Montgomery Family Law Attorneys

Family law in Montgomery covers the most personal areas of a person’s life — divorce, child custody, child support, paternity, adoption, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, protection from abuse, and the enforcement or modification of existing court orders. The Harris Firm LLC has been representing Montgomery families across these matters since 2007. Our Montgomery family law attorneys John Tyler Winans and Julia Collins work alongside firm owner Steven Harris to handle cases throughout Montgomery County and the surrounding region.

Most of these cases are filed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, specifically its Domestic Relations Division. Some matters involving children — dependency, delinquency, and certain custody disputes involving abuse or neglect — go to the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. The mechanics of which court hears what matter, the local procedural rules, and the judges’ preferences are knowledge a Montgomery family law lawyer picks up through years of in-court experience. We bring that experience to every case we take.

Whether you are facing a divorce, a custody dispute, a question about child support, or any other family law matter in Montgomery County or a surrounding area, this page covers what you need to know and how we can help. Call (334) 782-9938 to schedule a consultation at our downtown Montgomery office, or read on for the details.

Our Montgomery family law attorneys handle cases throughout Montgomery County and across multiple surrounding counties. Families travel to our downtown Montgomery office from across the River Region and from communities to the south, east, and west.

Within Montgomery County, we serve clients in Montgomery proper as well as Pike Road, Pintlala, Hope Hull, Mathews, and surrounding areas.

Surrounding counties we regularly serve include Autauga County (Prattville, Millbrook, Autaugaville), Elmore County (Wetumpka, Tallassee, Eclectic, Coosada), Pike County (Troy and surrounding towns), Lowndes County (Hayneville, Fort Deposit), Bullock County (Union Springs), Macon County (Tuskegee), and Butler County (Greenville). For clients in these areas, our central Montgomery location often makes more practical sense than driving to Birmingham or other metropolitan firms.

• Montgomery
• Pike Road
• Pintlala
• Hope Hull
• Mathews
• Prattville
• Millbrook
• Wetumpka
• Tallassee
• Eclectic
• Coosada
• Autaugaville
• Troy
• Tuskegee
• Union Springs
• Hayneville
• Greenville

If you live anywhere within reasonable driving distance of Montgomery and you have an Alabama family law matter, we can almost certainly help — and in most cases, your matter is going to be filed in your home county, not necessarily Montgomery. We file cases wherever Alabama law sets venue based on where the parties live or where the prior case was heard.

Most family law work in Montgomery begins with a divorce. The two paths — uncontested and contested — look very different in practice.

Uncontested divorce. If you and your spouse agree on the major terms — property division, debt allocation, custody, child support, and any spousal support — your divorce can be filed as uncontested. We prepare every document, file with the Montgomery County Circuit Court clerk on your behalf, and walk the case through to final decree. Most uncontested divorces in Montgomery County are finalized without anyone appearing in court. Alabama law imposes a 30-day waiting period between the date the divorce complaint is filed and the date the court can enter a final decree, which means the soonest an uncontested case can finalize is roughly 30 to 45 days from filing. We charge a flat attorney fee of $690 when there are no minor children, or $890 when minor children are involved, plus the county filing fee. For deeper detail on the uncontested process, our Alabama uncontested divorce page walks through every step.

Contested divorce. When you and your spouse cannot agree on one or more major terms, the case is contested. Contested divorces in Montgomery follow a more involved path. After the complaint is filed and the other spouse is served, both sides exchange documents and information through discovery — interrogatories, requests for production of documents, sometimes depositions. The court will typically require mediation before setting the case for trial. If mediation succeeds, the case settles on the terms reached. If mediation fails, the case goes to trial in front of one of the Montgomery County Domestic Relations judges, who issues a divorce decree resolving every disputed issue. Contested divorces in Montgomery County typically take six months to two years to fully resolve and are billed hourly against an initial retainer.

