Opinion ID: 2636996
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: When child support is recalculated on remand, it should be based on the actual physical custody awarded.

Text: Kim also contends that the superior court miscalculated the percentage of time each parent has physical custody of the children under the court's child custody order. Under Civil Rule 90.3(b)(2), when parents are awarded shared physical custody, a parent's child support obligation depends in part on the percentage of time the other parent will have physical custody of the children. The superior court based its child support award on its physical custody award, and assumed that the two boys would be in Steven's custody sixty-three percent of the year and in Kim's custody thirty-seven percent of the year, and that Lolitta would be in Steven's custody sixty percent of the year and in Kim's custody forty percent of the year. Kim argues that she actually has custody of Lolitta only thirty-six percent of the year and custody of the boys only twenty-nine percent of the year. Steven does not offer different figures, but argues that this issue was raised and resolved after trial and asserts that the court's calculations were based on the time the children actually spent with each parent. Kim's terse appellate arguments simply refer us to the record and contain no meaningful discussion of the issue. Kim bears the burden of demonstrating on appeal that the superior court erred. Accurately counting the days awarded requires access to the Fairbanks North Star Borough school calendar, and neither party has included it in the record. We therefore cannot definitively count the days. But as far as we can tell, it appears that per the award Lolitta was actually to be in Kim's physical custody about thirty-nine percent of the year. And it appears that per the award the boys were actually to be in Kim's physical custody about thirty-five percent of the year. It therefore appears that Kim's child support obligation may have been based on custody divisions that were slightly inaccurate. We assume that these minor differences would not justify reversal. But because child support must be recalculated anyway for the reasons discussed above, the recalculated award should be based on the exact physical custody actually awarded the parties. [25]