Defendant's Attorney:

Description: Fairbanks, Alaska family law lawyer represented the parties seeking a divorce.


A married couple divorced after roughly five years of marriage. They disagreed about custody of their three children, the valuation of a real estate business, whether the business was marital or separate property, the distribution of the marital property, and the amount of child support payments. The trial court awarded the mother

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sole legal custody and primary physical custody of the children. The court found that the business was a marital asset and valued it at roughly $300,000, crediting the testimony of the mother's expert over the father's expert. The court evenly split the marital property and ordered the father to pay child support. The father appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in all of these rulings.

We conclude that the trial court did not err in its custody award and that its property division and award of child support were largely proper. However, two aspects of the property division and child support orders require remand. First, the findings are not detailed enough to permit appellate review of the ruling that the business was marital property. Second, no justification was offered for adjusting the standard child support formula by ordering the parties to split the costs of the children's education and extracurricular activities.
Lymburner v. Axhelm, 1995, S-18440 (Alaska Oct 25, 2023)

Outcome: Divorce Granted

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Defendant's Experts:

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