Alaska Court System Self-Help

A person who died without a Will is said to have died "intestate." The process of distributing estate property to heirs where there is no Will or when the Will is invalid is the process of intestacy. Partial intestacy means that the person's Will did not give away everything they owned. In that case, some of the property passes under the Will and whatever is left passes through intestacy.

The probate process is generally the same under intestacy as it is for a Will. The Personal Representative must do all of the same tasks, including paying Allowances and Exempt Property, paying creditor claims and transferring the property to those persons who rightfully inherit it. The main difference is, in intestacy, Alaska law decides what happens to the property of the person who died.

You should look in the common locations that people keep Wills to be sure the person died without making a will.

Alaska state law determines who inherits property if there is no valid Will. You can watch a very short presentation on Intestacy which is what it is called when someone dies without a will.

The charts below show how property passes to a decedent's heirs through intestacy.

If the person is survived by a spouse, the estate is divided in this way:

If the person is not survived by a spouse, the estate is divided in this way:

Yes. If the person who died left very little probate property, the surviving spouse is entitled to a minimum amount of the person's total property. This amount is called the spouse's elective share. It is approximately equal to one-third of the person's probate property and nonprobate property. The surviving spouse receives the Homestead Allowance, Family Allowance, and Exempt Property in addition to the elective share. A surviving spouse may also be entitled to an additional $50,000 in certain situations.

Calculating the exact amount of the elective share is very complicated. Both the surviving spouse and the Personal Representative may want to see their own probate lawyer if the surviving spouse receives a small amount through intestacy or nothing at all.

Yes. Anyone related by half blood to the person who died inherits the same share that they would have received if related by whole blood.

No. Stepparents, stepchildren and stepsiblings do not inherit any property if the person who died did not leave a Will. It does not make any difference if the stepfamily lived together for a long time. Relatives such as foster children or foster parents, grandparents who raise their grandchildren or any other relatives acting as surrogates are also not heirs.

Yes. A person who is not a U.S. citizen has the same right to inherit through intestacy as a U.S. citizen.

Yes. A person who has been adopted inherits from their adoptive parents and not their natural parents. But if the person is adopted by a natural parent's spouse, the adopted person (and their descendants) can inherit from both the natural parents and the adoptive parent.

However, the natural parents of the person who has been adopted and the natural parents' relatives can only inherit from the adopted person if the natural parent openly treated the child as their own child and did not refuse to support the child.

Yes. A child is an heir to their natural parents. But if the child is adopted, they may become an heir to the adoptive parents instead of their natural parents.

Yes, if the child lives for 120 hours after they are born.

The heir can only inherit through the relationship that gives them the largest share of the estate.

If the person who died left no surviving spouse, descendants, parents, parents' descendants, grandparents or grandparents' descendants, all of that person's property passes to the state of Alaska.

If you are an heir and think property wrongly passed to the state of Alaska, you may be able to get the property back if you act promptly. You may want to talk to a probate lawyer if property has passed to the state of Alaska.

Generally, no. The heirs will receive the gift of property made before the person's death and the property inherited after death.

But the heir's share will be reduced if one of the following applies:

• The person who died said in writing at the time of making the gift that the gift should reduce the heir's share; or
• The heir agreed in writing that the gift should reduce their share, even if this was after the gift was made.

If a gift of property made before the person's death reduces the heir's share, the property is valued at the time the heir received the property or on the date of the person's death, whichever comes first. A gift made before the person's death does not reduce any share that passes by representation.

Yes. For example, if a child owed money to a parent before death but did not pay the loan back, the child's share is reduced by the amount of the debt. However, if an heir who owes a debt dies before the person who died, the debt does not reduce any share passing by representation.

If the person who died did not leave a Will or a stock will, Native corporation stock created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) passes as follows:

• If the person left a surviving spouse but no descendants, all to the surviving spouse.
• If the person left a surviving spouse and descendants, half to the surviving spouse and half to the descendants.
• If the person left no surviving spouse, the property passes under Alaska intestacy rules.

This does not happen automatically and the Native corporation must be involved in the process.

Which probate process to use if the person died without a Will depends on the specifics of the situation. Most cases use the informal process. This requires all interested persons to agree who will be the personal representative and whether there was a valid will or no Will. If there are disagreements in these areas, use the formal process. If the person’s estate meets certain conditions, you may not need to open a probate case and instead can use the Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property process which is an out-of-court process.