Support your loved ones after you’re gone.

Planning for the future isn’t just prudent; it’s an act of love. At Barlow Anderson, LLC, we understand the importance of securing your legacy and providing for your loved ones. Our comprehensive estate planning services give you peace of mind, ensuring your assets are protected and your wishes are honored when it matters most.

Meet Our Anchorage Estate Planning Attorneys

At Barlow Anderson, LLC, your estate plan is guided by founding partners Nora G. Barlow and Leonard R. Anderson. Nora and Leonard bring years of experience in estate planning, probate, and guardianship, while Leonard serves on Alaska’s Probate Rules Committee. Together, they bring a personal, relationship-driven approach to every Anchorage family they serve.

What is Estate Planning?

Estate planning empowers you to make important decisions today that will affect your family tomorrow. It’s the process of organizing your financial and personal affairs to manage your estate during your lifetime and after your passing.

Through carefully crafted legal documents, you determine how your assets should be distributed, who will manage your affairs, and how your healthcare decisions should be handled if you become unable to do so yourself.

Estate Planning Built for Life in Anchorage and Across Alaska

Estate planning in Anchorage looks different from what it does almost anywhere else in the country. Many of our clients hold assets that simply do not exist in the Lower 48, from remote cabins reachable only by plane to fishing permits, mineral interests, and Alaska Native corporation shares.

Each of these assets carries its own rules for ownership and inheritance, and a one-size-fits-all estate plan rarely accounts for them. Nora G. Barlow and Leonard R. Anderson build plans around the realities of Alaskan life, so nothing you have worked for falls through the cracks. Working with an Anchorage estate planning attorney ensures your plan is comprehensive.

Anchorage is also home to thousands of military families stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Frequent relocations, deployments, and survivor benefit considerations create estate planning needs that demand careful attention.

We help service members and their spouses put protections in place before a PCS move or deployment, ensuring powers of attorney, guardianship designations, and beneficiary designations are current and enforceable.

Whether you have lived in Anchorage your entire life or arrived last year, your estate plan should reflect where you live, what you own, and the people who depend on you. An estate planning attorney can make sure nothing is overlooked.

Our Estate Planning Services

Last Will and Testament

Your will is a cornerstone of your estate plan, your voice when you can no longer speak for yourself. We help you draft a clear, legally binding will that specifies your exact wishes for the distribution of assets, appointment of a personal representative (executor), and guardianship of minor children. A properly drafted will ensures your final wishes are respected and provides crucial guidance to your loved ones during a difficult time.

Revocable Living Trusts

For individuals and couples seeking comprehensive estate planning that goes beyond a will, a revocable living trust offers significant advantages. This powerful tool allows you to maintain control of your assets during your lifetime while providing seamless management if you become incapacitated.

Unlike a will, assets properly funded into your trust avoid probate entirely, saving your loved ones’ time, expense, and public proceedings.

Your trust can include detailed instructions for asset management and distribution, providing:

• Privacy protection for your financial affairs and beneficiaries
• Flexibility to modify terms as your circumstances change
• Continuity of management during incapacity without court intervention
• Simplified asset transfer to beneficiaries without delays or court costs
• Consolidation of assets under one cohesive plan, especially valuable for property owned in multiple states
• Protection for minor children through structured distributions and professional management
• Peace of mind knowing your affairs are organized and your wishes clearly documented

Whether established individually or jointly with a spouse, a revocable living trust serves as the cornerstone of a well-designed estate plan that protects what matters most to you.

Trust Funding Services

Establishing a revocable living trust is only the first step in your estate planning journey. Without proper funding, your trust remains an empty vessel, unable to fulfill its intended purpose.

Our comprehensive trust funding services ensure your assets are properly transferred into your trust, activating the protections and benefits you’ve established.

