• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Age of majority in Alabama

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

88gurl

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AL

My daughter is a Senior in high school and will graduate in May 2009. Her 18th Birthday is in February. Her Father recently enclosed a very ugly letter in with his child support check informing me that he would not be sending anymore money after her Birthday. We were never married and do not have a court order. My daughter's Father and I were estranged for several years following her birth. During that time he married someone else and has two younger children with his current wife (I was not married at the time that I gave birth and his last name is included on her birth certificate, hyphenated with my maiden name). We reunited when my daughter was around 7 years old and he began seeing her regularly. Finally I mentioned child support and he set up an appointment with a lawyer. The lawyer informed us that since we were never married we would have to submit to a paternity test and he would have to pay for it if he was the one contesting it. Also the amount that he would have to have paid me according to the calculations the lawyer did (10 years ago) were more than he said he could afford. When we left the lawyers office he told me that he had no question that she was his daughter and asked me to accept a lesser amount of child support. We finally agreed upon $300.00 a month and he began paying me. A few years later I asked for an increase and he increased it to $350.00 a month and it has remained at that amount since then (far below what he would be required to pay had we gone through the courts). I was deeply hurt by the tone of his letter as it insinuated that I, in some way, had misappropriated the money he sent away from my daughter's support. I have always taken care of my daughter and she has never needed or wanted for anything and he knows that. I don't understand why he wrote the letter in the tone that he did but I'm gravely concerned for both mine and my daughter's situation if he discontinues the support. We barely make ends meet as it is and absolutely nothing in or about her life or her lifestyle is going to magically change when she turns 18. She will still be a full-time student and still be living with me and will still be solely supported by me (sans a small wage she could possibly earn at a part-time job). I don't want my daughter to be made to feel like graduating from high school is going to automatically mean she has to go to work full-time. She plans to go to college! I don't really know what recourse I have but I have made personal sacrifices for 17 years for my daughter and I will continue to do so but having that child support just one more year would certainly make her graduation from high school and her transition into the college life (still living at home with me) a little easier on both of us. Please tell me what, if anything I can do? How can I tell him in a nice and intelligent way that 18 is not such a magic number? I know if I had a lawyer that this whole situation would probably be a simple phone call, but I don't even know where to turn right now.
 


TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
If you will search this part of the forum for posts by me, you will find everything you need to know about Child Support for Alabama. But I feel your question will be answered at one of the links on this page if you'd rather not search:
Child Support Enforcement

Good luck.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AL

My daughter is a Senior in high school and will graduate in May 2009. Her 18th Birthday is in February. Her Father recently enclosed a very ugly letter in with his child support check informing me that he would not be sending anymore money after her Birthday. We were never married and do not have a court order. My daughter's Father and I were estranged for several years following her birth. During that time he married someone else and has two younger children with his current wife (I was not married at the time that I gave birth and his last name is included on her birth certificate, hyphenated with my maiden name). We reunited when my daughter was around 7 years old and he began seeing her regularly. Finally I mentioned child support and he set up an appointment with a lawyer. The lawyer informed us that since we were never married we would have to submit to a paternity test and he would have to pay for it if he was the one contesting it. Also the amount that he would have to have paid me according to the calculations the lawyer did (10 years ago) were more than he said he could afford. When we left the lawyers office he told me that he had no question that she was his daughter and asked me to accept a lesser amount of child support. We finally agreed upon $300.00 a month and he began paying me. A few years later I asked for an increase and he increased it to $350.00 a month and it has remained at that amount since then (far below what he would be required to pay had we gone through the courts). I was deeply hurt by the tone of his letter as it insinuated that I, in some way, had misappropriated the money he sent away from my daughter's support. I have always taken care of my daughter and she has never needed or wanted for anything and he knows that. I don't understand why he wrote the letter in the tone that he did but I'm gravely concerned for both mine and my daughter's situation if he discontinues the support. We barely make ends meet as it is and absolutely nothing in or about her life or her lifestyle is going to magically change when she turns 18. She will still be a full-time student and still be living with me and will still be solely supported by me (sans a small wage she could possibly earn at a part-time job). I don't want my daughter to be made to feel like graduating from high school is going to automatically mean she has to go to work full-time. She plans to go to college! I don't really know what recourse I have but I have made personal sacrifices for 17 years for my daughter and I will continue to do so but having that child support just one more year would certainly make her graduation from high school and her transition into the college life (still living at home with me) a little easier on both of us. Please tell me what, if anything I can do? How can I tell him in a nice and intelligent way that 18 is not such a magic number? I know if I had a lawyer that this whole situation would probably be a simple phone call, but I don't even know where to turn right now.
I did a quick google search and everything that I found says that child support stops at age 19 in AL, but can possibly continue if the child is going to college.