Common contested issues in Montgomery divorces include disputes over which parent should have primary custody of the children, how much child support is fair, whether one spouse owes the other periodic or rehabilitative alimony, and how to divide the marital home, retirement accounts, business interests, and debt. Our attorneys handle each of these and have appeared before the active Montgomery County Domestic Relations judges. For our broader divorce practice, see our Alabama divorce attorneys page.

The judge’s overriding standard in any Montgomery custody case is what serves the child’s best interest. Alabama courts evaluate that based on factors developed through decades of case law — the child’s safety and welfare, the relationship between each parent and the child, each parent’s ability to provide stability and meet the child’s daily needs, each parent’s character and judgment, and many others. There is no rigid formula and no automatic preference for either parent based on gender. Each Montgomery County Domestic Relations judge weighs these factors in their own way, and an experienced local attorney makes a real difference in how your case is presented.

Custody in Alabama has two components — physical custody (where the child lives day-to-day) and legal custody (who makes major decisions about education, healthcare, and religion). Each can be awarded jointly to both parents, primarily to one parent, or solely to one parent. Most modern custody orders in Montgomery County involve joint legal custody (both parents share major decision-making) with physical custody varying based on the case — sometimes joint with a specific schedule, sometimes primary to one parent with structured visitation for the other.

When circumstances change after a custody order is in place, either parent can file a petition to modify. Alabama has a strict legal standard for custody modifications — the parent seeking to change custody must prove a material change in circumstances since the prior order, and that modifying custody is in the child’s best interest. Our Montgomery custody attorneys handle both initial custody determinations and modifications when life changes occur — a relocation, a remarriage, a child’s evolving needs, or a parent’s significant change in living situation or capacity to parent.

For more on Alabama custody law and our broader custody practice, see our Alabama child custody attorneys page.

Alabama calculates child support using the formula in Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration, which is the source most lawyers and judges refer to as “the child support guidelines.” The formula uses each parent’s gross monthly income, the cost of providing health insurance for the child, work-related child care expenses, and the number of nights the child spends with each parent. The output is a presumptive monthly support amount that the court can adjust upward or downward with proper justification.

In contested cases, much of the work is in determining what each parent’s actual income is. For W-2 wage earners, that’s relatively straightforward. For self-employed parents, business owners, contractors, or anyone with variable income, calculating the correct figure takes careful review of tax returns, bank statements, business records, and sometimes lifestyle evidence. Our Montgomery child support attorneys regularly handle income-determination disputes for self-employed parents and small business owners.

Child support in Alabama runs until the child turns 19 — Alabama’s age of majority, not 18. Support can be extended in some cases involving disability or other special circumstances. Either parent can petition to modify child support if circumstances change. The general threshold for modification is roughly a 10 percent change from the current order when running the updated Rule 32 calculation.

We help parents on both sides of child support cases — those seeking support for the children in their care, and those defending against support claims that don’t accurately reflect their income or circumstances. For our broader child support practice, see our Alabama child support attorneys page.

Paternity matters in Montgomery come up in several common scenarios. An unmarried father wants legal recognition as the child’s father so he can pursue custody or visitation. A mother needs paternity established so she can pursue child support. A man wants to confirm or disprove that he is the biological father before agreeing to support obligations. The Alabama Department of Human Resources is pursuing support on the state’s behalf and needs paternity established.

Establishing paternity in Alabama happens one of two ways. The first is voluntarily, through both parents signing an Acknowledgment of Paternity form (often at the hospital when the child is born, or later through the Office of Vital Statistics). The second is through a court action where the court orders genetic testing and enters a judgment of paternity. Once paternity is legally established, the father has standing to seek custody and visitation, and the mother (or the state) can seek child support.

Disestablishing paternity — when a man legally recognized as the father turns out not to be biologically related — is a separate and more complex process. Alabama law makes it harder to undo paternity the longer it has been legally recognized, particularly when the man has acted as the child’s parent. We handle both establishment and disestablishment cases and can advise you on what’s realistic in your particular situation.

