Alaska TROs and injunctions: 10 days, a bond in almost every case, and a surety who has already consented to jurisdiction
Alaska procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Alaska's injunction rule is close to the federal original, with three differences worth planning around: a 10-day cap on a TRO granted without notice, a security requirement written as a near-absolute, and a surety provision that lets you enforce the bond by motion rather than by suing on it.
A preliminary injunction always requires notice
Rule 65(a)(1) is one sentence:
No preliminary injunction shall be issued without notice to the adverse party.
No exception. If you need relief before the other side can be heard, the vehicle is a temporary restraining order.
Rule 65(a)(2) — consolidation. Before or after the hearing begins, the court may order the trial on the merits advanced and consolidated with the hearing. Even without consolidation, "any evidence received upon an application for a preliminary injunction which would be admissible upon the trial on the merits becomes part of the record on the trial and need not be repeated." The subdivision is to be construed "as to save the parties any rights they may have to trial by jury."
Evidence you put in at the injunction hearing is in for trial. That cuts both ways, and it is worth deciding deliberately rather than discovering afterwards.
A TRO without notice: two showings, 10 days
Rule 65(b) permits a temporary restraining order without written or oral notice only if:
(1) it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the applicant before the adverse party or that party's attorney can be heard in opposition, and (2) the applicant's attorney certifies to the court in writing the efforts, if any, which have been made to give the notice and the reasons supporting the claim that notice should not be required.
Both. The certificate is a separate document from the affidavit, and it is the applicant's attorney who signs it.
Every TRO granted without notice must:
- be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance;
- be filed forthwith in the clerk's office and entered of record;
- define the injury and state why it is irreparable and why the order was granted without notice; and
- expire by its terms within such time after entry, not to exceed 10 days, as the court fixes.
Ten days, where Federal Rule 65(b)(2) and Washington's CR 65(b) both allow 14. Alaska kept the older, shorter period.
It may be extended "for a like period" for good cause shown, with the reasons entered of record, or for longer if the restrained party consents.
Prosecute the injunction, or lose the order
In case a temporary restraining order is granted without notice, the motion for a preliminary injunction shall be set down for hearing at the earliest possible time and takes precedence of all matters except older matters of the same character; and when the motion comes on for hearing the party who obtained the temporary restraining order shall proceed with the application for a preliminary injunction and, if the party does not do so, the court shall dissolve the temporary restraining order.
Taking the TRO obliges you to prosecute the injunction. Failing to proceed does not delay matters; it dissolves the order.
Two days' notice to dissolve
On two days' notice to the party who obtained the temporary restraining order without notice or on such shorter notice to that party as the court may prescribe, the adverse party may appear and move its dissolution or modification and in that event the court shall proceed to hear and determine such motion as expeditiously as the ends of justice require.
Two days is the floor, and the court can shorten it. This is the fastest motion in the Alaska civil rules, and it runs on behalf of the restrained party.
Security: required, with two exemptions
Rule 65(c):
No restraining order or preliminary injunction shall issue except upon the giving of security by the applicant, in such sum as the court deems proper, for the payment of such costs and damages as may be incurred or suffered by any party who is found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained.
The court fixes the sum; the requirement itself is not framed as discretionary. Federal Rule 65(c) says "in an amount that the court considers proper," and federal courts routinely set that at zero. Alaska's text says no order shall issue except upon the giving of security.
Who is exempt:
- the state or a municipality, or an officer or agency of either;
- "unless otherwise ordered by the court, in domestic relations actions or proceedings."
The second exemption is a default rather than an absolute — the court can order security in a domestic relations case if it chooses.
Plan on posting a bond, and budget for it before you file.
