2023 Alaska Statutes › Title 13. Decedents' Estates, Guardianships, Transfers, Trusts, and Health Care Decisions › Chapter 06. General Provisions, Definitions, and Probate Jurisdiction of Court › Article 4. Notice, Parties, and Representation. › Sec. 13.06.120. Pleadings; when parties bound by orders; notice.

(a) In any proceedings involving trusts, nonprobate assets, or estates of decedents, minors, protected persons, or incapacitated persons brought under AS 13.06 - AS 13.36 or AS 13.38, the following apply:
(1) interests to be affected shall be described in pleadings that give reasonable information to owners by name or class, by reference to the instrument creating the interests, or in other appropriate manner;
(2) persons are bound by orders binding others in the following cases:
(A) orders binding the sole holder or all co-holders of a power of revocation or a general or nongeneral power of appointment, including one in the form of a power of amendment, bind other persons to the extent their interests, as objects, takers in default, or otherwise, are subject to the power;
(B) to the extent there is no conflict of interest between them or among persons represented, orders binding a conservator bind the person whose estate the conservator controls; orders binding a guardian bind the ward if no conservator of the estate has been appointed; orders binding a trustee bind beneficiaries of the trust in proceedings to probate a will establishing or adding to a trust, to review the acts or accounts of a prior fiduciary, and in proceedings involving creditors or other third parties; orders binding a personal representative bind persons interested in the undistributed assets of a decedent's estate in actions or proceedings by or against the estate; and orders binding an agent having authority to act with respect to the particular questions or dispute bind the principal; if there is no conflict of interest and no conservator or guardian has been appointed, a parent may represent the minor child;
(C) an unborn person, a minor, an incapacitated person, or a person whose identity or location is unknown or not reasonably ascertainable who is not otherwise represented is bound by an order to the extent the interest is adequately represented by another party having a substantially identical interest in the proceeding;
(D) with regard to interests given upon the happening of a certain event to persons who comprise a certain class, orders binding the living persons who would constitute the class, if the event had happened immediately before the commencement of the proceeding, bind all members of the class;
(E) with regard to an interest given to a living person when the same interest or a share of the interest is to pass to the surviving spouse or to persons who are or might be the distributees, devisees, heirs, or issue of the living person upon the happening of a future event, orders binding the living person bind the surviving spouse, distributees, devisees, heirs, or issue of the living person;
(F) with regard to interests given to a person or a class of persons, or to both, upon the happening of a future event, if the same interest or a share of the interest is to pass to another person or class of persons, or to both, upon the happening of an additional future event, orders binding the living person or class of persons who would take the interest upon the happening of the first event bind the persons and classes of persons who might take on the happening of the additional future event;
(G) if a person is designated by a trust instrument to represent and bind a born or unborn beneficiary of the trust and receive a notice, information, accounting, or report for the beneficiary, then the beneficiary is bound by an order binding the designated person; in this subparagraph,
(i) the settlor may make the designation in the trust instrument, in a separate document, or by a trust protector authorized in the trust instrument to make the designation;
(ii) except as otherwise provided in this subparagraph, a person designated under (i) of this subparagraph may not represent and bind a beneficiary while the designated person is serving as trustee;
(iii) except as otherwise provided in this subparagraph, a person designated under (i) of this subparagraph may not represent and bind another beneficiary if the designated person also is a beneficiary, unless the designated person was named by the settlor, is the beneficiary's spouse, or is a grandparent or descendant of a grandparent of the beneficiary or the beneficiary's spouse; in this sub-subparagraph, “spouse” means the individual to whom the beneficiary is married and with whom the beneficiary is living, and a physical separation primarily for education, business, health, and similar reasons does not prevent the individual from being considered to be living with the beneficiary;
(3) a person representing another person under (2)(A) - (F) of this section and a person designated under (2)(G)(i) of this section are not liable to the beneficiary whose interests are represented, or to a person claiming through that beneficiary, for an action or omission to act made in good faith;
(4) notice is required as follows:
(A) notice as prescribed by AS 13.06.110 shall be given to every interested person or to one person who can bind an interested person as described in (2)(A), (B), or (D) - (G) of this section; notice may be given both to a person and to another person who may bind the person;
(B) notice is given to unborn persons, a minor, an incapacitated person, or a person whose identity or location is unknown or not reasonably ascertainable, and persons who are not represented under (2)(A), (B), or (D) - (G) of this section, by giving notice to all known persons whose interests in the proceedings are substantially identical to those of the unborn persons, the minor, the incapacitated person, or the person whose identity or location is unknown or not reasonably ascertainable;
(5) at any point in a proceeding, a court may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the interest of an unborn person, a minor, an incapacitated person, or a person whose identity or address is unknown or not reasonably ascertainable, if the court determines that representation of the interest otherwise would be inadequate; if not precluded by conflict of interests, a guardian ad litem may be appointed to represent several persons or interests; the court shall set out its reasons for appointing a guardian ad litem as a part of the record of the proceeding.
(b) In this section,
(1) “order” means a judicial order, a nonjudicial order, the result of the settlement of an account of a fiduciary under a procedure authorized by AS 13.06 - AS 13.36 or AS 13.38, and a settlement agreement resulting from a proceeding;
(2) “proceeding” means a judicial proceeding, a nonjudicial proceeding, the settlement of an account of a fiduciary under a procedure authorized by AS 13.06 - AS 13.36 or AS 13.38, and a settlement negotiation, even if the settlement negotiation does not involve a judicial or nonjudicial third party who decides or facilitates a settlement.