Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 30-3-1 (2026)
Custody and Education of Children Upon Grant of Divorce; Custody of Children Where Wife Abandons Husband.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
Upon granting a divorce, the court may give the custody and education of the children of the marriage to either father or mother, as may seem right and proper, having regard to the moral character and prudence of the parents and the age and sex of the children; and pending the action, may make such orders in respect to the custody of the children as their safety and well-being may require. But in cases of abandonment of the husband by the wife, he shall have the custody of the children after they are seven years of age, if he is a suitable person to have such charge.
(Code 1852, §1977; Code 1867, §2367; Code 1876, §2701; Code 1886, §2338; Code 1896, §1501; Code 1907, §3808; Code 1923, §7422; Code 1940, T. 34, §35.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 40
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1979–2025 · leading case: Christopher v. Christopher, 145 So. 3d 60 (Ala. 2013).
Christopher v. Christopher, 145 So. 3d 60 (Ala. 2013). “We granted Carolyn’s petition to consider whether Bayliss was correctly decided, and we now reverse and remand.”
Ex Parte Bayliss, 550 So. 2d 986 (Ala. 1989). “Alabama Code 1975, § 30-3-1, provides, in pertinent part: "Upon granting a divorce, the court may give the custody and education of the children of the marriage to either father or mother, as may seem right and proper .”
Waddell v. Waddell, 904 So. 2d 1275 (Ala. Civ. App. 2004). “Since the normal age for attending college extends beyond the age of 19 years, under § 30-3-1[, Ala.Code 1975,] courts have the right to assure that the children of divorced parents, who are minors at the time of the divorce, are given the same right to a college education…”
Ex Parte Univ. of South Alabama, 541 So. 2d 535 (Ala. 1989). “It is well established in this state that a father has a legal and moral duty to support his minor children, Ala.Code 1975, § 30-3-1; Brock v. Brock, 281 Ala.”
Christopher v. Christopher, 145 So. 3d 42 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012). “However, nothing in the language of Ex parte Bayliss or Ala. Code 1975, § 30-3-1, 2 upon which Ex parte Bayliss relied, prevents a trial court from including as a condition to the receipt of postminority educational support that a child comply with the established values of his…”
Hornbuckle v. Hornbuckle, 223 So. 3d 225 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016). “In the pleadings in the divorce case, which were filed in 2011, however, both parties asked the circuit court to decide the custody of the child and both parties invoked the jurisdiction of the circuit court under § 30-3-1 to make determinations pertaining to the custody of the…”
Floyd v. Abercrombie, 816 So. 2d 1051 (Ala. Civ. App. 2001). “The court held that because § 30-3-1 does not use the qualifier "minor" to modify "children," trial courts have jurisdiction to assure "that the children of divorced parents, who are minors at the time of the divorce, are given the same right to a college education before and…”
Clark v. Clark, 682 So. 2d 1051 (Ala. Civ. App. 1996). “Under Ala.Code 1975, § 30-3-1, the circuit court, when granting a divorce, "may make such orders in respect to the custody of the children as their safety and well-being may require.”
E.H.G. v. E.R.G., 73 So. 3d 614 (Ala. Civ. App. 2010). “2d at 888 -89 Even in cases of divorce involving fit parents, statutory law generally demands that a trial court vest one of the parties with authority over the decisions affecting the best interests of the child by either granting one party custody of the child, see Ala.Code…”
Ex Parte Lipscomb, 660 So. 2d 986 (Ala. 1994). “Ordinarily, the circuit court in a divorce action may award custody "of the children of the marriage to either father or mother, as may seem right and proper," § 30-3-1; however, because the well-being of minor children is of paramount interest to the state, the circuit court…”
Ex Parte Jones, 592 So. 2d 608 (Ala. 1991). “The majority further acknowledged that the "Legislature of Alabama [had] not enacted a specific statutory change in its domestic relations laws to permit post-minority support for college education.”
In Re Poffenbarger, 281 B.R. 379 (Bankr. S.D. Ala. 2002). “See also Alabama Code § 30-3-1. Other aspects of the Alabama law also demonstrate a strong policy of protecting children.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.