IN PLAIN ENGLISH
How custody works in Alabama
Alabama splits custody into two parts. Legal custody is who makes major decisions about school, health care and religion. Physical custody is where the child lives and when. Either part can be joint (shared) or sole (one parent). [AL-P1]
Alabama does not start from 50/50. The law tells the judge to consider joint custody in every case, and if both parents ask for joint custody, the law presumes it is best unless the judge explains why not. But the law also says joint custody does not necessarily mean equal time. [AL-P2, AL-P3, AL-P1]
There is no statewide default schedule. If parents share custody, they must submit a plan covering things like school, medical care and holidays, and if they cannot agree, the judge sets the plan. Some counties publish their own standard schedule, so where you file can matter. [AL-P4, AL-P9]
The state court system offers free do-it-yourself forms to ask for custody, ask for visitation, or change an existing order. [AL-P8]
Words you’ll see in your papers
- Joint legal custody
- Both parents have equal rights to make major decisions about the child, like education, health care and religion. A judge can still give one parent the final say on certain decisions. [AL-P1]
- Joint physical custody
- Both parents share time in a way that gives the child frequent and substantial contact with each. It does not have to be equal time. [AL-P1]
- Sole physical custody
- The child lives with one parent, and the other parent has visitation unless the court says otherwise. [AL-P1]
- Visitation
- The time the child spends with the parent who does not have primary physical custody, set by agreement or by the judge. [AL-P1, AL-P9]
- Change of principal residence
- Alabama's term for moving the child's main home. It triggers notice rules under the Alabama Parent-Child Relationship Protection Act. [AL-P5]
COMMON QUESTIONS
What parents in Alabama ask first
Does Alabama start from 50/50?
No. The judge must consider joint custody in every case and can order it even if one parent objects. If both parents ask for joint custody, the law presumes it is best. Either way, joint custody does not necessarily mean equal time with each parent. [AL-P2, AL-P3]
What does the judge look at?
Your child's best interest. For joint custody, the law adds: whether the parents agree on it, how well they have cooperated and made decisions together, whether each parent encourages the child's love and contact with the other parent, any history of child abuse, spouse abuse or kidnapping, and how close the parents live to each other. [AL-P3]
Is there a standard visitation schedule in Alabama?
Not statewide. Parents can agree on a plan, and if they cannot, the judge sets one. Some circuit courts publish their own standard or guideline schedules, such as Mobile County's Parenting Plan Guidelines. A local schedule only applies to you if it is in your order or your judge uses it. [AL-P4, AL-P9]
Does my child get a say?
Alabama's custody statutes do not set an age when a child can choose. In a move-away case, the law does list the child's preference, considering the child's age and maturity, as one factor. Ask the court how your child's views can be heard. [AL-P7]
Can the other parent move away with our child?
A parent who wants to change the child's main home must send notice by certified mail at least 45 days before the move (or within 10 days of learning the details, if 45 days was not possible). The notice must include the new address, school, reasons, a proposed new schedule, and a warning that the other parent has 30 days to object. Unless the objecting parent has been found to have committed domestic violence or child abuse, the law presumes a move is not in the child's best interest, and the moving parent has to prove otherwise first. [AL-P5, AL-P6]
Can a custody order be changed later?
Yes. Alabama's court system has a do-it-yourself form called Request to Change the Current Custody or Visitation Order (PS-07), and the State Bar publishes instructions for using it. [AL-P8, AL-P10]
We were never married. What do we do first?
Make sure the father is the legal father. In Alabama the father-child relationship can be established by a signed acknowledgment of paternity, by a court order, or in other ways the law lists. Then either parent can ask the court for a first custody order, filed in the county where the children live. [AL-P11, AL-P10]
What if there is domestic violence?
If the judge finds there was domestic or family violence, the law presumes it is bad for the child to be in the sole or joint custody of the parent who committed it. The judge must also consider how the violence affected the child. A victim can also ask for a protection order, which can include temporary custody. [AL-P12, AL-P13]
Free, official places to start
- Alabama Do It Yourself Forms (Administrative Office of Courts)
Official forms to file a first custody petition (PS-05), ask for visitation (PS-06), or change an order (PS-07).
- Alabama Legal Help: Custody
Free plain-language guides and form instructions from Legal Services Alabama and the Alabama State Bar, including moving with a custody order.
- Code of Alabama § 30-3-152: Joint custody factors
The statute that tells judges to consider joint custody in every case and lists the factors.
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT · MOBILE
Mobile County
Mobile County Circuit Court (Thirteenth Judicial Circuit), Domestic Relations Division
Mobile County's domestic relations judges publish Parenting Plan Guidelines for families with divorce cases pending. They say they are guidelines, not a blanket order, and the court will deviate in exceptional cases. If parents separate and cannot agree, the parent without primary physical custody gets alternate weekends from Thursday 6 p.m. to Sunday 6 p.m., an overnight on the alternate Thursdays, alternating Thanksgiving, spring break and Christmas periods by odd and even years, the last two weeks of June and of July, and Mother's Day or Father's Day weekend. The guidelines call this the minimum, not the maximum. [AL-P9] They also set behavior rules, like no badmouthing the other parent in front of the children and a nightly 15-minute phone call if parents cannot agree on what is reasonable. [AL-P9] This is a Mobile County document, not state law. [AL-P4]
- Mobile County Parenting Plan Guidelines (PDF)
The Mobile County judges' default schedule and behavior rules for parents with a divorce pending who cannot agree.
- Mobile County Domestic Relations Division
The clerk's page with filing fees, pretrial orders, uncontested-divorce checklists and the guidelines.
Other counties in Alabama can have different local rules and forms. Check the court where your case is filed.
THE DETAILED GUIDE · WHAT KIND OF SCHEDULE THE LAW PROVIDES
Local schedules only
Research overview
No fixed statewide possession calendar identified in the reviewed sources; verified statutory individualized plan and an official circuit-specific schedule.
Legal force and applicability
Morgan County/Eighth Circuit model applies only when the assigned judge adopts it in the particular final order or the parties adopt it in an agreement. Judges may reject it or use a prior standard schedule. It is not a statewide calendar. [AL-3]
Authority and geographic scope
Statewide custody statutes; Morgan County/Eighth Circuit schedule is local only. [AL-1,AL-3]
Custody and parenting-time presumptions
Court considers joint custody in every case; if BOTH parents request it, joint custody is presumed best and must be awarded absent specific findings. Joint custody does not necessarily mean equal physical custody. [AL-1]
Schedule & conditions
Read these topics together with your actual order. A model, form, or presumption does not automatically supply an enforceable calendar.
Regular school-year schedule
No statewide days/times identified in the reviewed sources. Morgan local example uses alternating weekends and Thursday time; it must not be exported statewide. [AL-1,AL-3]
Holidays and school breaks
Set by agreement/order; §30-3-153 requires holidays and vacations to be addressed. [AL-1]
Summer and vacation time
No statewide fixed summer block identified in the reviewed sources. Morgan local example has June/July blocks, subject to its own order. [AL-1,AL-3]
Age and development
No statewide automatic infancy-to-school-age possession calendar in reviewed statutes; Morgan spring-break rule begins after oldest child turns five and can cover younger siblings. [AL-1,AL-3]
Distance, travel, and relocation
Geographic proximity is a statutory joint-physical-custody consideration; no statewide mileage-tier calendar identified in the reviewed sources. [AL-1]
Safety & exceptions
Domestic/family violence determination raises rebuttable presumption against sole/joint custody with perpetrator; visitation only with adequate safety provision, potentially supervision, protected exchanges, no overnights and other conditions. [AL-2]