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29 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law. 409 (2016-2017)
Your Money or Your Life: Indian Parents and Child Support Modifications

handle is hein.journals/jaaml29 and id is 435 raw text is: Vol. 29, 2017 Indian Parents & Child Support Modifications 409 Your Money or Your Life: Indian Parents and Child Support Modifications by Marcia Zug* In 2013, Jolene Sharp was miserably unhappy. Her marriage was over, she hated her job and she was abusing alcohol. Recog- nizing this lifestyle was unsustainable, Jolene decided to make a change. She quit her job, moved back home to her native village of Stebbins, in rural Alaska, and began practicing a traditional, subsistence lifestyle. This move was good for Jolene, and good for her tribe; the question however, was whether it was good for her daughter. According to The Alaska Supreme Court, it was not. The problem for the court was child support. When Jolene's marriage ended, her husband was given primary custody of their ten-year-old daughter and Jolene was ordered to pay child sup- port. Jolene's support award was based on her salary as an oil executive with Alyeska, but when Jolene left her job and adopted a subsistence lifestyle, she could no longer meet her previous child support obligation.' Jolene requested a modification, but it was denied. According to the court, the benefits of Jolene's child support payments outweighed the benefits of returning to her tribe. The Sharpe court's decision is not surprising. Courts rou- tinely deny modification requests based on a parent's voluntary reduction in income. Nevertheless, Sharpe is far from a tradi- tional modification case. Sharpe concerns an Indian family there- fore, it should not have been analyzed under traditional family law principles. A common mantra among Indian law scholars is Indian law is different. The unique status of tribes, as well as the special federal tribal relationship, means that cases concern- * Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law. 1 Specifically, Jolene requested that her child support obligation be re- duced from $1507.00 per month, which had been calculated based on her $120,000 salary, to $50 per month, the minimum allowed under the Alaska child support guidelines. Sharpe v. Sharpe, 366 P.3d 66, 68 (Alaska 2016).

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