Adoption creates a legal parent-child relationship where none existed before. Our Montgomery adoption attorneys handle several common types:

Stepparent adoptions — when a stepparent who has raised the child wants to become the legal parent. This is the most common adoption type we handle. It typically requires either the consent of the other biological parent or termination of that parent’s rights through a separate proceeding.

Adult adoptions — when an adult wants to adopt another adult, often for inheritance, family-recognition, or estate-planning reasons. Alabama allows adult adoptions with the consent of both parties.

Grandparent adoptions — when grandparents have been raising a grandchild and want full legal parental status, usually because the biological parents are unable or unwilling to parent.

Same-sex stepparent and second-parent adoptions — including adoption of a child born to one partner through assisted reproduction, securing legal parentage for the non-biological partner.

Infant and agency adoptions — when a family adopts a newborn or young child through an agency or directly from the birth parents.

Each type has its own procedural requirements. Stepparent adoptions, for example, often require termination of the other biological parent’s rights, which is a separate proceeding. Adult adoptions are simpler but still require court approval and a final order. At your consultation, we’ll walk through which type fits your situation and what the process will look like. For more on our adoption services, see our Alabama adoption attorneys page.

A prenuptial agreement is a contract between two people who are planning to marry, addressing what happens to their property, debts, and finances if the marriage ends. A postnuptial agreement is the same kind of contract but signed after the marriage has already begun. Both are legal in Alabama and both are enforceable when properly drafted and signed.

For a prenuptial agreement to be enforced in Alabama, both parties must enter the agreement voluntarily and with full understanding of what they are signing. Each side must fully disclose their assets and debts before signing. The terms must be fair at the time of enforcement — Alabama courts can refuse to enforce agreements that would leave one spouse destitute. And the agreement must be in writing and properly executed.

Postnuptial agreements face additional scrutiny in Alabama because spouses owe each other a fiduciary duty during the marriage. The disclosure and voluntariness requirements are stricter. A postnuptial agreement signed under pressure or without independent legal advice for both spouses is at much higher risk of being set aside if challenged later.

Our Montgomery attorneys draft both prenuptial and postnuptial agreements and handle disputes about whether an existing agreement should be enforced or set aside. For more, see our Alabama prenuptial agreement attorneys page.

A Protection from Abuse order — often called a PFA — is a court order that protects a person from physical abuse, threats, harassment, or stalking by a current or former intimate partner, household member, or close family member. Alabama PFAs can do many things, including ordering the abuser to stay away from the protected person, prohibiting contact, removing the abuser from a shared residence, granting temporary custody of children to the protected parent, and prohibiting the abuser from possessing firearms.

Filing a PFA in Montgomery County involves an immediate emergency order (often called an ex parte order) entered the same day, followed by a hearing within a short window where both sides can present evidence. The judge then decides whether to enter a final PFA, which can last up to a year or longer.

We represent both petitioners — people seeking PFA protection — and respondents — people who have been served with a PFA and need to defend against it. PFA cases move quickly and the consequences are real either way. If you have been served with a PFA hearing notice, do not miss the hearing. The consequences of a final PFA include firearms restrictions and visible court records that can affect employment, housing, and professional licensure. For more, see our Alabama Protection from Abuse attorneys page.

When the other parent or former spouse stops paying support, stops following the custody schedule, withholds visitation, fails to refinance the mortgage as the divorce decree required, or otherwise violates a court order, the remedy is a contempt petition. The judge can impose financial penalties, order make-up time, award attorney fees, and in some cases impose jail time for willful violations.

For contempt to result in a meaningful remedy, the person who is violating the order has to be in willful contempt — meaning they know what the order requires, they have the ability to comply, and they have chosen not to. Inability to pay child support due to genuine unemployment is generally not contempt; refusal to pay despite being able to is. Our attorneys evaluate which violations rise to the level of contempt and how best to present the case for an effective outcome.

