Usually your biological parents must support you from the time you are born until you turn 18.  If you were adopted, your adoptive parents have the same legal duty. Your parents have to provide you with suitable clothing, food, shelter, education, medical care and other necessities in accordance with their income. This doesn’t mean they have to send you to private school or buy you designer clothes, but they do have to provide basic support.  

If you have money that could pay for school or other things that your parents can’t afford, a court could decide that your money can be used to pay for these things.  This is very unusual, but could happen if, for example, you are a well-paid child actor, or your grandparents leave a large sum of money to you.

In Alaska, a parent usually has to support children until they turn eighteen unless the child is emancipated.  But if you are unmarried, still living with a parent or guardian as a dependent, and still in high school or a technical or vocational school, a court can order your parent to continue paying support even after you turn eighteen. 

In Alaska, the courts have said a parent is not legally required to pay for college.  An exception is if the child’s father and mother have a written agreement (a contract between the two of them) promising to pay for a child’s education after high school.

Both your parents have an obligation to support you financially. This is true regardless of whether your parents are married to each other or live together. If you live mostly or entirely with one of your parents, the parent you don’t live with is required to pay support to the parent you do live with in order to help cover the cost of your housing, food, and other essentials. 

The amount of child support that your parent will be required to pay is determined by the court and is based on their income and other financial circumstances. Keep in mind that child support is paid to the parent you live with, not to you directly. 

As long as you live in Alaska, the parent you are living with has the right to get child support from the other parent, no matter where he or she lives. The courts can enforce this support obligation.

If you are in the custody of OCS, both of your parents will be ordered to pay child support during the time you are living somewhere other than with your parents.  

If you become emancipated, your parents no longer have a legal duty to support you. For more information about emancipation, check out the emancipation tab in the “Ending Parental Rights and Responsibilities” section of this guide. 

You can call the Family Law Self-Help Center for free information about child support if you do not have an attorney.  Call (907) 264-0851 or (866) 279-0851 Monday – Thursday from 7:30 am – 6 pm or visit the Family Law Self-Help Center website for forms and information.