Alaska Court System Self-Help

AVA stands for Alaska Virtual Assistant. AVA is a chatbot that can help you learn about how to probate an estate in Alaska. Probate is the court process where the court authorizes someone to distribute the estate when someone dies. AVA can provide legal information about probate cases, explain probate procedures, identify useful court forms, and lead you to probate information on the court’s self-help webpages.

AVA uses artificial intelligence (AI) to answer your questions and may make mistakes. Each answer includes links to the court’s self-help probate webpages with the information that AVA relied on for your answer. It is important review the webpages to double check the answers AVA gives you.

AVA only provides legal information from the Alaska Court System’s webpages. AVA does not provide information from any other sources.

Yes.

Anytime. AVA is available 24/7 – you just need access to the internet.

AVA can answer questions about a lot of probate estate topics, including:

• types of probate estates cases
• wills and trusts
• personal representatives and their responsibilities
• distributing personal property without an estate case
• court forms you may need

AVA will also provide you links to the court’s self-help probate webpages with the information that AVA relied on for your answer.

AVA cannot:

• Give you legal advice
• Tell you what to do in your case
• Predict what will happen in your case
• Represent you in your case
• File documents with the court
• Review documents you drafted or forms you filled out
• Answer questions about other types of cases
• Answer questions about other states’ laws

When you first use AVA you need to read and agree to some important information. Then you can ask AVA as many questions as you want. Do not include any personal, private or financial information in your questions.

If AVA uses a word you don’t know, ask AVA to tell you want the word means.

AVA may remember questions you already asked. If you want to start fresh, press the round arrow button at the bottom right corner of the window.

Yes. AVA’s answers include links to the court’s self-help probate webpages with the information that AVA relied on for your answer. It is important to review the webpages to double check the answers AVA gives you.

No. Do not tell AVA any personal, private, or financial information.

For example, do not give AVA your name, address, banking information, or social security number.

Yes. To improve AVA, the court has a transcript of the questions people ask and the answers AVA gives. These questions and answers may be reviewed to make AVA better. For example, the court may partner with outside organizations to audit the quality of AVA’s answers and publish a report.

No. You cannot upload documents for AVA to review.

No. AVA only knows about probate estates cases in Alaska.

Yes. You can screenshot the answers or copy and paste the answer into a Word document.

No. Currently AVA only knows about probate estates in Alaska. If you need information about other areas of law, visit our self-help webpages.