Alaska Last Will and Testament (2026)

Say who gets what, who raises your children and who settles your estate — specific and cash gifts with an anti-lapse fallback, a residuary clause, a guardian and an alternate, a trust that holds a minor's share until the age you choose, an executor serving without bond, a pet trust, digital-asset access, the attestation clause and your state's own self-proving affidavit, with step-by-step signing instructions for your state.

Updated September 11, 2026≈ 15 min

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What you'll get

Sample first page of the Last Will and Testament. Your answers fill in the blanks; the clauses required in Alaska are added automatically.

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What this document covers

Testator, domicile and revocation of every earlier will
Spouse, children and an after-born (pretermitted) child clause
Debts, funeral expenses and tax apportionment
Specific bequests with an anti-lapse fallback for each gift
Cash bequests and charitable gifts
Residuary estate, per stirpes or per capita, with a contingent taker
Guardian of the person and guardian of the estate, plus alternates
Testamentary trust that holds a minor's share to the age you choose
Health, education, maintenance and support (HEMS) standard and trustee powers
Executor and alternate, serving without bond where the state allows
Power to sell real property without a court order
Pet trust with a caretaker and a fund
No-contest clause where your state enforces it
Survivorship period and simultaneous-death clause
Digital-asset authority under the RUFADAA
Attestation clause and your state's self-proving affidavit
A separate How to sign this will page for your state

Alaska rules that this document follows

Rules current as of 2026-09-14. Statutes change; verify before relying on them.

How to use this Last Will and Testament in Alaska

Start with the people and work outwards. Your full legal name and the county you are domiciled in decide which court opens your estate. Name your spouse and every child, including a child you are deliberately leaving out — an unnamed child is presumed forgotten and takes an intestate share off the top. Then list only the gifts that would otherwise cause an argument: the house, the ring, the business. Everything else belongs in the residuary clause, which catches the accounts you open next year and the gifts that fail.

Decide the two questions that matter most for a family: who raises your minor children, and at what age they get the money. A guardian of the person raises the child; a guardian of the estate handles the child's money; a trust holds the share to 25 or 30 with a health, education, maintenance and support standard in the meantime, instead of handing a teenager the whole inheritance on an eighteenth birthday. Name an alternate for every role — the commonest reason an estate stalls is that the only named person has died or declined.

Then sign it properly, because that is where wills fail. In Alaska you sign in front of 2 witnesses who are at least 18 and who inherit nothing (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.502). Then sign the self-proving affidavit in front of a notary at the same sitting (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.504) — that is what lets the will be admitted without finding your witnesses years from now. A gift to a witness survives in Alaska, but use disinterested witnesses anyway — it is the easiest ground of attack to remove. Full step-by-step instructions print on their own page at the end. Then keep the signed original where your executor can reach it, and review the will after a marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death or a move to another state.

Frequently asked questions

How many witnesses does a will need in Alaska?

2 witnesses, each at least 18 years old (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.502). The witnesses must sign in the testator's presence, within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of the signature. A will signed with fewer witnesses than the statute requires is not admitted to probate, and the estate passes under the intestacy statute instead.

Does the will have to be notarized?

Not to make the will valid. The notary in Alaska is there for the self-proving affidavit (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.504), which is what lets the will be admitted without tracking your witnesses down years later.

Is a handwritten will valid in Alaska?

Yes. Alaska admits a holographic will — one written and signed entirely in your own hand, with no witnesses (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.502(c)). Even where one is allowed it is the weakest kind of will: there is nobody to say you were of sound mind, the handwriting has to be proved, and courts read informal documents strictly. This document is a typed, witnessed will, which is admitted everywhere.

What is a self-proving affidavit and do I need one?

It is a sworn statement, signed by you and your witnesses in front of a notary at the same sitting, saying the will was signed properly. It turns the will into one the court can admit on the paperwork alone. In Alaska it follows Alaska Stat. § 13.12.504 — Available. The affidavit may be signed at the same ceremony as the will, on a page attached to it, or added later before a notary. Without it your executor must find your witnesses, possibly decades later, and have them swear to the signature.

Can I leave my spouse out of my will?

You can write the will that way, but it will not hold. Your spouse may elect against the will and take a share of the augmented estate that rises with the length of your marriage (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.202).

Does a no-contest clause work in Alaska?

Partly. Alaska enforces the clause, but not against a beneficiary who brings the challenge in good faith and on probable cause (Alaska Stat. § 13.12.517). It stops a nuisance contest; it does not stop a well-founded one.

Can my executor live in another state?

Yes. Alaska puts no residence requirement on an executor, and the waiver of bond in this will is honored in the ordinary case (Alaska Stat. tit. 13).

Can I sign the will electronically?

No. Alaska has no electronic wills statute (Alaska Stat. tit. 13): a will here must be signed on paper. Whatever your state allows, the original signed paper is what the probate court wants to see — a scan or a photograph is not a substitute.

Where should I keep the signed will?

Somewhere your executor can reach it within a day of your death, and not in a safe-deposit box that is sealed when you die. A fireproof box at home, your attorney's file, or the probate court's own will deposit where your state offers one. Tell your executor where it is and give the executor a copy. Do not write on the original after signing: a crossed-out name or a marginal note does not change the will and can raise a question about whether you revoked it.

Other names

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