Child Support
Residency Requirements and Grounds for Divorce
Either you or your spouse may file for divorce in Alaska at any time as long as the filing spouse is a state resident. There is only one no-fault ground, divorce based on irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. This means that there is no reasonable hope that the marriage can continue.
Alaska also has fault-based divorce on the following grounds:
- Failure to consummate the marriage
- Adultery Felony conviction
- Willful desertion for a period of one year
- Cruel and inhuman treatment Habitual drunkenness
- Incurable mental illness when the spouse has been confined to an institution for at least 18 months
- Drug abuse
- Personal indignities
- Incompatibility of temperament
You start a divorce case by filing a "Petition for Dissolution of Marriage" in a county where either spouse resides.
Dividing the Property
In Alaska, assets and debts acquired during your marriage, called "marital property," is divided in a fair and equitable way. "Marital property" is all jointly owned property, other then separate property, acquired by either or both spouses during marriage. For a marriage of some length, "fair and equitable" often means 50-50. However, the court may decide "fair and equitable" means giving one spouse more or less than 50 percent. For short-term marriages, the court may find it most appropriate to simply put spouses back into the economic position they had before marriage.
Courts look at the following factors when dividing marital property:
- Length of the marriage and station in life during the marriage
- Spouses' age and health
- Earning capacities and educational backgrounds, training, employment skills, work experiences, length of absence from the job market and custodial responsibilities for children during the marriage
- Financial condition
- Parties' conduct
- Desirability of awarding the family home, or the right to live in it, to the parent with primary physical custody of the children
- Spouses' circumstances and needs
- Time and manner of property acquisition
- Income-producing capacity of the property and its current value
Separate property isn't considered marital property and the owner-spouse keeps it. Separate property types include:
- Assets you had before you married and kept separate
- The income produced by a separate property investment if it wasn't "commingled" - mixed together with marital property
- Property you inherit from your family during your marriage if it was willed to you alone, and there was no commingling with marital property
Be prepared with information on your property, including when you bought it, estimated value, and details such as account numbers. You'll be ready to meet with an Alaska divorce lawyer and it can save you a lot of time and money.
Alimony
In Alaska, a court can order alimony or support to either spouse. Support is a monthly payment of money made from one spouse to the other. The court may order spousal support to be paid before the divorce is final, after the divorce or both. The court usually orders spousal support for a specific purpose and for a limited amount of time.
In deciding whether to award alimony, a court generally considers the following factors:
- How long you were married
- Your age and health
- How much money you can make
- How long you went to school
- Your work skills
- How much work experience you have
- If you worked during the marriage
- If you took care of the kids
- Unreasonable use of marital money
- How the property and debt is divided
There are two kinds of support: "rehabilitation support" and "reorientation support." Rehabilitation support pays for job training or school. This support type is awarded for the reasonable time it takes to finish a degree program, usually up to four years. Reorientation support serves to help you get used to living on less money than when you were married. This money is paid for a short period, usually a year or less, and usually when the division of marital property doesn't meet one spouse's needs.
Child Custody and Visitation
The court decides child custody issues when parents don't agree. Custody consists of legal and physical custody, and there are different custody types possible.
Types of custody in Alaska include:
- Shared physical custody - child resides with a parent at 30 to 70 percent of the time in a year
- Primary physical custody - child resides with other parent less than 30 percent of the year
- Divided custody - one parent has primary physical custody of one or more child and the other parent has primary custody of one or more child and the parents do not share physical custody of any of their children
- Hybrid custody - at least one parent has primary physical custody of one or more child, and shared physical custody of at least one child
The court is guided by the "best interests of the child" in deciding a minor child's custody. Other factors that a court looks at include:
- Age of the parent and child
- Physical and mental condition of the parent and child
- Relationship existing between each parent and each child
- Child's needs
- Role played by each parent in their child's upbringing and care
- Where the child will live
- Child's wishes when a child has the age, intelligence and maturity to make a decision
Before your child turns 18, you may find your custody order needs a change. Know that you have to show a change of circumstances to support your motion for modification. A change in circumstances means a change so that the old parenting plan is no longer in the child's best interests.
The court usually sets visitation if the parents can't agree. An important factor in most custody cases is which parent is more likely to support the non-custodial parent's continuing role in their child's life.
Child Support
Generally the non-custodial parent pays child support, and both parents must provide financial support. The court looks at the needs of the minor child and the supporting parent's ability to pay.
The law presumes the amount per Alaska child support guidelines is correct. Courts can deviate from the guidelines in some cases. Support can be changed based on a material change in circumstances affecting either the parents or the child. The law presumes there's been such a change when there's a 15 percent change in the amount, based on the guidelines.
Questions for Your Attorney