Alabama Law Legislation

Alabama Legislative Process

For an explanation of the Alabama legislative process, click here

Click here to find a particular bill, to determine the status a bill, to check on the progress of the legislative session, or to conduct a search by keyword or by content using the Alabama Legislature's Alison legislative reference system.


New Laws Filed in the 2010 Legislative Session

Bills relevant to family law practice will be listed here as often as possible once the 2010 session begins.

House Bills

HB. 32 This is a substantial revision of the grandparent visitation statute, §30-3-4.1

HB. 186. Division of military retirement limited to rank, grade, and pay at time of granting of divorce.

H.B. 213. Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act.

H.B. 408 This bill would prohibit a court from modifying an order granting custody of a child if the party who has custody is a member of the Alabama National Guard or a branch of the armed services and he or she has been called to active duty. This bill would provide exceptions if the court determines that modifying the order is in the best interest of the child and the party has either died while on active duty or is no longer able to provide adequate care for the child.

H.B. 409 Clarify termination of alimony provision.

H.B. 478 Among other changes, this bill would eliminate the defense of lack of knowledge of the existence of the order as an affirmative defense.

H.B. 479 Among other changes, expands and clarifies who is covered by the Protection from Abuse Act.

H.B. 590 Would limit alimony to five years or the length of the marriage, whichever is longer.

There are other House bills pending that could impact domestic relations practitioers, but most at present are not close to passage and thus are not listed. The page may be updated closer to the end of the legislative session to include bills within range of passage.


Senate Bills

There are several Senate bills that are identical to House Bills pending above. They are not listed separately here.