HB 757 Summary

• Establishes the Alabama Children's Family Act, declaring children have a fundamental right to equal access and meaningful relationships with both parents regardless of marital status.

• Requires a rebuttable presumption of equal parenting times between two fit parents and mandates courts enter parenting plans using the least restrictive means available to achieve equal or near-equal time.

• Defines parental unfitness based on specific criteria including domestic violence, child abuse, willful abandonment, substance abuse, criminal convictions, and willful prevention of parent-child contact.

• Requires all parenting plans to include detailed residential schedules, designation of decision-making authority for major decisions (education, health care, religious training), and day-to-day care provisions, with both parents submitting proposed plans within 60 days.

• Mandates courts make written findings supporting any deviation from equal parenting times, requires four hours of co-parenting classes and therapeutic mediation in contested cases, and repeals existing Sections 30-3-1 and 30-3-2 of Alabama Code.