This book is looking for reviewers. Free copies may be available.

Alaska

Your marriage contract, Alaska edition

50 of 100 on the Luck of the Draw Index

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 50 out of 100

Alaska leaves the amount and length of maintenance to the judge’s weighing of factors, and the judge can reach premarital property when fairness requires it. Property division starts from an equal split, marital fault is excluded by statute, fee awards follow the spouses’ relative finances, and either side can replace the assigned judge once without giving a reason. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Alaska ranks 5 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

PartScoreThe rule, and where it comes from
Property10 / 20Property acquired during the marriage is divided in a just manner starting from a presumption that an equal division is just, and the court may invade a spouse’s premarital property when balancing the equities requires it.
AS 25.24.160(a)(4); Berry v. Berry, No. S-8258 (Alaska Apr. 16, 1999); Green v. Green, No. S-9501 (Alaska Aug. 31, 2001) (citing Brooks v. Brooks, 733 P.2d 1044, 1058 (Alaska 1987))
Alimony20 / 20Maintenance may be awarded for a limited or indefinite period in the amount that is just and necessary, based on a statutory list of factors, with no formula or cap.
AS 25.24.160(a)(2)
Fault0 / 20The statute directs that both maintenance and property division be decided without regard to which party is at fault, and the listed conduct factor is limited to matters such as unreasonable depletion of marital assets.
AS 25.24.160(a)(2), (a)(4)
Lawyers’ fees10 / 20Divorce attorney fees are based primarily on the parties’ relative economic situations and earning powers so both can litigate on a fairly equal plane, and when their economic status is roughly equal, a fee award is ordinarily error.
Edelman v. Edelman, No. S-10408 (Alaska Dec. 27, 2002) (Civil Rule 82 does not apply to divorce; citing AS 25.24.140(a)(1)); AS 25.24.140(a)(1)
Second opinion10 / 20Each side in a superior court action, including a divorce, may change the assigned judge once as a matter of right by filing a notice that states no grounds, and no statute gives a jury on property division or maintenance.
Alaska R. Civ. P. 42(c); Alaska R. Civ. P. 38(a)

Getting in

A 3-day wait. A couple applies at least three days before the license issues, and each person makes a sworn statement, which a notary or postmaster can take. The licensing officer may waive the three days for undue hardship or delay. The license allows a marriage within three months of its date, which the state treats as 90 days.
AS 25.05.091, 25.05.121, 25.05.161, 25.05.241

Who can marry you. A minister, priest, or rabbi of a church or congregation in Alaska, a Salvation Army officer, a judicial officer, an elected official, or a marriage commissioner may officiate. A court will appoint a friend or relative for a named date for $25. One adult witness is required. The statute does not address online ordination.
AS 25.05.081, 25.05.261, 25.05.281, 25.05.301

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A marriage in Alaska requires both a license and solemnization, so a couple cannot become married by living together. The Alaska Supreme Court held in 1961 that a 1917 license law is mandatory, so common-law marriages after 1917 are invalid. No statute says whether a common-law marriage formed in another state counts; one concurring justice assumed Alaska would recognize it.
AS 25.05.011, 25.05.061, 25.05.311; Edwards v. Franke, 364 P.2d 60 (Alaska 1961); Burgess Constr. Co. v. Lindley, 504 P.2d 1023 (Alaska 1972)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Alaska is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. The court divides property acquired during the marriage, however it is titled. Inherited and premarital property stays separate, but the court may reach premarital property when the equities require it. Income earned after a final separation that leads to divorce is generally excluded. Growth of separate property stays separate unless marital funds or effort caused it.
AS 25.24.160(a)(4); Schanck v. Schanck, 717 P.2d 1 (Alaska 1986); Harrower v. Harrower, 71 P.3d 854 (Alaska 2003); Chotiner v. Chotiner, 829 P.2d 829 (Alaska 1992)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It depends on what the owner meant. An inheritance stays separate unless the owner intended to make it marital and acted on that intent. Putting it in joint ownership is evidence of that intent, which the owner can rebut. In Julsen, inherited stock in a joint trading account stayed separate because the account was only an administrative convenience. The court may still reach separate property in limited cases.
Chotiner v. Chotiner, 829 P.2d 829 (Alaska 1992); Julsen v. Julsen, 741 P.2d 642 (Alaska 1987)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

