Estate plan requirements

Alaska

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in Alaska: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

Document	Witnesses	Notary
Will	2 required	Recommended
Living trust	None required	Recommended
Power of attorney	None required	Required
Healthcare directive	2 required, or notary	Alternative to witnesses

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Alaska content last reviewed May 18, 2026.

Will

Alaska Stat. §13.12.501 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Two witnesses must each sign within a reasonable time after witnessing either the testator's signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or of the will (Alaska Stat. §13.12.502(a)(3)).

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Valid

Handwritten wills without witnesses are recognized in Alaska

Self-proving affidavit: Available

Allows the will to be admitted to probate without witness testimony

ViewSelf-proving affidavit wording

I, {testatorName}, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this ______ day of ____________, and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes expressed in the will, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. ______________________________ {testatorName}, Testator We, ________________, ________________, the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as the testator's will and that the testator signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for the testator), and that each of us, in the presence and hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. ______________________________ Witness ______________________________ Witness State of ______________________ ______________________ Judicial District Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by {testatorName}, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by ________________, and ________________, witness, this ______ day of ____________. (Seal) (Signed) ______________________________ ______________________________ (Official capacity of officer)

ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule

Alaska Stat. §13.12.505: an individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will, and the signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or a provision of it. Alaska follows the UPC rule and has no purge statute, so a gift to an attesting witness remains effective. Using witnesses who take nothing under the will is still the safer practice.

Living Trust

Witnesses: None required

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

Certification of trust: Alaska Stat. §13.36.079

Alaska lets your trustee prove the trust to a bank, brokerage, title company, insurer, or transfer agent with a short certification instead of the trust itself. It states that the trust exists, who the trustee is, and what the trustee may do, and it leaves out who inherits and what each person receives. Will.com generates the Alaska Certification of Trust with your trust, built to the contents that section requires. Sign it in front of the same notary, at the same sitting as the trust. The same section also says what happens if someone demands the trust itself anyway. Alaska Stat. §13.36.079(h) provides that a person making a demand for the trust instrument in addition to a certification of trust or excerpts is liable to the state for a civil penalty of up to $1,000, plus the actual damages associated with the demand, if a court determines that the person did not act in good faith in demanding the trust instrument, and §13.36.079(i) adds the actual court costs and attorney fees.

Durable Power of Attorney

Alaska Stat. §13.26.600 et seq.

Witnesses: None required

No witnesses required for power of attorney

Notarization: Required

Notarization is required for a valid durable power of attorney

State-specific notes

•Execution requires the principal's signature acknowledged before a notary public or other officer authorized to take acknowledgments (Alaska Stat. §13.26.600(a)). If the principal is physically unable to sign, the principal may direct another individual to sign in the principal's conscious presence (§13.26.600(a)(1), (b))

•DURABILITY IS OPT-IN, NOT DEFAULT. To survive the principal's later incapacity, the instrument must expressly state "This power of attorney shall not be affected by the subsequent incapacity of the principal" or "This power of attorney shall become effective upon the incapacity of the principal," or substantially similar words (Alaska Stat. §13.26.675(a)). Alaska is the opposite of UPOAA states on this point: a POA silent as to durability terminates on incapacity

•The statutory form (Alaska Stat. §13.26.645) requires the principal to MARK ONE effectiveness election: effective on the date of signature, or effective on the date of incapacity ('and shall not otherwise be affected by my incapacity'). A second block ('This document shall not be affected by my subsequent incapacity' / 'This document shall be revoked by my subsequent incapacity') applies ONLY IF the signature-date election was chosen, because the form's own instruction reads 'IF YOU HAVE INDICATED THAT THIS DOCUMENT SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE ON THE DATE OF YOUR SIGNATURE, MARK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING.' The incapacity-date election carries the durability language in the election itself (Alaska Stat. §13.26.675(a)). If the signature-date election is chosen and neither durability box is marked, the instrument lacks that durability language and terminates on incapacity. A further optional block lets a signature-date POA be limited to a stated term of years

•An agent may revoke a transfer on death deed only if a RECORDED power of attorney, or the transfer on death deed itself, expressly grants the agent that power (Alaska Stat. §13.48.070(e)). In the statutory form power of attorney the grant is made by marking 'revoke a transfer on death deed made under AS 13.48' in the GRANT OF SPECIFIC AUTHORITY section (Alaska Stat. §13.26.645), but that grant does not reach a TOD deed unless the power of attorney has itself been recorded. The revocation instrument must also be acknowledged by the transferor after the acknowledgment of the deed being revoked, and recorded before the transferor's death in the recording district where the deed is recorded (Alaska Stat. §13.48.070(a))

ViewWarning notice for the principal

GENERAL POWER OF ATTORNEY THE POWERS GRANTED FROM THE PRINCIPAL TO THE AGENT OR AGENTS IN THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENT ARE VERY BROAD. THEY MAY INCLUDE THE POWER TO DISPOSE, SELL, CONVEY, AND ENCUMBER YOUR REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY. ACCORDINGLY, THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENT SHOULD ONLY BE USED AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT, YOU SHOULD SEEK COMPETENT ADVICE. YOU MAY REVOKE THIS POWER OF ATTORNEY AT ANY TIME.

