Generally in a divorce a judge will order a parent to pay child support to the other spouse in order to take care of children from that marriage. However that is not always the case when the child is an adult. However, if the child is disabled, then there is a chance that the judge may order one spouse to pay child support in order to take care of a special needs child who is an adult. Generally the court will order child support in the case of a special needs child even if they are above the age of eighteen. There are a variety of factors that the judge may consider when determining whether or not to order child support.
Generally there is a formula that the court uses in order to calculate child support. Alabama’s Child Support Guidelines involve three different forms: CS-41, CS-42, and CS-43. The CS-41 is an affidavit completed by a parent that states their current income. The CS-42 is the form that calculates the actual amount of child support according to the guidelines, and the CS-43 form is used as a notice of compliance. To calculate the amount of child support according to the guidelines, certain steps must be followed. First, the monthly gross income of each parent must be calculated, which includes money received from any source. If one or both of the parents are unemployed, then the actual gross income will be the amount that the parents have the ability and are capable of earning. This is meant to address and prevent any parents from intentionally being unemployed in order to avoid paying child support. Next, any necessary deductions will be applied, and the parents’ gross incomes will be combined. Then, each parent’s percentage share of the income needs to be determined as well as the Basic Child Support Obligation. After this, it needs to be determined if there is an addition to the Basic Child Support Obligation for child care and health insurance. Then, the total monthly support amount is calculated accordingly with each parent’s percentage share taken into account. Lastly, if the noncustodial parent pays for the health insurance, then that number will be subtracted to equal the final child support amount as recommended by the guidelines.
Thus, if you have a special needs child who is over the age of eighteen and you get a divorce, you will most likely be entitled to receive child support. If this is an issue, you should reach out to an experienced divorce attorney to make sure that you get the payment that you need.