AS Title 13, Chapter 6: General Provisions, Definitions, and Probate Jurisdiction of Court

Chapter 06. General Provisions, Definitions, and Probate Jurisdiction of Court. Article 1. Short Title, Construction, General Provisions. Sec. 13.06.005. Short title. AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 shall be known and may be cited as the Uniform Probate Code. Sec. 13.06.010. Purposes; rule of construction. (a) AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 shall be liberally construed and applied to promote their underlying purposes and policies. (b) The underlying purposes and policies of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 are to (1) simplify and clarify the law concerning the affairs of decedents, missing persons, protected persons, minors, and incapacitated persons; (2) discover and make effective the intent of a decedent in distribution of the decedent's property; (3) promote a speedy and efficient system for liquidating the estate of the decedent and making distribution to the decedent's successors; (4) facilitate use and enforcement of certain trusts; and (5) make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions. Sec. 13.06.015. Supplementary general principles of law applicable. Unless displaced by the particular provisions of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , the principles of law and equity supplement those provisions. Sec. 13.06.020. Severability. If any provision of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 or their application to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 are declared to be severable. Sec. 13.06.025. Construction against implied repeal. AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 are intended to provide a unified coverage of their subject matter. No part of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 may be impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation if it can reasonably be avoided. Sec. 13.06.030. Effect of fraud and evasion; limitations. Whenever fraud has been perpetrated in connection with any proceeding or in any statement filed under AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 or if fraud is used to avoid or circumvent the provisions or purposes of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , any person injured thereby may obtain appropriate relief against the perpetrator of the fraud or restitution from any person, other than a bona fide purchaser, benefiting from the fraud, whether innocent or not. Any proceeding must be commenced within two years after the discovery of the fraud, but no proceeding may be brought against one not a perpetrator of the fraud later than five years after the time of commission of the fraud. This section has no bearing on remedies relating to fraud practiced on a decedent during the decedent's lifetime that affects the succession of the decedent's estate. Sec. 13.06.035. Evidence of death or status. In addition to the Alaska Rules of Evidence, the following rules relating to a determination of death and status apply: (1) death occurs when an individual has sustained either irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem; a determination of death shall be made under accepted medical standards; (2) a certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate purporting to be issued by an official or agency of the place where the death purportedly occurred is prima facie evidence of the fact, place, date, and time of death and the identity of the decedent; (3) a certified or authenticated copy of a record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that an individual is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima facie evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report; (4) in the absence of prima facie evidence of death under (2) or (3) of this section, the fact of death may be established by clear and convincing evidence, including circumstantial evidence; (5) an individual whose death is not established under (1) — (4) of this section and who is absent for a continuous period of five years, during which the individual has not been heard from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed to be dead; the individual's death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier; (6) in the absence of evidence disputing the time of death stated on a document described in (2) or (3) of this section, a document described in (2) or (3) of this section that states a time of death 120 hours or more after the time of death of another individual, however the time of death of the other individual is determined, establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the individual survived the other individual by at least 120 hours. Sec. 13.06.040. Acts by holder of general power. For the purpose of granting consent or approval with regard to the acts or accounts of a personal representative or trustee, including relief from liability or penalty for failure to post bond, to register a trust, or to perform other duties, and for purposes of consenting to modification or termination of a trust or to deviation from its terms, the sole holder or all co-holders of a presently exercisable general power of appointment, including one in the form of a power of amendment or revocation, are considered to act for beneficiaries to the extent their interests, as objects, takers in default, or otherwise, are subject to the power. Article 2. Definitions. Sec. 13.06.050. General definitions for AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 . Subject to additional definitions contained in AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 that are applicable to specific provisions of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , and unless the context otherwise requires, in AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , (1) “agent” means a person granted authority to act for a principal under a power of attorney or to whom an agent's authority is