Child Support:  How Do I Establish It?

Child support can be established by court order or through the Child Support Services Division.  Usually, when parents divorce or there is a custody case, the court will enter a child support order.  The parent can then pay child support directly to the other parent, or through CSSD.  CSSD can establish child support through an administrative order, but only if there is no existing court order.  If CSSD establishes the child support, usually it is paid through CSSD.

Child support is calculated based on the earnings of the parents.  There is a specific formula and percentage that is set by Court Rule 90.3.  As an example, a parent will pay 20% of his or her adjusted annual income in child support for one child — whether that parent makes $25,000 per year or $250,000.  Parents can agree for a child support order to be more than what the rule requires, but typically cannot reduce the amount unless there are unusual circumstances justifying the reduction.

Once child support is established, it is important that the obligated parent’s income information be kept current.  Child support cannot be retroactively modified (meaning that you can’t go back in time and change it).  Therefore, it is important to let the court or CSSD know right away if the obligated parent’s income changes.

If you want a court to establish child support, you must file a petition for custody or divorce.  The Family Law Self-Help Center (1-866-279-0851) can help you with the forms and instructions needed for this.  Also, those forms are available online at www.state.ak.us/courts.  If you want CSSD to help you, you can get forms and contact information at www.childsupport.alaska.gov. 

Child support can only be modified prospectively — meaning looking forward rather than backward.  If your child support order was established by a court order, you must file a Motion to Modify Child Support with the same court than originally established the support order.  When you file your motion, you should include all information related to why the support order should be increased or decreased.  This should include current income and expense information, as well as any information about changes in the custody and visitation.  The Motion forms and instructions are available online at www.state.ak.us/courts, or from the Family Law Self-Help Center (1-866-279-0851).

If your child support was established by the Child Support Services Division, you must contact CSSD for modification of the order.  Forms for modifying the order are available online at www.childsupport.alaska.gov.  You can also contact your CSSD caseworker for help.

If, and only if, your child support order was established by the Child Support Service Division and was based on imputed income (not your actual income, but an average Alaskan income) can you go back in time and change your support order.  The process for this is called a Motion to Vacate the Support Order.  What actually happens is that the old support order is set aside, and a new child support order is established using your actual income information for all the years since the original order.  You will still end up owing child support, but usually the result is a much much smaller arrearage and a more realistic monthly support obligation.

To do this, you must provide a Motion to Vacate along with your income information to CSSD for all the years going back to the date of the original order.  The forms you need are available online at www.childsupport.alaska.gov.  You will need copies of paystubs, tax returns, etc. to document your annual earnings.  You can request tax return transcripts from the IRS for free (visit www.irs.gov for more information).  You can also use your Social Security estimated benefits report to document past earnings (visit www.ssa.gov to request a copy).

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