Advance Health Care Directive

Alaska Stat. §13.52.010 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required, or notary

Alaska accepts either 2 witnesses or notarization

Notarization: Accepted as alternative

A notary public may be used in lieu of witnesses, but the acknowledgment must be taken before a notary public at a place in Alaska; a notarization taken outside Alaska does not satisfy this route (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(b)(2)). The two-witness route carries no geographic limit (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(b)(1)).

State-specific notes

•Agent restriction (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(c)): unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, the agent may not be an owner, operator, or employee of the health care institution at which the principal is receiving care

•Witness disqualifications (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(d)): a witness may NOT be (1) a health care provider employed at the institution where the principal is receiving care, (2) an employee of the health care provider or the institution, or (3) the agent. Subsection (d) is written for witnesses, and by its terms it does not reach a notary taking an acknowledgment under §13.52.010(b)(2). Who may serve as notary is governed by Alaska's notary law rather than by this section

•At least one witness must be unrelated and disinterested (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(e)): at least one of the two witnesses must be a person who is NOT related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption AND is NOT entitled to a portion of the principal's estate on the principal's death under a will or codicil of the principal existing at the time the durable power of attorney for health care is executed, or by operation of law then existing. The test is measured at the moment the directive is signed

•Execution may be by either two qualifying witnesses OR by notary acknowledgment (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(b)); a notary acknowledgment satisfies execution alone and does not also require witnesses

•Witnesses must be personally known by the principal (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(b)(1)): the two witnesses must be individuals the principal actually knows, not strangers recruited at the point of signing. A separately valid individual instruction survives even if the durable power of attorney portion fails these witnessing requirements (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(l))

•The notary route is geographically limited (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(b)(2)): the acknowledgment must be taken before a notary public AT A PLACE IN THIS STATE, so an out-of-state notarization does not satisfy the notary-only route. The two-witness route has no such limit (Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(b)(1))

ViewWitness disqualification recital

Alaska Stat. §13.52.010(d): a witness to a durable power of attorney for health care may not be a health care provider employed at the institution or facility where the principal is receiving health care, an employee of the provider treating the principal or of that institution or facility, or the agent. Under §13.52.010(e) at least one witness must be a single individual who is both not related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption and not entitled to a portion of the principal's estate under a will or codicil existing at execution or by operation of law then existing; the same witness must satisfy both conditions, which cannot be split between the two witnesses. Under §13.52.010(b)(1) both witnesses must be personally known by the principal. The §13.52.010(c) bar on an owner, operator, or employee of the health care institution at which the principal is receiving care restricts who may serve as agent, not who may witness, unless that person is related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption.

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6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive.

Nomination of Conservator / Guardian of the Person and Estate

Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

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Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Nomination of conservator	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Business succession declaration	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklist	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Special needs trust provisions	Not in free	Included in paid tier
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Electronic will status

Alaska has not adopted electronic will legislation. A traditional paper will with physical signatures is required.

Digital assets access

Alaska has adopted RUFADAA (2017). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

Alaska authorized RON in 2021. Alaska authorizes remote online notarization generally: under Alaska Stat. §44.50.075(b) a notary public LOCATED IN THIS STATE may perform a notarial act using communication technology for a remotely located individual, on personal knowledge, a credible witness, or a government-issued identification card plus credential analysis and at least one type of identity proofing, and §44.50.075(b)(3) and (d) require an audiovisual recording retained for at least 10 years. So the answer to the question this guide used to leave open is yes for the notarial act, subject to one condition, and no for the witnesses whatever route is taken. If any notarial act on this packet is performed remotely, Alaska Stat. §44.50.075(c) requires the notarial certificate to say so: the certificate required under Alaska Stat. §44.50.060 "must state that the notarial act was performed using communication technology", and the statute supplies the sufficient wording, "This notarial act involved the use of communication technology." None of the notary blocks in this packet is pre-printed with that sentence, so a notary taking the act remotely must add it to the certificate.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

Alaska does not allow remote online witnessing for estate planning documents. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

HC Directive

Not allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in Alaska for guidance specific to your situation.

Also for Alaska

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Free last will and testament, valid in Alaska.

Alaska healthcare directive

Name your medical decision-maker and treatment wishes.

Alaska power of attorney

Name someone to handle finances if you can't.

Alaska living trust

Skip probate and keep your estate private.

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