delegated, whether denominated an agent, attorney-in-fact, original agent, coagent, successor agent, or otherwise; (2) “application” means a written request to the registrar for an order of informal probate or appointment under AS 13.16.080 — 13.16.130; (3) “beneficiary,” as it relates to a trust beneficiary, includes a person who has a present or future interest, vested or contingent, and also includes the owner of an interest by assignment or other transfer; as it relates to a charitable trust, “beneficiary” includes a person entitled to enforce the trust; as it relates to a “beneficiary of a beneficiary designation,” “beneficiary” means a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of an account with payment on death designation under AS 13.33 , of a security registered in beneficiary form under AS 13.33 , or of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or of another nonprobate transfer at death; and, as it relates to a “beneficiary designated in a governing instrument,” “beneficiary” includes a grantee of a deed, a devisee, a trust beneficiary, a beneficiary of a beneficiary designation, a donee, appointee, or taker in default of a power of appointment, and a person in whose favor a power of attorney or a power held in an individual, fiduciary, or representative capacity is exercised; (4) “beneficiary designation” means a governing instrument naming a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of an account with payment on death designation under AS 13.33 , of a security registered in beneficiary form under AS 13.33 , or of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or of another nonprobate transfer at death; (5) “child” includes an individual entitled to take as a child under AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved, and excludes a person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild, or a more remote descendant; (6) “claims,” in respect to estates of decedents and protected persons, includes liabilities of the decedent or protected person, whether arising in contract, in tort, or in another way, and liabilities of the estate that arise at or after the death of the decedent or after the appointment of a conservator, including funeral expenses and expenses of administration; “claims” does not include estate or inheritance taxes, or demands or disputes regarding title of a decedent or protected person to specific assets alleged to be included in the estate; (7) “conservator” means a person who is appointed by a court to manage the estate of a protected person; (8) “court” means the superior court in this state; (9) “descendant” of an individual means all of the individual's descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definition of child and parent contained in AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 ; (10) “devise,” when used as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and, when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will; (11) “devisee” means a person designated in a will to receive a devise; in AS 13.16 , in the case of a devise to an existing trust or trustee, or to a trust or trustee described by will, the trust or trustee is the devisee and the beneficiaries are not devisees; (12) “disability” means a cause for a protective order as described in AS 13.26.401 ; (13) “distributee” means a person who has received property of a decedent from the decedent's personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser; “distributee” includes a testamentary trustee only to the extent of the distributed assets, or increment to the distributed assets, remaining in the hands of the testamentary trustee; “distributee” includes a beneficiary of a testamentary trust to whom the trustee has distributed property received from a personal representative; in this paragraph, “testamentary trustee” includes a trustee to whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets; (14) “durable,” with respect to a power of attorney, means not terminated by the principal's incapacity; in this paragraph, “incapacity” has the meaning given in AS 13.26.695 ; (15) “electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities; (16) “estate” includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration; (17) “exempt property” means the property of a decedent's estate that is described in AS 13.12.403 ; (18) “fiduciary” includes a personal representative, guardian, conservator, and trustee; (19) “foreign personal representative” means a personal representative appointed by another jurisdiction; (20) “formal proceedings” means proceedings conducted before a judge with notice to interested persons; (21) “governing instrument” means a deed, a will, a trust, an insurance or annuity policy, an account with payment on death designation under AS 13.33 , a security registered in beneficiary form under AS 13.33 , a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, an instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney, or a dispositive, appointive, or nominative instrument of a similar type; (22) “guardian” means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor or incapacitated person in accordance with testamentary or court appointment, but excludes a person who is merely a guardian ad litem; (23) “heir,” except as controlled by AS 13.12.711 , means a person, including the surviving spouse and the state, who is entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent; (24) “incapacitated person” has the meaning given in AS 13.26.005 ; (25) “informal proceedings” means those proceedings conducted without notice to interested persons by an officer of the court acting as a registrar for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative; (26) “interested person” includes heirs, devisees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries, and other persons having property rights in or claims against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward, or protected person; “interested