for the payment of the costs of health-care coverage found in Rule 32(B)(7)(f). The adjustment for the payment of work-related child-care costs has been added to Form CS-42 ("the Child-Support Guidelines form"). The Child-Support Guidelines form has been further amended so that the amounts for work-related child-care costs and health-care-coverage costs are required to be entered only once.
Rule 32(C), entitled "Determination of Recommended Child-Support Obligation," has been amended by adding subsection (5). Subsection (5) provides for a Self-Support Reserve ("SSR") Calculation in the Child-Support Guidelines form.
45 C.F.R. § 302.56(c)(ii) requires that child-support guidelines must "[t]ake[] into consideration the basic subsistence needs of the noncustodial parent." Alabama previously addressed that concern through the implementation of an SSR adjustment built into the schedule. By moving the SSR adjustment out of the schedule and implementing the SSR calculation as provided in Rule 32(C)(5), this rule change will aid in transparency and will allow the amount of the SSR to be updated in the future without having to update the entire schedule.
Rule 32(C)(5)(a) explains that the SSR calculation is used to ensure that the obligor's basic subsistence needs are met in accordance with 45 C.F.R. § 302.56.
Rule 32(C)(5)(b) explains that the amount of the SSR is $981. The amount of the SSR that had been incorporated into the schedule was based on the 2007 federal poverty guidelines, adjusted for Alabama incomes. The amount of the SSR has been updated to reflect the 2021 federal poverty levels, adjusted for Alabama incomes, which is consistent with the revised schedule.
Rule 32(C)(5)(c) explains how to perform the SSR calculation to determine the "Income Available After SSR." Rule 32(C)(5)(c) also addresses the application of an 85% economic incentive. To apply the economic incentive, the amount of income available for support after adjusting for the SSR will be multiplied by a factor of 0.85; the product will be entered on Line 12 of the Child-Support Guidelines form as the "Income Available for Support." The economic incentive is applied so that not all of the obligor's earnings exceeding the SSR amount are considered in determining his or her child-support obligation. The federal and state payroll taxes on full-time minimum-wage earnings is 13%. Rounding that percentage to 15%, the 85% economic-incentive adjustment takes into consideration the payroll taxes on the obligor's earnings exceeding the SSR amount and also allows the obligor to keep a small portion of those earnings.
Rule 32(C)(5)(d) explains that the "Recommended Child-Support Order" on Line 13 of the Child-Support Guidelines form is the lesser of "Each Parent's Adjusted Child-Support Obligation" on Line 10 of the Child-Support Guidelines form or the "Income Available for Support" entered on Line 12 of the Child-Support Guidelines form. If the amount entered on Line 12 is less than $50, there is a rebuttable presumption that a $50 minimum amount should be entered.
Rule 32(C) has been further amended by adding subsection (6), entitled "Zero-dollar order." That subpart provides for a rebuttable presumption that an order requiring no child support from an obligor should be entered in specified limited situations. The provision in Rule 32(C)(6)(a) that there is a rebuttable presumption that a zero-dollar order applies when an obligor "has no gross income and receives only means-tested assistance" is not intended to impede a court's discretion under Rule 32(B)(5) to impute income to a parent that the court finds is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. Rule 32(B)(5) is unaffected by this provision.
Committee Comments to Amendments to Rule 32
Effective June 1, 2023
Rule 32 was amended effective June 1, 2023, to provide a method of calculating child support in cases in which a court order provides for shared 50% physical custody, i.e., when each parent retains physical custody of a child 50% (or approximately 50%) of the time.
Rule 32(C) was amended to add paragraph (7), which provides for the shared 50% physical-custody adjustment ("SPCA"). Before this amendment, Rule 32 contained no provision for calculating child support in cases involving shared 50% physical custody. Rather, in certain cases, awarding shared 50% physical custody was a reason for deviating from the Rule 32 guidelines, including the Schedule of Basic Child-Support Obligations, pursuant to Rule 32(A)(1)(a).
Rule 32(C)(7)(a) defines when the SPCA should be applied. The SPCA is to be applied when shared 50% physical custody is provided by an order (whether the order incorporates an agreement of the parties as to custody or reflects the court's determination as to custody after a trial). It is not to be applied by informal agreement of the parties that has not been adopted by a court order. The labeling of the custody arrangement by the parties or the court is not determinative of whether to apply the SPCA. Rather, the existence of a provision in a court order that awards each parent physical custody of a child 50% (or approximately 50%) of the time is the operative fact.
Rule 32(C)(7)(b) provides for the use of a separate Child-Support Guidelines form (Form CS-42-S) when applying the SPCA and explains that a 150% multiplier is applied to the basic child-support obligation when calculating child support in these cases. The multiplier is used to account for the fact that it costs at least 50% more to raise a child in two households than in one household because of duplicated expenses, such as housing and transportation costs.
Rule 32(C)(7)(c) allows a court, after the SPCA has been applied, to modify child support to remove that adjustment in cases in which a parent, without sufficient cause, fails to exercise his or her right to physical custody for more than 14 days in the 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of a petition to modify child support with the court. The modification of child support may be ordered without regard to whether custody is modified.
The attorney fees and costs allowed under Rule 32(C)(7)(d) are to be awarded at the court's discretion in those cases in which the court finds that a parent's failure to exercise his or her right to physical custody for more than 14 days in the 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of the petition for a modification of child support was willful.