Bergstrom v. Lindback

In Bergstrom v. Lindback, 779 P.2d 1235, 1237 (Alaska 1989), where the Court addressed Alaska's Civil Rule 90.3(a)(1), which "defines income as the parent's 'total income from all sources.'" The Bergstrom Court reasoned: Given this broad definition, we believe that the superior court has discretion whether to include in income amounts voluntarily deposited into deferred income compensation accounts. Under this rule, the court will be able to prevent a parent from decreasing his or her child support obligation by shifting income earned presently into the future. Id. at 1237. In Bergstrom, the Court went on to conclude: Once the court decides to include deferred compensation in the child support calculus, logic dictates that the court also reduce the resulting annual income by the income taxes which would have been paid had the deferred compensation been included in that year's income for tax purposes. This corollary prevents an obligor parent who defers present income from being saddled with a child support obligation greater than that which would have resulted had the parent not deferred income at all. Bergstrom, 779 P.2d at 1237.