person” also includes persons having priority for appointment as personal representative, and other fiduciaries representing interested persons; “interested person,” as it relates to particular persons, may vary from time to time and its meaning shall be determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter involved in, a proceeding; (27) “issue” of a person means a descendant under (9) of this section; (28) “joint tenants with the right of survivorship” includes co-owners of property held under circumstances that entitle one or more of the co-owners to the whole of the property on the death of one or more of the other co-owners, but excludes forms of co-ownership registration in which the underlying ownership of each party is in proportion to that party's contribution; (29) “lease” includes an oil, gas, or mineral lease; (30) “letters” includes letters testamentary, letters of guardianship, letters of administration, and letters of conservatorship; (31) “minor” means a person who is under 18 years of age; (32) “mortgage” means a conveyance, agreement, or arrangement in which property is encumbered or used as security; (33) “nonresident decedent” means a decedent who was domiciled in another jurisdiction at the time of the decedent's death; (34) “organization” means a corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, joint venture, association, government or governmental subdivision or agency, or another legal or commercial entity; (35) “parent” includes a person entitled to take, or who would be entitled to take if a child dies without a will, as a parent under AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question, and excludes a person who is only a stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent; (36) “payor” means a trustee, insurer, business entity, employer, government, governmental agency or subdivision, or another person authorized or obligated by law or a governing instrument to make payments; (37) “person” means an individual or an organization; (38) “personal representative” includes an executor, an administrator, a successor personal representative, a special administrator, and a person who performs substantially the same function under the law governing their status; “general personal representative” excludes a special administrator; (39) “petition” means a written request to the court for an order after notice; (40) “power of attorney” means a writing or other record that grants authority to an agent to act in the place of the principal, whether or not the term "power of attorney" is used; (41) “principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney; (42) “proceeding” includes an action at law and a suit in equity; (43) “property” means anything that may be the subject of ownership, and includes both real and personal property and an interest in real or personal property; (44) “protected person” has the meaning given in AS 13.26.005 ; (45) “protective proceeding” has the meaning given in AS 13.26.005 ; (46) “record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form; (47) “registrar” means the official of the court designated to perform the functions of registrar under AS 13.06.090 ; (48) “security” includes a note, a stock, a treasury stock, a bond, a debenture, an evidence of indebtedness, a certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas, or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under an oil, gas, or mining title or lease, a collateral trust certificate, a transferable share, a voting trust certificate, an interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or a certificate of interest or participation in, a temporary or interim certificate, receipt, or certificate of deposit for, or a warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, one of the items identified in this paragraph; (49) “settlement,” in reference to a decedent's estate, includes the full process of administration, distribution, and closing; (50) “sign” means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, (A) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or (B) to attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol, or process. (51) “special administrator” means a personal representative as described by AS 13.16.310 — 13.16.330; (52) “state” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; (53) “successor” means a person, other than a creditor, who is entitled to property of a decedent under the decedent's will or AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 ; (54) “successor personal representative” means a personal representative, other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal representative; (55) “supervised administration” refers to the proceedings described in AS 13.16.215 — 13.16.235; (56) “survive” means to not predecease an event, including the death of another individual, or to not be considered to predecease an event under AS 13.12.104 or 13.12.702; “survive” includes its derivatives, including “survives,” “survived,” “survivor,” and “surviving”; (57) “testacy proceeding” means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy; (58) “testator” includes an individual of either sex; (59) “trust” includes an express trust, private or charitable, with additions to the trust, wherever and however created; “trust” also includes a trust created or determined by judgment or decree under which the trust is to be administered in the manner of an express trust; “trust” excludes other constructive trusts, resulting trusts, conservatorships, personal representatives, trust accounts that are POD designation accounts under AS 13.33.201 — 13.33.227, custodial arrangements under AS 13.26 or AS 13.46 , business trusts providing for certificates to be issued to beneficiaries, common trust funds, voting trusts, security arrangements, liquidation trusts, trusts for the primary purpose of paying debts, dividends, interest, salaries, wages, profits, pensions, or employee benefits of any kind, and