Alaska Durable Power of Attorney
Alaska durable power of attorney must be signed and notarized under AS 13.26.600, with no witnesses, and must expressly state it survives your incapacity.
Introduction
A durable power of attorney is a written authorization that puts a person you choose in charge of your money, property, and business affairs when you cannot manage them yourself. Alaska calls that person your agent, or attorney-in-fact. What makes the document durable is that it stays in force after you lose the mental capacity to make decisions, which is the situation most people are planning for; an ordinary power of attorney simply lapses at that point. Alaska is one of the states that does not treat durability as automatic. Under Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.620 a power of attorney ends the moment you become incapacitated unless it is durable, and Section 13.26.675 grants durable status only if the document itself says, in express words, that your agent's authority is not affected by your later incapacity. Execution runs through Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.600: the writing becomes valid once you acknowledge your signature before a notary public or another officer allowed to take acknowledgments, and Alaska asks for no witnesses at all. If you cannot physically sign, you may have another person sign your name for you while you watch. Alaska prints a ready-to-use statutory form at Section 13.26.645, and the Alaska Court System distributes a fill-in version of it in a power of attorney self-help booklet. This page addresses the financial and general durable power of attorney; a health-care power of attorney is a distinct Alaska document. You can add an optional attorney review before you sign.
Key Things to Know
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A durable power of attorney hands a trusted person, your agent or attorney-in-fact, the authority to manage your money, property, and business dealings. The label durable signals that this authority does not evaporate if you later lose the capacity to act for yourself, which is normally the entire point of signing one.
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Notarization is the operative step, and no witnesses are needed. Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.600 treats the document as valid once you acknowledge your signature in front of a notary public or another officer authorized to take acknowledgments. Alaska law sets no witness requirement, so a notarial acknowledgment on its own completes it.
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Durability is never assumed in Alaska. Because Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.620 ends the authority on your incapacity for any power of attorney that is not durable, you have to opt in: Section 13.26.675 confers durability only when the writing declares, in express terms or substantially similar wording, that incapacity will not affect your agent's authority.
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Alaska gives you an official fill-in form. The statutory form at Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.645 may be executed in substantially that form and carries check-box choices for durable, non-durable, or springing authority. The Alaska Court System reproduces it in a power of attorney self-help booklet you can download and complete.
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You can delay when it starts. Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.675 lets the writing state that the power of attorney springs into effect on your incapacity, so your agent holds no authority until that moment arrives. The Section 13.26.645 form carries a check-box for this springing choice.
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Gifts require their own grant. Under Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.665 an agent has no authority to give away your property unless the document spells out gift power, and even then each recipient's gift is limited to the federal annual gift tax exclusion, doubling only when your spouse consents to split the gift.
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Recording is optional, not mandatory. The Alaska Uniform Power of Attorney Act never requires you to record the document. When a power of attorney is recorded for a real estate transaction, though, it has to be acknowledged the way any conveyance is under Alaska Statutes Section 34.15.150 and satisfy the recorder's formatting rules under Section 40.17, filed with the recorder where the land is located.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Durable Power of Attorney in Alaska, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Durable Power of Attorney guide walks through them.
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Alaska Requirements for Durable Power of Attorney
Under Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.600, the power of attorney is valid when you sign it and acknowledge your signature before a notary public or other officer authorized by law to take acknowledgments. Alaska does not require witnesses, so notarization is the step that makes the document valid.
If you are physically unable to sign, Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.600 lets you direct another person to sign your name in your conscious presence. That person should not be your agent. You still acknowledge the signature before a notary public or other authorized officer.
Alaska does not make a power of attorney durable by default. Under Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.620 it terminates on your incapacity unless it is durable, and Section 13.26.675 makes it durable only when the writing expressly states that it is not affected by your subsequent incapacity, or uses substantially similar words.
If you want the power of attorney to take effect only on a future event such as your incapacity, Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.675 allows a writing that becomes effective upon the incapacity of the principal. The Section 13.26.645 statutory form includes this springing option.
You may use Alaska's statutory form power of attorney at Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.645, which may be executed in substantially that form. It lets you select a durable, non-durable, or springing option, and the Alaska Court System offers a fill-in self-help version of it.
The Alaska Uniform Power of Attorney Act does not require recording, so it is permissive. If a power of attorney for real estate is recorded, it must be acknowledged like any conveyance under Alaska Statutes Section 34.15.150 and meet the recorder's formal requirements under Section 40.17, filed where the property is located.
Under Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.665, your agent may make gifts only if the document expressly grants gift authority. Each gift per recipient is capped at the federal annual gift tax exclusion, or twice that amount with a spouse's split-gift consent. Without express gift language the agent cannot make gifts.
An agent who accepts the appointment is a fiduciary under Alaska Statutes Section 13.26.610 and must act in your best interest, in good faith, and within the scope granted. Under Section 13.26.620 you may revoke the power of attorney or the agent's authority; put the revocation in writing and give notice to the agent and any third party that relied on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a written document in which you appoint an agent, sometimes called an attorney-in-fact, to handle your money, property, and financial business. The durable part means the appointment holds up even after you lose the capacity to manage things yourself. Alaska adds a condition: under AS 13.26.675 the document qualifies as durable only if it expressly says your agent's authority survives your incapacity.
It comes down to what incapacity does to the agent's authority. A regular, non-durable power of attorney dies with your capacity, and AS 13.26.620 confirms it terminates the instant you become incapacitated. A durable one keeps the agent in place through incapacity, but only because AS 13.26.675 requires you to write that intention into the document. Since Alaska presumes a power of attorney is non-durable, leaving out the durability sentence gives you the regular version by default.
No, and this is where Alaska trips up a lot of people. AS 13.26.620 ends a power of attorney at the principal's incapacity whenever the document is not durable, and AS 13.26.675 supplies durability only when the writing expressly states the authority is unaffected by later incapacity, or uses substantially similar words. On the AS 13.26.645 statutory form you accomplish this by checking the durable box.
Alaska publishes a statutory form power of attorney in the statutes at AS 13.26.645, and a document executed in substantially that form is valid. For a version you can actually fill in, the Alaska Court System puts out a power of attorney self-help booklet built on AS 13.26.600 through 695, with the durable, non-durable, and springing options laid out as choices you select.
No. A power of attorney can only be created by a principal who still has the capacity to understand and authorize it, and AS 13.26.600 requires that principal to sign and acknowledge the document personally. If your parent is already incapacitated, a power of attorney is off the table, and the family instead petitions the court for guardianship or conservatorship. The Alaska Court System self-help center walks through that process.
Only if you grant that power and only within set limits. AS 13.26.665 lets an agent make gifts that fit the principal's objectives or best interest, but caps each recipient's gift at the federal annual gift tax exclusion under 26 U.S.C. 2503(b), or twice that amount when a spouse consents to split the gift under 26 U.S.C. 2513. If the document is silent on gifts, the agent has no gifting authority.
AS 13.26.620 lets you end the power of attorney or strip the agent's authority whenever you choose. Do it in writing and notify the agent along with any bank or other party that has been relying on the document. Because a third party who acts in good faith without notice of the revocation is protected, delivering that written notice is what actually cuts off the agent's power. If you recorded the original, record the revocation as well.
No; the Alaska Uniform Power of Attorney Act leaves recording optional. When a power of attorney is recorded so it appears in the chain of title for a real estate conveyance, it has to be acknowledged like any conveyance under AS 34.15.150 and meet the recorder's formatting requirements under AS 40.17. File it with the recorder where the property is located whenever a transaction calls for it.