Your state’s pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. Bookmark it. I built this for the Alaska T&E solo who knows the Uniform Probate Code (Alaska’s AS Title 13) cold but still loses an afternoon a week hunting the current homestead number, the Long Term Care Medicaid (Alaska DOH) waiver posture, whether the latest Alaska Bar Association ethics opinion changes how you scope an engagement, or whether a recent Court of Appeals of Alaska decision just moved the law on capacity, undue influence, or a trustee’s duties. What’s below is what mattered in Alaska lately — the week’s developments and the recent rulings from the bench.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments from the last seven days that I think actually matter to a Alaska T&E solo. Each one has a read that lands on your practice specifically — and each one comes with the citation so you can verify the detail yourself before you use it with a client.
Per the opinion, Alaska Bar Ethics Opinion 2025-1 (adopted Apr. 23, 2025) addresses generative AI under the Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct: competence and diligence (ARPC 1.1/1.3 — verify AI output, account for hallucination risk), confidentiality (1.6 — review data-retention terms, anonymize inputs), client communication (1.2/1.4), fees (1.5 — no duplicate or inflated charges; you can’t bill the client to learn the tool), and supervision (5.1/5.3/8.4).
For an Alaska solo, this is the controlling ethics authority for any AI-assisted work: verify every AI-generated citation against the primary source, screen client confidential information out of tool inputs, and keep fees honest — the opinion is explicit that you cannot bill a client for your own time learning the software. If you have adopted an AI tool, square your verification, confidentiality, and billing practices with EO 2025-1 now.
Alaska Bar Ethics Opinion 2025-1 (adopted Apr. 23, 2025) · alaskabar.org · 2025-1
Per the Alaska Legislature’s bill record, SB 104 (34th Leg., 2025–26) — “Vehicles/Boats: Transfer on Death Title” — passed the Senate 20–0 (March 9, 2026) and the House 40–0 (May 16, 2026) and became law without the governor’s signature on June 18, 2026 as Chapter 12 SLA 2026, with an effective date tied to passage. It authorizes a transfer-on-death title for titled vehicles and boats (and addresses the transferability of common-interest-community ownership interests), so those assets can now pass to a named beneficiary outside probate — reaching property Alaska’s existing TOD framework under AS 13.48 did not.
For an Alaska solo, this is a new, currently-effective planning tool. A client’s car, truck, or boat no longer has to run through the estate or a nonprobate workaround — it can carry a TOD title to a named beneficiary. Add the TOD-title option to your titling checklist for clients with vehicles or vessels, and confirm the DMV’s implementing procedure before you rely on it for a specific client’s plan.
Alaska SB 104, ch. 12 SLA 2026 (became law June 18, 2026) · akleg.gov · SB 104
Per the Alaska Department of Health long-term-care Medicaid materials, the 2026 figures are an individual income cap of $2,982/mo (300% of the Federal Benefit Rate — Alaska is an income-cap state) and an asset limit of $2,000 for a single applicant ($3,000 for both spouses). The LTC line is Long Term Care Medicaid (Non-MAGI / Aged, Blind & Disabled); “DenaliCare” is the Medicaid card brand, not a separate LTC program.
For an Alaska solo screening a long-term-care plan, these are the numbers to apply this year: the $2,982 income cap is a hard cutoff in an income-cap state, so a client over it needs the right planning vehicle rather than a share-of-cost path, and the $2,000 single asset limit drives the spend-down math. Reconfirm the exact DOH figure at each refresh, and don’t let the “DenaliCare” card name mislead a client into thinking it is the LTC program.
Alaska DOH — Long Term Care Medicaid eligibility (2026) · health.alaska.gov · senior & disabilities services
Decisions that bind a Alaska practitioner — Alaska’s appellate courts and the federal courts covering Alaska, including the U.S. Ninth Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
This lane reads each new opinion from Alaska’s appellate courts and the federal courts covering Alaska (Ninth Circuit) before anything lands here, and reads-and-discards matters that aren’t trusts-and-estates — criminal, family, commercial/LLC fiduciary, tax, and cases where an estate or trust is only a party. For this period’s trailing window, no new verified trusts-and-estates or estate-recovery decision from those courts was identified in the sources reviewed.
Nothing to re-paper from the bench this period; controlling authority is unchanged. When the next verified T&E ruling issues, it lands here with the holding and the official cite.
Controlling authority unchanged · Alaska appellate courts · U.S. Ninth Circuit.
This week in Alaska for the T&E solo with Alaska Medicaid (DenaliCare / Long Term Care Medicaid) clients: the developments from the Alaska Bar Association (Estate Planning & Probate Law Section) and the Alaska Department of Health that actually moved your practice this period — each one primary-source verified.
Bar and Medicaid changes land on different schedules and aren't indexed by practice focus. Every item here was checked against its primary source, with the link, so you can verify before relying on it.