any arrangement under which a person is nominee or escrowee for another; (60) “trustee” includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by a court; (61) “ward” has the meaning given in AS 13.26.005 ; (62) “will” includes a codicil and a testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, revokes or revises another will, nominates a guardian, or expressly excludes or limits the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. Article 3. Scope, Jurisdiction, and Courts; Choice of Law and Validity. Sec. 13.06.060. Applicability. Except as otherwise provided in AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 apply to (1) the affairs and estates of decedents, missing persons, and persons to be protected, domiciled in this state; (2) the property of nonresidents located in this state or property coming into the control of a fiduciary who is subject to the laws of this state; (3) incapacitated persons and minors in this state; (4) survivorship and related accounts in this state; and (5) trusts subject to administration in this state. Sec. 13.06.065. Subject matter jurisdiction. To the full extent permitted by the constitution, the court has jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to (1) estates of decedents, including construction of wills and determination of heirs and successors of decedents, and estates of protected persons; (2) protection of minors and incapacitated persons; and (3) trusts. Sec. 13.06.068. Choice of law; validity. (a) Subject to the other provisions of this section, the formal validity, intrinsic validity, effect, interpretation, revocation, or alteration of a testamentary disposition of real property and the manner in which the property descends at death when not disposed of by will are determined by the law of the jurisdiction in which the land is situated. (b) Subject to the other provisions of this section, the intrinsic validity, effect, revocation, or alteration of a testamentary disposition of personal property and the manner in which the property devolves at death when not disposed of by will are determined by the law of the jurisdiction in which the decedent was domiciled at death. (c) A will disposing of personal property, wherever situated, or real property situated in this state made within or outside this state by a domiciliary or nondomiciliary of the state where the property is situated, is formally valid and admissible to probate in this state if the will is in writing and signed by the testator and otherwise executed and attested to under the local law of (1) this state; (2) the jurisdiction where the will was executed at the time of execution; or (3) the jurisdiction where the testator was domiciled, either at the time of execution or at death. (d) A testamentary disposition of personal property intrinsically valid under the law of the jurisdiction where the testator was domiciled when the will was executed is not affected by a subsequent change in the domicile of the testator to a jurisdiction under the law of which the disposition is intrinsically invalid. (e) The interpretation of a testamentary disposition of personal property shall be made under the local law of the jurisdiction where the testator was domiciled when the will was executed. (f) Whether a testamentary disposition of personal property is effectively revoked or altered by a subsequent testamentary instrument or by a physical act to or on the will by which the testamentary disposition was made is determined by the local law of the jurisdiction where the testator was domiciled when the subsequent instrument was executed or the physical act performed. (g) Subject to (d) — (f) of this section, the intrinsic validity, effect, revocation, or alteration of a testamentary disposition by which a power of appointment over personal property is exercised and the question of whether the power has been exercised at all are determined by (1) in the case of a presently exercisable general power of appointment, the local law of the jurisdiction where the donee of the power was domiciled at the time of death; (2) in the case of a general power of appointment exercisable by will alone or a special power of appointment, the local law of the jurisdiction (A) that the donor of the power expressly selected in the governing instrument to govern the disposition; or (B) where the donor of the power was domiciled at the time of death if the donor did not expressly select in the governing instrument a jurisdiction to govern the disposition. (h) The formal validity of a will by which a power of appointment over personal property is exercised is determined under (b) of this section on the basis that the testator referred to in (b) of this section is the donee of the power. (i) When a testator, who is not domiciled in this state at the time of death, provides in the testator's will that the testator elects to have the disposition of the testator's property situated in this state governed by the local law of this state, the intrinsic validity, including the testator's general capacity, effect, interpretation, revocation, or alteration of the provision, is determined by the local law of this state. The formal validity of the will is determined under (b) of this section. (j) Notwithstanding the definition of “real property,” as set out in (l) of this section, whether an estate in, leasehold of, fixture, mortgage, or other lien on land is real property governed by (a) of this section or personal property governed by (b) of this section is determined by the local law of the jurisdiction where the land is situated. (k) Notwithstanding the other provisions of AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , the provisions of this section govern in AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 . (l) In this section, (1) “effect” means the legal consequences attributed under the local law of a jurisdiction to a valid testamentary disposition; (2) “formal validity” means the formalities