Our experienced team will:

• Conduct a thorough inventory of your assets and determine optimal funding strategies
• Prepare and file all necessary deeds for real estate transfers
• Advise you ssist withon retitling vehicles, boats, and other titled property
• Guide you through changing beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts
• HelpProvide information on transferring financial accounts, stocks, and investment portfolios
• Document personal property transfers through assignment schedules
• Provide clear instructions for handling future assets
• Perform follow-up reviews (as requested) to verify proper funding and address any oversights

Trust funding is a critical but often overlooked aspect of estate planning. Our meticulous approach ensures probate avoidance and implements incapacity planning provided by your trust.

We’ll handle the complex paperwork and processes, giving you confidence that your estate plan will work as designed when your loved ones need it most.

Powers of Attorney

Who would you trust to make decisions if you couldn’t? A durable power of attorney allows you to appoint someone you trust to make financial and legal decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated.

Without this essential document, your loved ones may face court proceedings to gain authority over your affairs, resulting in delays, expenses, and potential conflicts.

Our comprehensive durable powers of attorney ensure your financial affairs continue to be managed according to your wishes, even when you cannot express them.

We carefully craft these documents to:

• Grant specific powers tailored to your unique situation
• Include clear guidelines that reflect your preferences and values
• Provide seamless authority that activates precisely when needed
• Coordinate seamlessly with your other estate planning documents

By thoughtfully selecting your agent and drafting a power of attorney now, you protect your autonomy and provide clear direction when it matters most, giving you and your loved ones peace of mind during difficult times.

Healthcare Directives

Your medical care should always reflect your values and wishes, even when you cannot speak for yourself. In Alaska, the statutory Advanced Healthcare Directive is a powerful legal document that lets you express your medical treatment preferences and appoint someone to advocate for your healthcare decisions when you can’t communicate.

1. Healthcare Power of Attorney: Designates your chosen representative to make medical decisions based on your known wishes
2. Living Will Instructions: Clearly documents your preferences regarding life-sustaining treatments and end-of-life care
3. Personal Values Statement: Allows you to communicate your beliefs and priorities to guide your healthcare agent

We take time to understand your values, beliefs, and preferences, translating them into clear, legally binding instructions that Alaska healthcare providers recognize and respect. Our process ensures your directive accurately reflects your wishes while meeting all legal requirements for validity in our state. By creating this essential document now, you provide both guidance to your healthcare team and peace of mind for your loved ones during difficult times.

Guardianship Designations for Minor Children

Your children deserve care from someone you trust. If you have minor children, naming a guardian in your estate plan ensures they will be cared for by people you’ve personally selected if the unthinkable happens.

Without proper guardianship designations, a court might appoint someone you wouldn’t have chosen, creating uncertainty during an already difficult time.

We guide you through the thoughtful process of selecting and legally designating guardians who will nurture your children’s future if you’re unable to do so.

Our approach helps you:

• Consider important factors beyond family relationships, including parenting values, stability, and location
• Designate both immediate and long-term guardians to ensure continuous care
• Address financial provisions to support your children’s upbringing
• Document your reasoning to provide clarity for family members and the court
• Create backup appointments in case your first choice is unable to serve
• Include specific guidance on your children’s education, religious upbringing, and other values important to you

By making these crucial decisions now, you provide a roadmap for your children’s care that reflects your deepest wishes and values, giving you peace of mind that they’ll be in loving, capable hands no matter what the future holds.

Special Needs Planning

Ensure lifetime care for vulnerable loved ones. Thoughtful estate planning is essential to ensure the well-being and financial security of family members with special needs. We help establish special needs trusts that provide for a child or adult with a disability without jeopardizing their eligibility for essential government benefits.

Properly managed assets within these specialized trusts ensure ongoing care and financial stability, reflecting your wishes even after you’re gone.

Disposition of Remains

Deciding what happens to your body after death is one of the most personal choices in an estate plan, and Alaska law lets you put that choice in writing. Under Alaska’s Disposition of Human Remains statute, you can sign a disposition document that names an agent to carry out your wishes for burial, cremation, or other final arrangements.

