Who Inherits If You Die Without a Will in Alaska

Surviving spouse: everything if the decedent left no descendants and no parent, or if all the decedent's descendants are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other descendants; the first $200,000 plus three-fourths of the rest if a parent survives but no descendants; the first $150,000 plus half of the rest if all the decedent's descendants are also the spouse's but the spouse has other descendants; the first $100,000 plus half of the rest if any of the decedent's descendants are not the spouse's. The rest (or everything, with no spouse) goes to descendants, then parents, then the parents' descendants (siblings and their lines), then half to each side's grandparents or their descendants. Special rules apply to Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act corporation stock.

The surviving spouse of a decedent who lived in Alaska may elect to take one-third of the augmented estate (which includes certain non-probate transfers), with a supplemental amount that brings the spouse's total up to $50,000 if needed. The spouse must file a petition within nine months after death or six months after the will is probated, whichever is later; the court can extend the time on a petition filed within nine months.

Thirty days after death, a successor can collect the decedent's personal property (money owed, bank accounts, stock and other personal items) by giving the holder an affidavit, if the whole estate, after liens and debts, is no more than $100,000 in registered vehicles plus no more than $50,000 in other personal property, and no personal representative has been requested or appointed anywhere. The court's form is the Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of Decedent (P-110). It cannot be used if the decedent owned real estate, except property held as tenants by the entirety or passing by a transfer-on-death deed.