Rice v. McDonald
2017 Alas. LEXIS 24
| Alaska | 2017Background
- Three Indian children lived in Fairbanks; their father John McDonald killed their mother in March 2014 and was arrested and later pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.
- After McDonald’s arrest, paternal relatives (led by his sister Rebecca Schimcek) moved the children to Texas and obtained a Texas temporary custody order without notifying maternal relatives or disclosing the murder charge.
- Mother’s sister Jessie Rice filed an independent custody petition in Alaska and moved to vacate the Texas order; Alaska determined it had exclusive initial jurisdiction under the UCCJEA but later considered the inconvenient-forum provision.
- Alaska superior court ceded jurisdiction to Texas, citing that most evidence about the children’s current status was in Texas and minimizing the significance of domestic-violence concerns given McDonald’s incarceration.
- The Alaska Supreme Court vacated and remanded, holding that ICWA applies and that the superior court abused its discretion by underweighting domestic-violence and ICWA-related evidence located in Alaska.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Rice) | Defendant's Argument (McDonald / paternal relatives) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does ICWA apply to this custody proceeding? | ICWA applies because this is a child custody proceeding involving Indian children and a foster-care type placement within the extended family. | Implicitly: Texas/relatives treated this as a non-ICWA private custody matter. | Held: ICWA applies (case involves Indian children and foster-care/placement within family). |
| Whether Alaska should decline jurisdiction under UCCJEA inconvenient-forum provision | Alaska should retain jurisdiction because domestic-violence allegations, ICWA placement preferences, and relevant evidence (homicide, OCS files, cultural experts) are in Alaska. | Alaska should cede to Texas because the main body of evidence about the children’s current health, schooling, and care is in Texas. | Held: Superior court abused its discretion in ceding jurisdiction; it gave disproportionate weight to location-of-evidence and minimized domestic-violence and ICWA factors. Case vacated and remanded. |
| How should domestic-violence allegations factor in inconvenient-forum analysis? | Domestic-violence allegations (including the mother’s homicide) are central and weigh in favor of Alaska, which has statutory protections and a presumption against awarding custody to a parent with domestic-violence history. | Court below minimized the factor because McDonald was incarcerated and thus not currently exercising custody. | Held: The superior court’s minimization was unreasonable; domestic-violence factor favors Alaska because incarceration is not dispositive of future risk. |
| Relevance of location and nature of evidence (UCCJEA factor 6) | The nature of required evidence includes homicide-related records, OCS files, ICWA cultural and expert testimony — much of which is in Alaska and not readily replaceable by telephonic testimony. | The main evidence about the children’s current welfare (teachers, counselors, caregivers) is in Texas, favoring transfer. | Held: The court improperly focused narrowly on current-care evidence in Texas; factor 6 was misweighed because ICWA and homicide-related evidence in Alaska are critical. |
Key Cases Cited
- Starr v. George, 175 P.3d 50 (Alaska 2008) (standard of review for statutory interpretation and ICWA guidance)
- A.B.M. v. M.H., 651 P.2d 1170 (Alaska 1982) (ICWA applies beyond agency removals to family custody disputes)
- J.W. v. R.J., 951 P.2d 1206 (Alaska 1998) (applying ICWA to intrafamily custody after a parent’s death)
- Norris v. Norris, 345 P.3d 924 (Alaska 2015) (UCCJEA priority rules and home-state/recent-home-state analysis)
- Mikesell v. Waterman, 197 P.3d 184 (Alaska 2008) (analysis of inconvenient-forum factors under UCCJEA)
- Steven D. v. Nicole J., 308 P.3d 875 (Alaska 2013) (courts may focus on pertinent factors and consider telephonic/written evidence)
- Sarah D. v. John D., 352 P.3d 419 (Alaska 2015) (requirement to consider alleged incidents of domestic violence in custody decisions)
- Stephanie F. v. George C., 270 P.3d 737 (Alaska 2012) (statutory presumption against awarding custody to a parent with domestic-violence history)