Alaska § 25.25.313 - Costs and fees.

§ 25.25.313. Costs and fees.

 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including a rule of the Alaska Supreme Court, at the time a complaint or comparable pleading is filed under this chapter, a tribunal may not require the petitioner to pay a filing fee or other costs.

 (b) If an obligee prevails, a responding tribunal of this state may assess against an obligor filing fees, including fees that were waived under (a) of this section, reasonable attorney fees, other costs, necessary travel expenses, and other reasonable expenses incurred by the obligee and the obligee's witnesses. The tribunal may not assess fees, costs, or expenses against the obligee or the support enforcement agency of either the initiating or the responding state or foreign country except as required by other law or court rule. Attorney fees may be taxed as costs, and may be ordered paid directly to the attorney, who may enforce the order in the attorney's own name. Payment of support owed to the obligee has priority over fees, costs, and expenses assessed under this subsection.

 (c) The tribunal shall order the payment of costs and reasonable attorney fees, including filing fees that were waived under (a) of this section, by a party who requests a hearing under this chapter if it determines that the hearing was requested primarily for delay. In a proceeding under AS 25.25.601 — 25.25.612, a hearing is presumed to have been requested primarily for delay if a registered support order is confirmed or enforced without change; however, the party who requested the hearing may present evidence to rebut this presumption.