Enforcement actions can move relatively quickly in Montgomery County once filed. If you have a court order that the other party is ignoring, do not wait — the longer the violations persist, the more difficult some remedies become.

Some matters involving children are heard by the Montgomery County Juvenile Court rather than the Domestic Relations Division of Circuit Court. These include delinquency cases (when a child is accused of conduct that would be a crime if committed by an adult), dependency cases (when a child has been removed or is at risk of removal from a parent’s care, often involving the Department of Human Resources), and certain custody disputes that arise from abuse or neglect allegations.

Juvenile court has its own procedural rules, terminology, and culture. Hearings are not open to the public and records are sealed to protect the children involved. The focus is more on rehabilitation and family preservation than on punishment, but the stakes — a child’s freedom, a parent’s continued custody, or family reunification — are very real.

We represent parents in dependency cases, parents and children in delinquency cases, and family members seeking custody or guardianship in juvenile proceedings. Cases involving the Department of Human Resources often have tight timelines and parents who try to navigate them without an attorney often lose ground that is difficult to recover.

Termination of parental rights — usually abbreviated TPR — is the legal severing of the parent-child relationship. After TPR, the parent has no legal rights to the child, and the child becomes eligible for adoption by another family.

In Alabama, TPR can be voluntary (a parent consenting to give up rights, usually to facilitate a stepparent or agency adoption) or involuntary (a court terminating rights against the parent’s wishes, usually based on abandonment, abuse, neglect, or chronic inability to parent). Involuntary TPR is the most serious action a court can take in family law. The petitioner must prove their case by clear and convincing evidence — a higher standard than the preponderance-of-evidence standard most family law uses.

Our attorneys handle both voluntary and involuntary TPR cases, including defense against TPR petitions filed by the Department of Human Resources or by a private party (typically a stepparent seeking to clear the way for adoption). If you have been served with a TPR petition, time is of the essence — these cases move on a strict schedule and the consequences of inaction are permanent.

1. Initial consultation. You call our Montgomery office and schedule a consultation. The consultation fee is $100 whether by phone or in person. We discuss your situation, what you are hoping to accomplish, the options that fit, and what hiring us would look like. You leave the consultation with a clear understanding of your case and your next step.
2. Engagement and retainer. If you decide to hire the firm, we sign an engagement agreement. For uncontested divorces, we collect the flat fee. For contested cases, we collect an initial retainer that gets billed against. You are also responsible for the county filing fee.
3. Information gathering. We collect the documents and details we need — the names and birth dates of any children, basic financial information, copies of any prior court orders, employment information, and anything else relevant to your case.
4. Filing or response. We prepare the complaint, petition, or response and file it with the Montgomery County Circuit Court clerk (or the appropriate court for your venue). For new cases, we arrange for service of process on the other party. For responses to filings against you, we make sure the response is filed within the deadline.
5. Discovery (in contested cases). Both sides exchange documents and answer questions under oath. This is where the case is actually built — through real evidence about finances, parenting, communication, and conduct.
6. Settlement attempts. Most cases settle before trial. We negotiate directly with the other side, often participate in formal mediation, and prepare and present settlement offers. A negotiated settlement gives you control over the outcome; a trial gives that control to the judge.
7. Trial (if needed). If the case cannot settle, we prepare for and try the case in front of a Montgomery County Domestic Relations judge. We handle the presentation of evidence, examination of witnesses, and legal arguments.
8. Final decree and post-decree work. Once the judge enters a final order, we make sure you understand exactly what it requires and what comes next. If the order requires follow-up steps — refinancing a mortgage, dividing a retirement account, executing a quit claim deed — we coordinate those.

Family law cases in Montgomery range from very affordable to substantial depending on what the case requires.

