Child custody in Alaska

What the law tells the judge to look at

In the order the law lists them.

1. Your child's physical, emotional, mental, religious, and social needs.AS 25.24.150(c)(1)
2. Each parent's ability and desire to meet those needs.AS 25.24.150(c)(2)
3. The child's preference, if the child is old enough and able to form one.AS 25.24.150(c)(3)
4. The love and affection between the child and each parent.AS 25.24.150(c)(4)
5. How long the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory home, and the value of keeping things the same.AS 25.24.150(c)(5)
6. Each parent's willingness and ability to support a close and continuing relationship between the child and the other parent. This does not count if a parent shows the other parent sexually assaulted or committed domestic violence against the parent or a child and that continued contact would endanger them.AS 25.24.150(c)(6)
7. Any evidence of domestic violence, child abuse, or child neglect in the home being proposed, or a history of violence between the parents.AS 25.24.150(c)(7)
8. Evidence that substance abuse by a parent or someone else in the home directly affects the child's emotional or physical well-being.AS 25.24.150(c)(8)
9. Other factors the judge finds important.AS 25.24.150(c)(9)

Other things the judge considers

• The judge may consider only facts that directly affect the child's well-being.AS 25.24.150(d)
• For shared custody, the judge also looks at the child's needs, stability of each home, the child's education, the benefits of staying in the current community, the best time split (actual time with each parent, distance between homes and to school, travel, special needs), a neutral mediator's findings, domestic violence or abuse, and substance abuse. If a parent asks for shared custody and the judge says no, the judge must explain why on the record.AS 25.20.090, 25.20.100
• While the case is going on, the child should have, as much as practical, equal access to both parents unless that would harm the child or the domestic violence presumption applies.AS 25.20.070
• A parent's military activation or deployment cannot be used against them, except under the special military rules.AS 25.24.150(l), 25.20.095
• The judge must follow the federal Indian Child Welfare Act when it applies.AS 25.24.150(e)

What the judge may not consider

Neither parent gets a preference in custody, whether or not the child was born to married parents (AS 25.20.060(b)). The effects of abuse on an abused parent are not a reason to deny that parent custody unless they make the parent unable to parent safely (AS 25.24.150(k)).

Joint custody

No presumption. The judge may award shared custody if it is in the child's best interest, and shared custody must give the child frequent and continuing contact with each parent as much as possible.

The child's wishes

The judge considers the child's preference if the child is of sufficient age and capacity to form one. The law does not set an age.

Domestic violence

The law presumes that a parent with a history of domestic violence against the other parent, a child, or a domestic living partner may not get sole or joint legal or physical custody. 'History' means one incident that caused serious physical injury, or more than one incident. A protective order or criminal charge is not required. The parent can overcome the presumption only by showing, by a preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), that they completed a batterers' intervention program (where available), do not abuse substances, and that the child's best interest requires them as a custodial parent because the other parent is absent, has a mental illness or substance problem that affects parenting, or other reasons. That parent gets only supervised visitation, on the condition of completing a batterers' program and a parenting class, unless they prove the conditions for unsupervised visits. If both parents have a history, custody goes to the parent less likely to continue the violence, or to a suitable third person.

Who has custody before a court order

Alaska statutes do not say who has custody before a court order. Once paternity is established, neither parent has a preference for custody (AS 25.20.060(b)); the father can then ask the court for custody. Paternity and custody can be handled in the same court case.

Establishing paternity

How

Both parents sign an Affidavit of Paternity (form VS-06-5376) in front of a notary or witness, often at the hospital, and send it to Health Analytics & Vital Records. The form is not online; ask Vital Records for it. A signed form is a legal finding of paternity. You can cancel (revoke) it within 60 days of signing with a revocation form from the Vital Records paternity clerk, or earlier if a child support or paternity case is started. After that, it can only be contested in court for fraud, duress, or material mistake. You can also ask the court to establish paternity in a custody case (Custody Packet SHC-PAC3A), or ask the Child Support Services Division for genetic testing.

Form

Affidavit of Paternity (VS-06-5376)

Cancellation form

Revocation form from Health Analytics & Vital Records paternity clerk (within 60 days)

Agency

Alaska Department of Health, Health Analytics & Vital Records
https://courts.alaska.gov/shc/family/paternity.htm

Changing an order

The judge can change a custody or visitation order if a change in circumstances requires it and the change is in the child's best interest. A change in circumstances means something happened so the old parenting plan no longer works for the child, such as a child starting school, a parent moving out of state, or a parent going to jail. A crime of domestic violence since the last order counts as a change in circumstances. The judge must also look at each parent's history of paying child support. If a parent opposes the change and it is granted, the judge must explain why.

Law: AS 25.20.110(a)-(c)

If the other parent does not follow the order

If the other parent does not follow the visitation schedule, you can file a Motion & Affidavit to Enforce Order (form DR-975). If the order says visits are to be 'worked out' and that is not happening, you can ask for a specific visitation schedule. You can also ask the court to hold the other parent in contempt. The judge may order attorney fees and costs in a case to enforce custody or visitation, looking at each parent's finances and good faith. Keep a record of missed or changed visits.

Law: AS 25.20.115; Alaska Court System Self-Help: Enforce Your Order

Grandparent visitation

Yes. A grandparent can ask the Superior Court for reasonable visitation if the grandparent has had or tried to have ongoing personal contact with the child and visitation is in the child's best interest. After a final custody or adoption order, a grandparent can ask only if they did not ask during that case or circumstances have changed. The court must consider any history of child abuse or domestic violence by the grandparent's son or daughter. The court's self-help page says the grandparent must prove by clear and convincing evidence that visits are in the child's best interest, that the grandparent has or tried to have ongoing contact, and that the parent's limits on visits are harmful to the child.

Custody by someone who is not a parent

No statute. Court decisions give parents a preference over non-parents. A non-parent, such as a grandparent, must show the parents are unfit or that the child's welfare requires the non-parent to have custody. In any custody case, the judge can order visitation by a grandparent or other person if it is in the child's best interest.

Custody and visitation in the order

Yes. A long-term protective order (after a hearing with at least 10 days' notice) and a 20-day ex parte order can give the petitioner temporary custody of a minor child and arrange visitation only if the child and petitioner can be kept safe, with conditions such as supervised visits or safe exchanges. The custody part of a long-term order lasts one year unless ended sooner. A 72-hour emergency order requested by police does not include custody.

Military parents

A parent's deployment cannot by itself be a reason to grant or deny custody or to change an order. A court can make a temporary order during deployment, let a deployed parent's visits be used by a family member, and must expedite hearings. The old order comes back within 10 days after the deployed parent can resume custody, unless the other parent proves that is no longer best for the child.

Law: AS 25.20.095, 25.20.110(d)-(h)