Rule 80.Bonds and Undertakings.

Except where a judge's approval is required by law, the clerk can approve bonds, undertakings, and security stipulations in the form and amount a statute or court order prescribes, when an approved surety company executes them. An individual surety must be an Alaska resident worth the specified amount above debts and exempt property (or, with more than two sureties, worth a proportionate share of double that amount), and no attorney, peace officer, clerk, or other court officer can serve as a surety; a corporate surety must comply with state law and be qualified to write bail. Each undertaking must include an affidavit from an individual surety attesting to these qualifications, or, for a corporate surety, an affidavit showing the signing agent's authority and the corporation's statutory compliance.

Sureties must furnish whatever information the approving judge or magistrate judge requires, and on three days' notice an adverse party can demand that an individual surety or a corporate surety's agent be examined under oath about their qualifications before a judge or magistrate judge with authority to approve or reject the bond — except that neither requirement applies to individual sureties for a bank or other financial institution regulated under Alaska law. Every bond or undertaking needs an attorney's certificate (where a party is represented) confirming the attorney reviewed it and finds it in proper form, plus a place for a judge or clerk's approval. By posting a bond or undertaking, a surety submits to the court's jurisdiction, appoints the clerk as agent for service of papers affecting the surety's liability, and can be pursued by motion instead of a separate lawsuit. A cash deposit in the required amount can substitute for a surety bond, made with a written instrument stating the deposit's terms, ownership, and consent to the same enforcement provisions, except that cash bail deposits instead follow the Alaska Court System's cash bond agreement.