The surety provision
The rest of Rule 65(c) is where Alaska does something useful:
A surety upon a bond or undertaking under this rule submits to the jurisdiction of the court and irrevocably appoints the clerk of the court as the surety's agent upon whom any papers affecting the surety's liability on the bond or undertaking may be served. The surety's liability may be enforced on motion without the necessity of an independent action. The motion and such notice of the motion as the court prescribes may be served on the clerk of the court, who shall forthwith mail copies to the persons giving the security if their addresses are known.
Four consequences follow from posting a bond in Alaska:
- the surety is before the court for purposes of the bond;
- service on the surety is accomplished through the clerk;
- liability is enforced by motion, not by a separate lawsuit; and
- the clerk forwards copies to the surety where the address is known.
A party wrongfully enjoined therefore has a fast route to the bond. Washington reaches the same place through a separate rule, CR 65.1; Alaska builds it into Rule 65(c).
What the order must say
Rule 65(d): every order granting an injunction and every restraining order shall
- set forth the reasons for its issuance;
- be specific in terms; and
- describe in reasonable detail, and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act or acts sought to be restrained.
An order that says "defendant is enjoined as prayed for in the complaint" fails on its face. The proposed order has to stand alone.
Who is bound: the parties, their officers, agents, servants, employees and attorneys, "and upon those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise."
Standing injunctions in domestic relations cases
Rule 65(e) has no counterpart in the federal rules. The presiding judge of each judicial district may issue a standing injunction restraining the parties in all domestic relations actions — except dissolutions, domestic violence actions and uniform reciprocal enforcement actions — from, among other things:
(1) removing any child who is the subject of the action from the State of Alaska without the written consent of the other party; (2) disposing of, encumbering or transferring any marital property without the written consent of the other party, except reasonably using funds for the parties or the parties' children's personal and necessary expenses; and (3) threatening, harassing, or harming the other party.
A standing injunction operates without anyone applying for it. If you practice family law in Alaska, the relevant district's standing order is part of the case from the moment it is filed.
How Alaska compares
| Alaska | Washington | Oregon | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary injunction without notice | never | never | per ORCP 79 | never |
| TRO without notice | yes, on two showings | yes, on two showings | per ORCP 79 | yes, on two showings |
| Maximum duration | 10 days | 14 days | per ORCP 79 | 14 days |
| Extension | like period, good cause, or consent | like period, good cause, or consent | per ORCP 79 | 14 days, or consent |
| Notice to move for dissolution | 2 days | 2 days | per ORCP 79 | 2 days |
| Security | required except state, municipality, and domestic relations by default | required except by statute | per ORCP 82 | amount the court considers proper |
| Surety enforceable by motion | yes, in Rule 65 itself | yes — CR 65.1 | per ORCP 82 | Rule 65.1 |
| Standing injunctions | yes — domestic relations | no | no | no |
A short checklist
- Pick the vehicle. A preliminary injunction cannot issue without notice; a TRO can.
- For an ex parte TRO, prepare two documents — the affidavit or verified complaint showing immediate and irreparable injury, and the attorney's written certificate about notice efforts.
- Draft the order to Rule 65(b) and (d) — date and hour, the injury, why it is irreparable, why no notice, and the restrained acts described in detail rather than by reference.
- Calendar 10 days, not 14, and set the preliminary injunction hearing inside that window.
- Be ready to proceed at that hearing. Not proceeding dissolves the order.
- Arrange the bond. Security is the rule, and only the state, a municipality and domestic relations cases are exempt.
- Decide what evidence you want in. Anything admissible at trial that you put in at the injunction hearing becomes part of the trial record.
- If you are restrained, you have a 2-day motion — you need not wait for the injunction hearing.
- If you were wrongfully enjoined, go after the bond by motion. Rule 65(c) makes an independent action unnecessary and lets you serve through the clerk.
Where these rules live
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 6 — Time
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 65 — Injunctions
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 77 — Motions
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 79 — Costs; taxation and review
- Alaska R. Civ. P. 82 — Attorney's fees
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the substantive grounds for injunctive relief come from statute and case law this site doesn't cover.