Birmingham Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Eversole Law Firm : Serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile Alabama

A Jefferson County, Birmingham, Alabama client asked an interesting question today.  How is child support calculated when your ex-spouse doesn't work, or has a sporadic work history?  Primarily, when calculating child support the court looks to the well being of the child.  And when awarding child support in this situation ,an Alabama court will impute an income to your ex-spouse, if the court finds he/she is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed.  The court will estimate the unemployed or underemployed parents income, and impute that income to the spouse owing child support.  The court looks to past employment, employment potential, probable earning levels, education and job qualifications, as well as job opportunities and earning levels in the community.  The Alabama rules regarding child support can be found in the Child Support Guidelines Rule 32.

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As most of you know Britney Spears and her former husband K-Fed, are in a bitter custody dispute.  K-Fed is attempting to modify the previous custody agreement.  Today, the judge ordered Britney to undergo testing for controlled substances and alcohol, after finding Britney has engaged in continuous and frequent abuse of alcohol and drugs. If Britney keeps this up she will lose custody of  her kids.  It is a shame because we all know K-Fed is really after child support.  The judge also ordered both Britney and K-Fed to complete a Parenting Without Conflict program. He also ordered that neither parent shall consume alcohol or other non-prescription drugs, for a 12 hour period previous to a time when either parent has responsibility for care and custody of their children.

This case is an excellent example of children being used as a battering ram in a divorce proceeding.  Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not uncommon.  K-Fed is using the children to obtain more child support money from the divorce.  This kind of tactic only ends up hurting your children, and yourself in the long run.

This case should also illustrate, that if you are engaged in a divorce or custody battle you should refrain from using alcohol or drugs pending the outcome of the proceedings.  If you are using any kind of drugs or alcohol during a child custody proceeding or divorce, you are simply giving the other side ammunition to attack your credibility, morals and fitness to take care of your children(whether this is fair or not, it is the truth).

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DivorceSupport.com is a fantastic resource for people facing divorce.  The website has excellent Alabama divorce specific information.  They have articles on Alabama divorce, child support and child custody, residency requirements, grandparents rights and military divorce laws.  When you are going through a divorce you need as much information and support available.  My firm tries to provide you with the resources to make this process as simple as possible .  We also strive to give you all the information you need during these troubling times.  Knowing how the divorce or child custody process works will give you a certain amount of comfort.  I encourage my clients to learn as much as they can about their divorce and related issues.  The Internet is an amazing resource and should be used accordingly.

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