State of Alaska; Patrick S. Galvin

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a declaratory judgment and injunction requiring the State to recognize and enforce child-support orders issued by the Central Council's tribal courts under UIFSA. The court held that Alaska tribes possess inherent, nonterritorial subject-matter jurisdiction over child-support obligations owed to tribal-member or membership-eligible children, including obligations imposed on nonmember parents, while leaving personal-jurisdiction questions for future cases. Justice Winfree, joined by Justice Stowers, concurred in part but would have declined to decide the nonmember-parent jurisdiction issue as advisory and factually premature.