Your disposition document can name successor agents in case your first choice is unavailable, and it can include specific instructions, from where you wish to be buried to your preferences on cremation. Without this document in place, Alaska law follows a set order of who may decide on your behalf, beginning with a spouse and moving through other family members, which may not match your actual wishes.

We prepare your disposition document alongside your will, trust, and healthcare directives, so your final wishes are documented clearly and your family is spared additional uncertainty during a difficult time.

Alaska’s Unique Estate Planning Advantages

Alaska is widely regarded as one of the most favorable states in the nation for estate planning, and residents who fail to take advantage of these opportunities often leave significant benefits on the table. Working with an estate planning attorney in Anchorage ensures your plan reflects Alaska’s unique rules.

No State Estate, Inheritance, or Income Tax

Alaska imposes no state estate tax, no inheritance tax, and no personal income tax. For most families, this means planning focuses on the federal exemption and smart structuring, making Alaska an exceptionally efficient place to hold and transfer wealth. An estate planning lawyer can help you structure your assets to take full advantage of these benefits.

Optional Community Property for Married Couples

Alaska is unique in allowing married couples to opt in to community property treatment through a community property agreement or trust. Structured correctly, this election can provide a full step-up in basis at the first spouse’s death, potentially eliminating substantial capital gains tax.

This is a powerful but technical tool, and whether it makes sense depends on your assets, your marriage, and your long-term goals. Our Anchorage estate planning lawyer guides clients through the tradeoffs before any commitments are made.

Alaska Asset Protection Trusts

Alaska was the first state to authorize self-settled asset protection trusts, which let you place assets in an irrevocable trust, remain a discretionary beneficiary, and shield those assets from many future creditor claims.

For physicians, business owners, and other professionals with liability exposure, an Alaska asset protection trust can be a valuable layer of defense when established properly and well in advance of any claim. Your attorney can ensure it’s structured correctly to protect your assets.

Transfer on Death Deeds

Alaska law also permits transfer-on-death deeds, which allow real property to pass directly to a named beneficiary outside of probate. We can advise you on whether a TOD deed fits your situation or whether a trust offers stronger protection, with the help of an Experienced Anchorage estate planning attorney.

What Happens If You Pass Away Without an Estate Plan in Alaska?

If you die without a valid will or trust, Alaska’s intestate succession statutes decide who inherits your property, not you. The court distributes Yyour estate will be distributed according to a rigid formula based on family relationships, and the outcome frequently surprises families.

Depending on your circumstances, your surviving spouse may be required to share your estate with your parents or with children from a prior relationship. Unmarried partners, stepchildren, close friends, and charities receive nothing under intestacy.

Dying without a plan also means the court selects your personal representative if a dispute exists, and a judge who has never met your family decides who raises your minor children. Probate becomes longer, more expensive, and more contentious than it needs to be.

A thoughtfully prepared estate plan replaces that uncertainty with your own clear instructions. It is one of the most meaningful gifts you can leave the people you love.

Estate Planning for Anchorage Business Owners

If you own a business, your estate plan and your business plan are inseparable. As a firm that practices both estate planning and business law, Barlow Anderson is uniquely positioned to protect everything you have built on both fronts. Working with an estate planning lawyer in Anchorage ensures your business interests and personal assets are coordinated seamlessly.

Without a succession plan, the death or incapacity of an owner can paralyze a company. Bank accounts may freeze, contracts may stall, and partners or family members may end up in court instead of running the business. Our coordinated planning may include:

• Buy-sell agreements that establish a clear, funded path for ownership transitions, guided by an estate planning lawyer in Anchorage
• Operating agreement and bylaw provisions that address death, disability, and divorce with oversight from an Anchorage estate planning lawyer
• Trust structures that hold business interests and provide continuity of management, designed by an Anchorage estate planning attorney
• Powers of attorney drafted to keep the business operating during incapacity
• Succession roadmaps that prepare the next generation or key employees to lead

Whether you run a professional practice, a construction company, a fishing operation, or a family business that has spanned generations, we make sure the enterprise you built survives beyond you. Partnering with the right estate planning attorney ensures nothing is overlooked in both your business and personal planning.