One option would be to file for official, court ordered child support and ask that it be continued while she is in college.
 

MrsK

Senior Member
If $350 a month is going to break you, you need to do something else to fix your situation because thats pretty bad. Its not his job to make sure you can pay your bills, its your job...its his job to pay his portion of support and eventually that WILL stop, pretty soon it seems.

Since you dont have a formal court order, yes, he can do that.

I really dont know if it would be worth your while to bother filing to get support until the age of majority...
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
I did a quick google search and everything that I found says that child support stops at age 19 in AL, but can possibly continue if the child is going to college.

One option would be to file for official, court ordered child support and ask that it be continued while she is in college.
There is NO court order for support. This man didn't have to pay a dime at all.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AL

My daughter is a Senior in high school and will graduate in May 2009. Her 18th Birthday is in February. Her Father recently enclosed a very ugly letter in with his child support check informing me that he would not be sending anymore money after her Birthday. We were never married and do not have a court order. My daughter's Father and I were estranged for several years following her birth. During that time he married someone else and has two younger children with his current wife (I was not married at the time that I gave birth and his last name is included on her birth certificate, hyphenated with my maiden name). We reunited when my daughter was around 7 years old and he began seeing her regularly. Finally I mentioned child support and he set up an appointment with a lawyer. The lawyer informed us that since we were never married we would have to submit to a paternity test and he would have to pay for it if he was the one contesting it. Also the amount that he would have to have paid me according to the calculations the lawyer did (10 years ago) were more than he said he could afford. When we left the lawyers office he told me that he had no question that she was his daughter and asked me to accept a lesser amount of child support. We finally agreed upon $300.00 a month and he began paying me. A few years later I asked for an increase and he increased it to $350.00 a month and it has remained at that amount since then (far below what he would be required to pay had we gone through the courts). I was deeply hurt by the tone of his letter as it insinuated that I, in some way, had misappropriated the money he sent away from my daughter's support. I have always taken care of my daughter and she has never needed or wanted for anything and he knows that. I don't understand why he wrote the letter in the tone that he did but I'm gravely concerned for both mine and my daughter's situation if he discontinues the support. We barely make ends meet as it is and absolutely nothing in or about her life or her lifestyle is going to magically change when she turns 18. She will still be a full-time student and still be living with me and will still be solely supported by me (sans a small wage she could possibly earn at a part-time job). I don't want my daughter to be made to feel like graduating from high school is going to automatically mean she has to go to work full-time. She plans to go to college! I don't really know what recourse I have but I have made personal sacrifices for 17 years for my daughter and I will continue to do so but having that child support just one more year would certainly make her graduation from high school and her transition into the college life (still living at home with me) a little easier on both of us. Please tell me what, if anything I can do? How can I tell him in a nice and intelligent way that 18 is not such a magic number? I know if I had a lawyer that this whole situation would probably be a simple phone call, but I don't even know where to turn right now.
There is no establishment of paternity legally. The child's last name means squat. There is no court order for support. He owes you NOTHING. He didn't have to pay you a dime. Doesn't matter how long it might last or not, because legally he is NOT your child's father. Legally paternity is NOT established. Legally your child has no father and you have been receiving a lot of money for nothing. It would NOT be a simple phone call. YOu would have to file to establish paternity and you would have to file to start a child support order. Things that you should have done almost 18 years ago and neglected to do.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
If $350 a month is going to break you, you need to do something else to fix your situation because thats pretty bad. Its not his job to make sure you can pay your bills, its your job...its his job to pay his portion of support and eventually that WILL stop, pretty soon it seems.
Since you dont have a formal court order, yes, he can do that.

I really dont know if it would be worth your while to bother filing to get support until the age of majority...
Wrong. It is NOT his job to pay his portion of support. Legally he is NOT the child's father.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top