Alaska Probate and Intestate Succession: What Happens Without a Will (2026)

Alaska has no separate probate court. Probate cases are filed as a docket within the Superior Court, and a court-appointed registrar, not a judge, can open an uncontested estate as soon as 120 hours after death.

Information last verified on 2026-07-16. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How Probate Works in Alaska

Alaska is one of the few states with no dedicated probate court at all. Probate matters are filed as a case type within the Superior Court, the state's trial-level court, in whichever judicial district the decedent lived. Alaska fully adopted the Uniform Probate Code, codified at Alaska Statutes Title 13, and offers three distinct procedural tracks. Informal probate is handled by a court-appointed registrar rather than a judge, requires no notice to interested persons and no hearing, and is available as soon as 120 hours, five days, after death, for cases where there is no will contest, the will's terms are unambiguous, and the proposed personal representative is undisputed. Formal probate is conducted before a Superior Court judge, requires notice to interested persons and a hearing, and applies when there is a will contest, disputed heirship, or another contested issue. Supervised administration is a form of formal proceeding in which the court remains actively involved at each subsequent step of the estate's administration, generally reserved for higher-conflict cases or ones where a beneficiary needs ongoing court protection, such as a minor or a person under a legal disability.

Because informal probate does not require a hearing, it often lets an uncontested Alaska estate close without ever appearing before a judge, so long as everyone agrees on the will and the personal representative. Alaska Court System self-help materials describe the registrar's role as largely administrative, checking that the paperwork is in order rather than resolving disputes.

Alaska law also sets a floor on how quickly a case can close. Under AS 13.16.460, creditors must present claims within 4 months after the first publication of notice to creditors, or within 3 years of death if no notice is ever published, but a probate case cannot close until at least 6 months have passed since the first publication date. Once debts are paid, the estate can then close by sworn affidavit.

Intestate Succession in Alaska: Who Inherits Without a Will

When someone dies without a valid will in Alaska, AS 13.12.102 sets the surviving spouse's share and AS 13.12.103 sets the share of other heirs, and the exact split again depends on who survives.

The surviving spouse takes the entire estate if the decedent leaves no surviving descendant or parent, or if every surviving descendant of the decedent is also a descendant of the surviving spouse and the spouse has no other surviving descendants of their own. If the decedent leaves no surviving descendant but a parent does survive, the spouse takes the first $200,000 plus three-quarters of the balance. If every surviving descendant is shared with the spouse, but the spouse also has one or more descendants from another relationship, the spouse takes the first $150,000 plus half the balance. If one or more of the decedent's surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving spouse, meaning children from a different relationship, the spouse's share drops to the first $100,000 plus half the balance. Whatever does not pass to the spouse goes to the decedent's descendants under AS 13.12.103.

Alaska has one further, state-specific wrinkle. AS 13.12.102(b) separately addresses Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act stock, giving the surviving spouse all of it if no issue survives and half of it if issue do survive, a distinct rule from the general formula above.

Alaska is a common-law, separate-property state by default, meaning spouses do not automatically co-own marital property the way they would in a community-property state. But Alaska is unusual in offering an opt-in Community Property Act, enacted in 1998 and codified at AS 34.77, that lets married couples elect community-property treatment for some or all of their property through a Community Property Agreement or a Community Property Trust. Absent such an election, the default separate-property rules and the formula above apply.

If no spouse survives, the decedent's parents inherit the estate equally. If no spouse, descendants, or parent survives, the estate passes to siblings or, by representation, the descendants of a deceased sibling. If none of those relatives survive but a grandparent or a grandparent's descendant does, the estate splits evenly between the paternal and maternal sides of the family. Only if no qualifying heir can be found at all does an Alaska estate escheat to the state.

One way to make sure your property goes to the people you actually choose, rather than following Alaska's intestate succession order, is to have a valid will in place. recordinglaw.com's free Alaska Last Will and Testament Generator can help you create one, with no account required.

Small Estate and Simplified Probate in Alaska

Alaska offers a genuinely self-executing small estate affidavit under AS 13.16.680, using the court's Form P-110, that lets an heir collect a decedent's personal property directly from a bank, the DMV, or another custodian without going through the Superior Court at all.

The affidavit process covers two separate thresholds. Vehicles registered in Alaska qualify up to a total value of $100,000, after subtracting debts and liens. Other personal property qualifies up to a total value of $50,000, also net of debts and liens. Real property generally cannot be transferred this way, with narrow exceptions for property that already passed automatically through a tenancy by the entirety or a transfer-on-death deed. The affidavit is available once at least 30 days have passed since the decedent's death, and only if no personal representative has already been appointed or has a pending appointment.

Unlike some states' court-involved small estate procedures, Alaska's affidavit is purely self-executing. The affidavit itself, once presented, legally compels banks, transfer agents, and other custodians to release the property to the successor named in it. A custodian who relies on the affidavit in good faith is discharged and protected to the same extent as if it had dealt with a court-appointed personal representative, with no independent duty to verify what the affidavit states. No court hearing is required at any point.

Does Alaska Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

Alaska has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax, exempting the first $15 million per person in 2026, can reach an Alaska estate, and it affects very few of them. Alaska also has no state income tax or general state sales tax.

Do You Need a Probate Attorney?

Alaska's informal probate track and self-executing small estate affidavit are both designed to work without an attorney for straightforward, uncontested estates. A probate attorney becomes worth engaging when a will contest or disputed heirship pushes a case into the formal track, when the estate includes a business interest, when the family is blended in a way intestate succession does not cleanly address, or when the estate's size raises a genuine federal estate tax question. An attorney can also help evaluate whether a Community Property Agreement or Trust makes sense before a death occurs, since that election has to be made in advance.

For a look at how these same questions play out in other states, see Probate by State.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about probate and intestate succession in Alaska as of the verification date above. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is not a substitute for advice from a probate attorney licensed in Alaska, particularly for a contested estate, a business interest, a blended family, or an estate large enough to raise a federal estate tax question. Figures, thresholds, and program details change; verify current details directly with the Alaska Court System before relying on any figure here.

---

Last updated: 2026-07-16. Figures and statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-16.