Uncontested divorce flat fees. We file uncontested divorces for a flat attorney fee — $690 when there are no minor children, $890 when there are minor children. The county filing fee is separate and generally runs around $300 to $400 depending on the county. There are no additional charges for our work on the uncontested divorce — we prepare every document, handle every filing, and walk the case through to entry of the final decree.

Quit claim deeds (post-divorce property transfers). When a divorce decree requires one spouse to transfer their interest in real estate to the other, we prepare and record the quit claim deed for a flat fee of $750.

Contested cases. Contested divorces, custody battles, contempt actions, and other adversarial proceedings are billed hourly against a retainer. The retainer amount depends on the complexity of the case. Most clients spend several thousand dollars on a fully contested case; the most complex cases involving significant assets, custody disputes, and trial preparation can run higher.

Probate and estate planning. If you have a related probate or estate planning need, our phone consultations on those matters are free. In-person consultations are $100. We can handle these matters for Montgomery clients as well.

Which court handles family law cases in Montgomery County?

Most family law cases in Montgomery are heard by the Montgomery County Circuit Court, Domestic Relations Division. This division has jurisdiction over divorce, child custody, child support, alimony, paternity, modifications, and contempt actions. Juvenile matters — including dependency, delinquency, and certain custody cases involving abuse or neglect — are handled by the Montgomery County Juvenile Court. Both courts sit in the Montgomery County Courthouse complex in downtown Montgomery.

Do I have to live in Montgomery County to file a family law case there?

Not necessarily. A family law case can usually be filed in Montgomery County if either party lives there, if the children live there, or if a prior case involving the same family was finalized in Montgomery County and the court retains jurisdiction. Venue and jurisdiction depend on the specific facts. We can confirm the right county for your case at your consultation.

How long does a divorce take in Montgomery County?

Alabama law requires a minimum 30-day waiting period between filing a divorce complaint and the court entering a final decree. Uncontested divorces in Montgomery typically finalize 30 to 45 days from filing. Contested divorces normally take six months to two years, depending on the complexity of the disputed issues, the court’s calendar, and how cooperative both sides are about discovery and settlement.

Do both spouses need to come to court for an uncontested divorce in Montgomery?

In most cases, no. When both spouses sign all the required documents and a complete uncontested divorce package is filed with the Montgomery County Circuit Court, the case is typically resolved without anyone appearing in court. The judge reviews the file and enters the final decree after the 30-day waiting period.

How is child support calculated in Alabama?

Alabama uses the formula in Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration. The formula factors in each parent’s gross monthly income, the cost of providing health insurance for the child, work-related child care expenses, and the number of nights the child spends with each parent. The result is a presumptive support amount the court can adjust up or down with proper justification.

Can I modify an existing custody, child support, or alimony order?

Yes, when there has been a material change in circumstances since the prior order was entered. Common modification triggers include changes in income, relocation, remarriage, a child’s evolving needs, or significant changes in a parent’s living situation. Custody modifications also have to be in the child’s best interest. Modification petitions are filed in the same court that entered the original order.

What is a Protection from Abuse order and how do I get one?

A Protection from Abuse order, often called a PFA, is a court order that protects a person from physical abuse, threats, harassment, or stalking by a current or former intimate partner, household member, or close family member. To get a PFA in Montgomery County, you file a petition with the Circuit Court. The court usually enters an immediate emergency order, then holds a hearing within a short window where both sides can present evidence. After the hearing, the court may issue a final PFA lasting a year or longer.

Do you serve clients outside Montgomery County?

Yes. Our downtown Montgomery office is convenient for clients across the River Region and from surrounding counties — Autauga (Prattville, Millbrook), Elmore (Wetumpka, Tallassee), Pike (Troy), Lowndes, Bullock (Union Springs), Macon (Tuskegee), and others. We file cases in whatever Alabama county has proper jurisdiction and venue based on where the parties live or where the prior case was filed.

The Harris Firm LLC — Montgomery Office

60 Commerce Street, Suite 1210
Montgomery, AL 36104
Tel: (334) 782-9938
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM