Child support in Alaska.
What the state’s own guideline says, where the number comes from, and the one figure that moves it more than anything you will argue about.
See a different stateAlaska
Alaska looks mainly at the paying parent's income, not both parents' incomes combined. The court figures out that parent's 'adjusted annual income' and takes a flat percentage of it: 20% for one child, 27% for two, 33% for three, plus 3% more for each additional child. If the children live with each parent at least 30% of the year, a separate shared-custody formula runs the numbers both directions and one parent pays the difference.
How Alaska works out the number
Authority: Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 90.3 (Child Support Awards), with the official Commentary to Civil Rule 90.3; duration of support for an 18-year-old is set by AS 25.24.170(a)Yes, and the threshold is 30% of the year with each parent. The court's booklet spells it out: 'Shared physical custody means the children live with each parent for at least 30% of each year. This usually means the children stay with each parent at least 110 overnights during the year.' Once you cross that line, both parents' primary-custody amounts are calculated, each is multiplied by the share of time the children spend with the other parent, and 'the difference between the two figures multiplied by 1.5' sets the payment. There is also a separate credit of up to 75% of a month's support for any period of extended visitation of more than 27 consecutive days.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Alaska publishes this itself, free. It is called DR-305, Child Support Guidelines Affidavit (primary custody). Related worksheets: DR-306 Shared Custody, DR-307 Divided Custody, DR-308 Hybrid Custody. DR-310 i. We are not going to build a competing calculator and ask you to trust it — this is the one a judge will recognize.
Open the Alaska calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
Very broad. The court's own booklet says income is 'any money that you receive from any source' – salary, self-employment, employer-provided housing or food, bonuses, commissions, unemployment, VA disability, SSDI, workers' compensation, retirement, Social Security, interest, dividends, annuities, trust income, rental income, and the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. 'Public benefits that you receive based solely on need (for example, SSI, ATAP, TANF, and food stamps) do not count as income.' Overtime, bonuses and second-job pay are normally counted, though the Commentary says a court has discretion to leave overtime out in specific situations, such as 'when, for example, the extra work is undertaken to pay off back child support.' Self-employment income is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses, with accelerated depreciation added back. Deductions from income include mandatory taxes and withholding, union dues, mandatory retirement, voluntary retirement up to 7.5% of total income, life insurance premiums for the children up to $1,200 a year, the parent's own health insurance up to 10% of total income, child support for prior children, and – unusually – work-related child care for the children in this case.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
A court may treat a parent as earning more than they actually do if the parent is 'voluntarily and unreasonably unemployed or underemployed.' The Commentary directs the judge to look at the totality of the circumstances rather than any single factor, and to base the figure on what the parent could realistically earn.
If you do not earn much
Two pieces. First, a low-income rule: if a parent's total annual income is $30,000 or less, adjusted income is the lesser of (a) income minus the usual itemized deductions or (b) income minus a flat $7,500. Second, a floor: 'The minimum child support amount that may be ordered is $50 per month ($600 per year).' There is also a ceiling – the percentage formula stops applying above $138,000 of adjusted annual income, and above that the court may add more only if it is 'just and proper.'
Childcare and health insurance
Work-related child care is not added on top of the support number – it is subtracted from the paying parent's income before the percentage is applied (Rule 90.3(a)(1)(E)). Health insurance for the children is handled separately: the cost is presumed reasonable if it does not exceed 5% of the buying parent's adjusted annual income, and the court splits that cost equally between the parents unless there is good cause to do otherwise, adding or subtracting half from the support amount depending on who pays the premium. Uncovered medical costs are split equally up to $5,000 per calendar year; above $5,000 they are divided based on the parents' relative finances.
Private school, special needs, activities
Rule 90.3 has no separate line for private school, tutoring or activities. Those come in, if at all, as a variation from the guideline amount for good cause – the rule mentions 'unusual circumstances' that make the standard number unjust, and courts have treated large family size and significant income of the child as examples.
When a judge can depart from the number
This is one of the strictest in the country. 'The court may vary the child support award … for good cause upon proof by clear and convincing evidence that manifest injustice would result.' The judge must put in writing the reason for the variation and what the guideline amount would have been.
Two things surprise people. First, Alaska mostly ignores the receiving parent's income – the percentage comes off the paying parent's income alone, so a big raise for the other household usually does not change your number. Second, your Permanent Fund Dividend counts as income, and work-related day care comes off your income before the percentage is applied rather than being added on top.
Later on
When it ends
Support runs to age 18. It can be extended while the child is 18 years old under AS 25.24.170(a) if all three of these are true: the child is unmarried; the child 'is actively pursuing a high school diploma or equivalent level of technical or vocational training'; and the child 'is living as a dependent with the obligee parent or guardian or a designee of the parent or guardian.' A parent asks for that extension by filing form DR-320.
College and support after 18
Rule 90.3 does not provide for college support. The extension in AS 25.24.170(a) covers finishing high school or equivalent technical or vocational training, not university.
Changing the amount later
'A material change of circumstances will be presumed if support … is more than 15 percent greater or less than the outstanding support order.' The court's booklet puts it plainly: support usually will not be changed 'unless the amount of support owed would go up or down by 15% or more, or if it would result in a different parent owing support.'
How far back a change can reach
Past-due support that has already come due generally cannot be wiped out: 'Child support arrearage may not be modified retroactively, except as allowed by AS 25.27.166(d).' In practice a change reaches back to when the other side got notice of the request, not to when your circumstances changed. File promptly.
If someone stops paying
The Child Support Services Division (CSED), part of the Department of Revenue, administers collection and runs the member, employer and tribal portals. We did not find an official published Alaska page confirming license-suspension or interest-on-arrears details, so we have not stated any here.
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm on an official Alaska source whether the state charges interest on unpaid support or suspends licenses, so treat anything you read elsewhere about that with care and ask CSED directly.
Compare all fifty states
The overnight thresholds, the ending ages and the college rules, side by side.
The rest of what we have written about Alaska. Every figure is quoted from Alaska’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.