established by the local law of a jurisdiction for the execution and attestation of a will; (3) “interpretation” means the procedure of applying the law of a jurisdiction to determine the meaning of language employed by the testator if the testator's intention is not otherwise ascertainable; (4) “intrinsic validity” means the rules of substantive local law by which a jurisdiction determines the legality of a testamentary disposition, including the general capacity of the testator; (5) “local law” means the law that the courts of a jurisdiction apply when adjudicating legal questions that are not related to another jurisdiction; (6) “personal property” means property other than real property, and includes tangible and intangible property; (7) “real property” means land or an estate in land, and includes leaseholds, fixtures, and mortgages or other liens on land; (8) “testamentary disposition” means disposition under a will. Sec. 13.06.070. Venue; multiple proceedings; transfer. (a) Where a proceeding under AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 could be maintained in more than one place in this state, the court in which the proceeding is first commenced has the exclusive right to proceed. (b) If proceedings concerning the same estate, protected person, ward, or trust are commenced in more than one court of this state, the court in which the proceeding was first commenced shall continue to hear the matter, and the other courts shall hold the matter in abeyance until the question of venue is decided, and if the ruling court determines that venue is properly in another court, it shall transfer the proceeding to the other court. (c) If a court finds that in the interest of justice a proceeding or a file should be located in another court of this state, the court making the finding may transfer the proceeding or file to the other court. Sec. 13.06.080. Records and certified copies. The clerk of the court shall keep a record for each decedent, ward, protected person, or trust involved in any document that may be filed with the court under AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 , including petitions and applications, demands for notices or bonds, trust registrations, and of any orders or responses relating thereto by the registrar or court, and establish and maintain a system for indexing, filing, or recording that is sufficient to enable users of the records to obtain adequate information. Upon payment of the fees required by law, the clerk shall issue certified copies of any probated wills, letters issued to personal representatives, or any other record or paper filed or recorded. Certificates relating to probated wills must indicate whether the decedent was domiciled in this state and whether the probate was formal or informal. Certificates relating to letters must show the date of appointment. Sec. 13.06.085. Jury trial. (a) If duly demanded, a party is entitled to trial by jury in any proceeding in which any controverted question of fact arises as to which any party has a constitutional right to trial by jury. (b) If there is no right to trial by jury under (a) of this section or the right is waived, the court in its discretion may call a jury to decide any issue of fact, in which case the verdict is advisory only. Sec. 13.06.090. Performance of registrar's powers. The acts and orders that AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 specify as performable by the registrar may be performed either by a judge of the court or by a person, including the clerk, designated by the court by a written order filed and recorded in the office of the court. Sec. 13.06.100. Oath, affirmation, or statement included in filed documents. Except as otherwise specifically provided in AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 or by rule, every document filed with the court under AS 13.06 — AS 13.36 including applications, petitions, and demands for notice, shall be considered to include an oath, affirmation, or statement to the effect that its representations are true as far as the person executing or filing it knows or is informed, and penalties for perjury may follow deliberate falsification in the document. Article 4. Notice, Parties, and Representation. Sec. 13.06.110. Notice; method and time of giving. (a) If notice of a hearing on any petition is required and except for specific notice requirements as otherwise provided, the petitioner shall cause notice of the time and place of hearing of any petition to be given to any interested person or the person's attorney if the person has appeared by attorney or requested that notice be sent to the attorney. Notice shall be given (1) by mailing a copy of the notice at least 14 days before the time set for the hearing by certified, registered, or ordinary first-class mail addressed to the person being notified at the post office address given in the person's demand for notice, if any, or at the person's office or place of residence, if known; (2) by delivering a copy thereof to the person being notified personally at least 14 days before the time set for the hearing; or (3) if the address or identity of any person is not known and cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence, by publishing at least once a week for three consecutive weeks, a copy of the notice in a newspaper having general circulation in the judicial district where the hearing is to be held, the last publication of which is to be at least 10 days before the time set for the hearing. (b) The court for good cause shown may provide for a different method or time of giving notice for any hearing. (c) Proof of the giving of notice shall be made on or before the hearing and filed in the proceeding. Sec. 13.06.115. Notice; waiver. A person, including a guardian ad litem, conservator, or other fiduciary, may waive notice by a writing signed by the person or the person's attorney and filed in the proceeding. 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.