Jessie C. Rice f/k/a Jessie Kitamura v. Alfred Kookesh

── Jessie C. Rice f/k/a Jessie Kitamura v. Alfred Kookesh ── Court: Alaska Supreme Court Date: April 29, 2026 Category: General NOTICE Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. A party wishing to cite such a decision in a brief or at oral argument should review Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d). THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ALASKA JESSIE C. RICE, ) ) Supreme Court No. S-19269 Appellant, ) ) Superior Court No. 3AN-11-11858 CI v. ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION ALFRED KOOKESH, ) AND JUDGMENT* ) Appellee. ) No. 2144 – April 29, 2026 ) Appeal from the Superior Court of the State of Alaska, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Andrew Guidi, Judge. Appearances: Jessie C. Rice, pro se, Anchorage, Appellant. Lindsey N. Dupuis, Law Offices of Lindsey N. Dupuis, LLC, Anchorage, for Appellee. Before: Carney, Chief Justice, and Borghesan, Henderson, Pate, and Oravec, Justices. I. INTRODUCTION Separated parents with joint legal custody of their daughter could not agree on which middle school she should attend. The father filed a motion requesting that he be awarded sole legal custody with regard to school choice. He also moved for child support to be modified, citing his belief that the mother’s income had increased * Entered under Alaska Appellate Rule 214. since the court last calculated support. The superior court ultimately granted both motions. The mother appeals, arguing that the court abused its discretion in granting sole legal custody regarding school choice to the father and in denying her motion to compel the father’s 2023 tax return for the purposes of calculating support. We affirm the superior court’s custody modification. But we vacate the court’s child support order, which was issued without the benefit of the tax return the mother sought to compel, and remand for further proceedings related to child support. II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS A. Background Facts Jessie Rice and Alfred Kookesh have a daughter together and have litigated child custody issues since shortly after she was born. Before the court awarded exclusive school choice decision-making authority to Kookesh, the parties shared physical and legal custody. Their daughter attended elementary school near Rice’s home in Anchorage from kindergarten to fifth grade. In July 2023, the summer before the child’s sixth-grade year, Kookesh filed a motion requesting exclusive decision- making authority as to school choice, seeking to move the child from her elementary school (which enrolled students in kindergarten through sixth grade) to a particular middle school (which enrolled students in sixth through eighth grade). The superior court denied Kookesh’s request. After the child finished elementary school in the spring of 2024, Rice enrolled her in Rice’s chosen middle school for the 2024-25 school year. Kookesh disagreed with this decision, and in August 2024 filed another motion requesting that he be awarded exclusive decision-making authority regarding school choice. He also filed a motion to modify Rice’s child support obligation. Kookesh argued that the child’s graduation from elementary school and entrance into middle school, plus Rice’s inability to effectively communicate her thoughts on what school the child should attend, gave rise to a substantial change in -2- 2144 circumstances that justified custody modification