Alaska Advance Health Care Directive

An Alaska advance health care directive is one statutory form with five parts. It lets you name an agent to make medical decisions, write down the care you want at the end of life, make an organ gift, give advance instructions on mental health treatment, and name your doctor. The form is titled "Advance Health Care Directive, Alaska Statutes 13.52", and one signature plus one witnessing rule covers all five parts.

Here is how we sourced this page. The Alaska Court System links the statutory form and its instructions from its self-help page "Practical Steps to Take Before Death". That booklet is dated January 2017 and was written by Alaska Legal Services Corporation. We read it on September 28, 2026, and every rule below comes from it, from a Court System form, or from the Alaska Department of Health. The Alaska Legislature's statute website did not answer our research requests, so we could not read the text of AS 13.52 itself or check it for amendments made after January 2017. Where the form is silent, this page says so rather than guessing. Use it as a plain-language map of the form, then have an Alaska attorney review what you sign. It is general information about Alaska law rather than advice about your situation.

The Five Parts at a Glance

The introduction to the form says you may complete or modify all or any part of it. It also says you are free to use a different form, as long as that form complies with the requirements of AS 13.52.

Signing: Two Witnesses or a Notary

Section 14 asks you to sign and date the directive. Section 15 then says the directive "will not be valid for making health care decisions" unless it is one of these:

1. Signed by two qualified adult witnesses who know you personally and who are present when you sign or acknowledge your signature.
2. Acknowledged before a notary public in the state. The notary block on the form is headed "State of Alaska" with a line for the judicial district.

You choose one route. A notarized Alaska directive needs no witnesses, and a properly witnessed one needs no notary.

Who cannot witness

Section 15(A) bars four people from serving as a witness:

• A health care provider employed at the facility where you are receiving health care.
• An employee of the health care provider who is providing health care to you.
• An employee of the facility where you are receiving health care.
• The person you appoint as your agent in the same document.

It adds a balance rule. At least one of the two witnesses may not be related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, and may not be entitled to a portion of your estate under your will or codicil. So the rule itself lets the second witness be a relative or an heir.

Each witness signs an oath under penalty of perjury under AS 11.56.200. The witness swears that you are personally known to them, that you signed or acknowledged the document in their presence, and that you appear to be of sound mind and under no duress, fraud or undue influence.

Watch the printed oath. In the Court System-hosted booklet, both witness oaths also recite that the witness is not related to you and does not inherit under your will. That wording goes further than the section 15 rule, which needs only one such witness. If you sign the booklet as printed, the simple path is two witnesses who can truthfully swear to every clause, or a notary.

Part 1: Naming a Health Care Agent

Section 1 names your agent, with an address and phone number. You may add a first alternate, who acts if you revoke the agent's authority or the agent is not willing, able or reasonably available, and a second alternate behind that person.

The introduction says you can choose just about any adult. It sets one limit: the agent may not be an owner, operator or employee of a health care facility where you are receiving care, unless that person is related to you. An agent also cannot be one of your witnesses under section 15.

What the agent can decide

Unless you limit the agent in section 2, the introduction says the agent can, to the extent allowed by law:

• Consent or refuse consent to any care, treatment, service or procedure, including starting or stopping psychotropic medication.
• Select or discharge health care providers and facilities.
• Approve or disapprove tests, surgery and programs of medication.
• Direct the provision, withholding or withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration and all other health care.
• Make an anatomical gift after your death.

Section 2 directs the agent to follow your instructions and other known wishes. Where those are unknown, the agent decides in your "best interest", meaning the benefits of a treatment outweigh its burdens after weighing seven factors the form lists: the effect on your physical, emotional and cognitive functions; pain or discomfort; severe and continuing impairment; life expectancy; prognosis with and without treatment; risks, side effects and benefits; and your religious beliefs and values. Section 4 adds that the agent considers your personal values to the extent the agent knows them.

When the agent's authority starts

Under section 3, the agent's authority starts only when a determination is made that you lack capacity, and it stops when a determination is made that you have recovered. Your primary physician makes that call, except for mental illness, where a court, your primary physician, or another health care provider in an emergency makes it. The introduction defines capacity as your ability to receive and evaluate information effectively and to make and communicate health care decisions.

Check the box in section 3 and the agent's authority takes effect immediately, even while you can still decide for yourself.

Your agent as guardian

Section 5 nominates your agent as guardian if a court ever needs to appoint one, then your alternates in order. The form says this nomination takes priority over any other nomination you made, including one in a separate general power of attorney. The form does not say whether a guardian's health care decision would override your agent's, and we found no Court System page that does. Read how a guardian and an agent interact before you rely on that nomination.

Part 2: Your Living Will Instructions

The form's introduction calls Part 2 the language frequently referred to as a living will. You can skip it and let your agent decide. If you fill it in, you may strike any wording you do not want and initial beside each strike.

Section 6 asks you to check one box:

• Choice to prolong life, as long as possible within generally accepted health care standards.
• Choice not to prolong life, meaning comfort care only, if your physician judges that you have a condition of permanent unconsciousness, a terminal condition, or both, depending on what you check.

The form defines both conditions in its own words. A terminal condition is an incurable or irreversible illness or injury that, without life-sustaining procedures, will result in death in a short period of time, with no reasonable prospect of recovery, that imposes severe pain or an inhumane burden, and for which those procedures provide only minimal medical benefit. Permanent unconsciousness is a condition that, to a high degree of medical certainty, will last without improvement, in which thought, sensation, purposeful action, social interaction and awareness are absent.

Part 2 also covers:

• Artificial nutrition and hydration: indefinitely; indefinitely unless it clearly increases your suffering; on a limited trial basis; none, in line with a comfort-care choice; or your own instructions.
• Relief from pain: adequate treatment at all times for the sole purpose of relieving pain or discomfort, or your own instructions.
• Pregnancy: a blank for what should happen if you become unconscious while pregnant.
• Other wishes in section 7, with room for conditions or limitations.

The introduction says you may give instructions on any aspect of your care to the extent allowed by law, but you may not authorize mercy killing, assisted suicide or euthanasia.

Part 3: Organ and Tissue Gifts

Section 8 lets you give any needed organs, tissues or body parts, or only the ones you list. You may limit the gift to transplant, therapy, research or education, or you may refuse to make a gift. Leave Part 3 blank and your agent decides at the time of your death.

Part 4: Mental Health Treatment

Alaska folds its mental health instructions into the same form, under the same signature and witnessing rule. Part 4 covers three topics:

• Psychotropic medications (section 9): consent or refusal, by medication, with conditions.
• Electroconvulsive treatment (section 10): consent or refusal.
• Admission to and retention in a mental health facility (section 11): consent for up to a number of days you write in, not to exceed 17, or refusal.

These instructions are followed only if a court, two physicians that include a psychiatrist, or a physician and a professional mental health clinician believe you are not competent and cannot make treatment decisions. Otherwise you are treated as able to give or withhold consent yourself.

Part 5: Naming Your Doctor

Section 12 lets you name the physician with main responsibility for your health care, plus an alternate if that doctor is not willing, able or reasonably available. The introduction notes this helps when you have a long-standing relationship with a doctor. It also matters because section 3 gives that physician the job of deciding when your agent steps in.

Copies, Changes and Revocation

Section 13 says a copy of the form has the same effect as the original. The booklet tells you to give copies to your doctor, other health care providers, any facility where you receive care, and every agent you name.

The introduction says you may revoke the directive or replace the form at any time, with one exception. You may not revoke it while you are determined "not competent" by a court, by two physicians (at least one a psychiatrist), or by a physician and a professional mental health clinician. The form does not say how to revoke. It is silent on whether a spoken statement is enough or whether you must sign something. If you change your mind, sign a new directive and hand the new copy to everyone who held the old one, and ask an Alaska attorney about the right way to revoke.

If You Never Sign a Directive

Alaska law lets a surrogate decide. Court System form PG-525 (12/23) says that if no guardian and no agent for health care decisions has been appointed or is available, and the primary physician of an adult patient determines that the adult lacks capacity, a "surrogate" can make health care decisions, as described in AS 13.52.030.

No Court System or Department of Health page we could read says who may act as surrogate or in what order. We could not read AS 13.52.030 itself, so we will not print a family ranking. If a relative is in the hospital with no directive, ask the treating provider who it will accept as surrogate under that section.

For a life-threatening emergency, PG-525 lists a second option. If no guardianship petition is pending, the court may authorize emergency life-saving services over the telephone, as described in Probate Rule 18 and AS 13.26.301(f).

DNR Orders and Alaska POLST

A directive states your wishes. A medical order tells emergency staff what to do. The Court System-hosted form says a separate form governs Do Not Resuscitate orders and that only a doctor or other health care provider can issue one. The booklet pointed readers to the Comfort One program, but that 2017 web address now redirects to the Division of Public Health home page, so we do not treat Comfort One as current.

The Alaska Department of Health's Office of EMS page describes Alaska POLST instead. It calls a POLST a medical order that outlines a patient's preferences for life-sustaining treatments, and says Alaska POLST is the state's participating program of the National POLST, led by health care partners that include the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association and the Department of Health. Ask your doctor about a POLST if you are seriously ill. It does not replace the directive.

What the Form Does Not Answer

Because the statute text was out of reach, a few questions stay open on this page:

• The section numbers inside AS 13.52, other than AS 13.52.030 as cited on PG-525.
• Who may serve as surrogate, and in what order.
• How a directive is revoked.
• Whether a court-appointed guardian outranks your agent.
• Whether Alaska honors a directive signed in another state.
• Whether AS 13.52 changed after January 2017.

An Alaska attorney can answer each of these from the current statute.

Where This Sits in an Alaska Plan

Most Alaska adults need two lifetime documents: this directive for medical decisions, and the financial power of attorney, which is a separate statutory form with its own rules. Neither one controls what happens to your property after death. For wills, trusts and the rest of the document set, start with the other planning documents.

Next steps:

1. Pick an agent and two alternates, and talk each of them through your wishes.
2. Fill in the Court System-hosted form, or have a lawyer draft one that complies with AS 13.52.
3. Sign before two qualified adult witnesses, at least one unrelated to you and not in your will, or before a notary in Alaska.
4. Give copies to your doctor, your agents and any facility treating you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does an Alaska advance health care directive have to be notarized?

No. A notary is one of two ways to make the form valid. Section 15 of the Alaska statutory form says the directive will not be valid for making health care decisions unless it is either signed by two qualified adult witnesses or acknowledged before a notary public in the state. Pick one route. A notarized form needs no witnesses.

Who can witness an Alaska advance directive?

Two adults who know you personally and watch you sign or acknowledge your signature. Section 15 of the form bars a health care provider employed where you are receiving care, an employee of the provider treating you, an employee of the facility where you are receiving care, and the person you name as agent. At least one of the two witnesses must also be unrelated to you by blood, marriage or adoption and must not inherit under your will or codicil.

Can my health care agent in Alaska work at my hospital?

Only if the agent is related to you. The introduction to the Court System-hosted Alaska form says your agent may not be an owner, operator or employee of a health care facility where you are receiving care unless that person is related to you. The agent also cannot sign as one of your witnesses.

When does my Alaska health care agent start making decisions?

When your primary physician determines you lack capacity, unless you check the box in section 3 of the form that makes the agent's authority start right away. The authority stops when a determination is made that you have recovered capacity. For mental illness, the form says a court, your primary physician, or another health care provider in an emergency makes the determination.

Who makes medical decisions in Alaska if I never signed a directive?

A surrogate can. Alaska Court System form PG-525 says that if no guardian and no health care agent has been appointed or is available, and the primary physician of an adult patient determines that adult lacks capacity, a surrogate can make health care decisions, as described in AS 13.52.030. No Court System page we could read says who may serve as surrogate or in what order, so ask the treating provider how it applies that section.

How long can an Alaska directive consent to a mental health facility stay?

Up to 17 days. Part 4 of the Alaska form lets you consent in advance to admission to a mental health facility for a number of days you write in, and the form caps that number at 17. Part 4 instructions apply only if a court, two physicians including a psychiatrist, or a physician and a professional mental health clinician believe you are not competent to decide.

Is a POLST the same as an advance directive in Alaska?

No. The Alaska Department of Health describes a POLST as a medical order that outlines a patient's preferences for life-sustaining treatments, and Alaska POLST is the state's participating program of the National POLST. The Court System-hosted directive form also says Do Not Resuscitate orders run on a separate form that only a doctor or other health care provider can issue. Your directive and a POLST work side by side.

Related Guides

• Alaska estate planning covers the will, trust and other documents that sit beside this one.
• Alaska power of attorney covers the financial document, which runs on a separate statutory form.
• Alaska guardianship planning covers what a court does when no agent was named or the agent cannot serve.

Sources:

• Title: Advance Health Care Directive, Alaska Statutes 13.52 (statutory form and instructions). Publisher: Alaska Legal Services Corporation, hosted by the Alaska Court System. Publication Date: January 2017, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://courts.alaska.gov/shc/family/docs/aahc-directive.doc
• Title: Practical Steps to Take Before Death. Publisher: Alaska Court System. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://courts.alaska.gov/shc/probate/before-death.htm
• Title: PG-525, Instructions: How to Ask the Court to Appoint a Temporary Guardian in an Emergency (Designation or Assumption of Authority to Make Health Care Decisions by a Surrogate, citing AS 13.52.030). Publisher: Alaska Court System. Publication Date: 12/23, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://public.courts.alaska.gov/web/forms/docs/pg-525.pdf
• Title: Alaska Emergency Medical Services, Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). Publisher: Alaska Department of Health. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://health.alaska.gov/en/division-of-public-health/rural-community-health/emergency-medical-services-ems/

It is not legal advice.