No Alaska statute makes a spouse liable for the other’s medical or other necessary bills, and the statute says neither spouse is liable for the other’s premarital or separate debts. Couples who opt into community property by agreement or trust are governed by the Alaska Community Property Act instead.
AS 25.15.050; AS 25.15.010; AS 34.77 (not yet checked against the source)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect one-third of the augmented estate, which includes the net probate estate and the decedent’s non-probate transfers to others (and counts the survivor’s own property and what the survivor receives), plus a supplemental amount that brings the survivor up to $50,000.
AS 13.12.202; AS 13.12.203

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under case law only (Brooks v. Brooks); Alaska has not adopted the UPAA or UPMAA. The court asks whether the agreement was voluntary, then whether it was unconscionable when signed or whether circumstances have changed since signing so that enforcement would be unfair and unreasonable. A court may strike individual terms without voiding the whole agreement; in Kilkenny the court struck the bars on spousal support, attorney’s fees and an unequal property division after the husband’s domestic violence.
Brooks v. Brooks, 733 P.2d 1044 (Alaska 1987); Kilkenny v. Kilkenny, No. S-18602, Op. No. 7787 (Alaska Sept. 19, 2025)

What an agreement needs. An agreement made in consideration of marriage must be in writing and signed by the party charged; no statute requires notarization, witnesses, a waiting period or counsel. A waiver of the elective share must be in writing and signed, and it fails if involuntary or if unconscionable when signed without fair disclosure. An opt-in community property agreement must be signed by both spouses and begin with a statutory warning in capital letters.
AS 09.25.010(a)(5); AS 13.12.213; AS 34.77.090

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: percentage of income. With one primary custodian, support is a percentage of the other parent’s adjusted income: 20 for one child, 27 for two, 33 for three, plus 3 for each additional child. Shared custody uses an adjusted calculation. Support ends at 18, or at 19 for an unmarried child pursuing a high school diploma or equivalent at home. A court cannot order college support.
Alaska R. Civ. P. 90.3(a)-(b); AS 25.20.010, 25.24.170(a); Dowling v. Dowling, 679 P.2d 480 (Alaska 1984)

Moving away with a child. No statute sets a notice period. A court cannot order a parent not to move, but it decides custody by the child’s best interests, assuming the move will happen. It asks whether the reason is legitimate, meaning not mainly to make visitation harder, and weighs the effect on the child. Custody may change as a result.
Moeller-Prokosch v. Prokosch, 27 P.3d 314 (Alaska 2001), and 53 P.3d 152 (Alaska 2002); Rego v. Rego, 259 P.3d 447 (Alaska 2011); House v. House, 779 P.2d 1204 (Alaska 1989); AS 25.24.150(c)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: no minimum. Alaska sets no minimum period. A spouse can file once physically present and intending to stay; in Perito, a spouse filed the day after arriving and the court upheld jurisdiction. Military members qualify after 30 days stationed in Alaska. A court may lack authority over custody or an absent spouse’s property. Where the couple married does not matter.
Perito v. Perito, 756 P.2d 895 (Alaska 1988); AS 25.24.090, 25.24.900

How long it takes. One spouse can get a divorce on incompatibility of temperament even if the other does not want one. No divorce can be heard on the merits within 30 days of filing unless the court finds good cause. The simpler dissolution route requires both spouses to agree, unless the other spouse cannot be found.
Alaska R. Civ. P. 90.1(c); AS 25.24.050(5)(C), 25.24.200

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 30 days from arrival to a final decree (no residence period + 30-day wait after filing). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Alaska and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile