Court committee will review state child support guidelines

A special committee appointed by the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court is beginning the task of reviewing Alaska's child support guidelines, according to a release from the Alaska Court System.

Federal law requires each state to establish guidelines for determining child support amounts. Each state's child support guidelines must be reviewed at least once every four years to ensure that the application of the guidelines by the courts and the state's child support enforcement agency results in the determination of appropriate child support amounts.

Examples of issues that may be considered by the committee are:

Whether the current guidelines result in appropriate, consistent, and equitable child support awards by the courts;

How support should be calculated if parents share custody;

How to determine the parents' incomes (which are used to establish the amount of child support); and

How to take into account special or subsequent family situations when courts determine child support awards.

The committee is accepting public comment about the existing state guidelines. Anyone who has questions, comments, or would like to be put on a mailing list for proposed changes to the guidelines, may write to Special Projects, Alaska Court System, 820 West 4th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501, by May 1.

Comments may also be sent by e-mail to Rule90.3@courts.state.ak.us. A copy of the current guidelines with commentary is available at any state court clerk's office, state law libraries, the court system's Web site at www.state.ak.us/courts/rules.htm, or you may write to the previously mentioned address.

A public hearing will be held in the fall to allow comments on the committee's draft proposal. The final proposal and recommendations will then be forwarded to the Alaska Supreme Court.