Proposed Law Would Make 50/50 Parenting Time The Standard

No one wins in a divorce, but when the parents of minor children get a divorce, everyone loses.  Even if your parenting plan awards you six nights per week with your children, the one night in the week that they are not with you feels like a loss.  Every holiday that you spend away from your children finds you as lonely as you were when you feared that you would always be single and that you would never become a parent.  If your spouse’s behavior toward your children annoyed you when you were married, it is exponentially worse when you are divorced and your children come to your house on Sunday evening complaining about how your ex didn’t let them drink juice because it has too much sugar or, conversely, about how your two kids shared a bucket-sized ice cream sundae when they went out to dinner with your ex, and they finished the whole thing.  If your ex has gotten remarried to someone you can’t stand, and your kids only spend 30 days per year with their new stepparent, that is 30 days too many.  You can’t wait until your kids grow up so that you no longer have to co-parent with your ex, and you can just continue your relationship with your children on your own terms.  A bill proposed this year in the Alabama legislature aims to make co-parenting fairer, but even if it passes, it probably will not take away most of the troublesome aspects of co-parenting.  For help drafting a parenting plan that will make co-parenting with your ex-spouse bearable, contact a Birmingham child custody lawyer.

How Much Would HB229 Change Parenting Plans in Practice?

In February 2025, members of Alabama’s House of Representatives introduced House Bill 229, regarding child custody and parenting plans.  The text of the bill runs 17 pages, and most of it simply attempts to codify in state law the legal definitions of family law terms that the courts already use, such as legal custody, physical custody, and joint custody.  Current law holds that it is in children’s best interest to spend substantial amounts of time with both parents, but it makes no pronouncements on how much is enough.  HB229 would create a rebuttable presumption that the best option is for children to spend an equal or approximately equal number of overnights per year with each parent.

The proposed new rule, if HB229 becomes law, would be a standard for judges to follow when setting parenting plans.  It would not change the fact that parenting plans drafted by judges are the exception rather than the rule.  Parents draft their own parenting plans in mediation, and they are free to choose a co-parenting schedule that suits their own needs; judges only decide when the case goes to trial.

Contact Peeples Law About Drafting a Parenting Plan

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you work out the details of your parenting plan.  Contact Peeples Law in Birmingham, Alabama today to schedule a consultation.

Sources

legiscan.com/AL/bill/HB229/2025