Planning for Blended Families and Unmarried Couples

Modern families rarely fit the mold that default inheritance laws were written for. If you have remarried, have children from a prior relationship, or share your life with a partner you never married, careful planning is essential.

For blended families, the central challenge is balance: providing for your current spouse while guaranteeing your children ultimately receive their inheritance. Trust structures can give your spouse lifetime security while preserving the remainder for your children.

For unmarried couples, the stakes are even higher. Alaska law gives an unmarried partner no automatic inheritance rights and no authority to make medical or financial decisions for you.

Without wills, trusts, healthcare directives, and powers of attorney naming each other, committed partners can be treated as legal strangers at the worst possible moment. We help you put documents in place that protect the relationship you have actually built.

Protecting Your Digital Assets

Your estate is no longer just your home, vehicles, and bank accounts. Email accounts, cloud photo libraries, social media profiles, cryptocurrency, online banking, and digital business assets all have real financial and sentimental value, and they are easy to lose.

Alaska has adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which allows you to legally authorize your personal representative or trustee to manage your digital accounts. Without that authorization, even your spouse may be locked out by privacy laws and platform terms of service.

We incorporate digital asset provisions into your will, trust, and powers of attorney, and we help you create a practical inventory so your loved ones can locate and secure what matters.

When Should You Update Your Estate Plan?

An estate plan is not a document you sign once and forget. It is a living framework that should evolve with your life. We recommend a review every three to five years, and sooner after a significant life event, such as:

• Marriage, divorce, or remarriage
• The birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
• The death or incapacity of a spouse, beneficiary, or named fiduciary
• A significant change in assets, such as buying property, selling a business, or receiving an inheritance
• A move to or from Alaska, since estate planning laws vary by state
• Changes in federal tax law that affect your exemption planning
• A child reaching adulthood or developing special needs

Many Anchorage families come to us with documents drafted decades ago, in another state, or before major changes in their family. We review existing plans carefully and recommend only the updates that are genuinely needed.

Common Estate Planning Mistakes We Help You Avoid

After decades of guiding Alaskan families through probate and trust administration, our attorneys have seen firsthand how small oversights create large problems. The mistakes we encounter most often include:

• Relying on do-it-yourself documents that fail to meet Alaska’s legal requirements
• Creating a trust but never funding it, leaving assets stuck in probate
• Outdated beneficiary designations that contradict the will or trust
• Naming only one fiduciary with no backup if that person cannot serve
• Overlooking incapacity planning and focusing only on what happens after death
• Failing to coordinate retirement accounts and life insurance with the overall plan
• Never telling loved ones where documents are located or what to do first

Each of these errors is preventable. Our process is designed to catch them before they ever become your family’s problem.

Why Choose Barlow Anderson?

At Barlow Anderson, LLC, we don’t just prepare documents; we build relationships. Our dedicated team provides personalized and effective estate planning services tailored to your unique needs and goals.

Our compassionate and knowledgeable attorneys take the time to understand your wishes, concerns, and family dynamics to develop a comprehensive plan that truly protects your assets and provides for your loved ones.

Planning for the future can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to navigate it alone.

Start Securing Your Family’s Future Today

The hardest part of estate planning is simply beginning. Once you do, most clients tell us the process was far easier and far more reassuring than they expected.

From our office on L Street in downtown Anchorage, Nora G. Barlow, Leonard R. Anderson, and the team at Barlow Anderson, LLC serve individuals, families, and business owners throughout Anchorage and across Alaska. Working with an Anchorage estate planning attorney ensures that your plan reflects your family, assets, and goals.

Your first consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. We listen to your goals, answer your questions in plain language, and recommend a plan that fits your family, your assets, and your budget.

Call Barlow Anderson, LLC today at (907) 375-0750 or message us to schedule your estate planning consultation. The peace of mind you are looking for starts with a single phone call.