Alaska Probate Guide
Borough or Census Area-specific probate filing-office contacts, filing fees, required forms, and step-by-step guidance for families settling an estate in Alaska.
Find Your Borough or Census Area
Types of Probate in Alaska
Alaska has no counties and no local probate court: every estate is a Superior Court case, filed at a court location in the judicial district where the person who died lived, and the 30 boroughs and census areas only tell a family which court locations serve them. What changes is the route. The Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property (AS 13.16.680, form P-110) stays out of court entirely: thirty days after the death a successor collects property from whoever holds it, under two separate caps, $100,000 for registered vehicles and $50,000 for all other personal property, and any real property passing through probate closes it at any value. Inside the court sit informal probate before a registrar, formal testacy proceedings before a judge, and a small-estate closing by sworn statement (form P-350). Opening an estate costs $250 in every judicial district.
See the full comparison of Alaska probate typesWhich procedures exist, who qualifies, and how the timelines compare.Find your borough or census area
Alaska Probate Filing Offices by Borough or Census Area
Choose your borough or census area to get its probate court contacts, filing fees, and required forms. 30 boroughs and census areas have detailed data.
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Browse Alaska guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Browse Alaska guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Probate Basics
2Forms & Court
2Executor Duties
5Taxes & Deadlines
5Planning Documents
6Property Transfer
4Alaska Probate Self-Help and Online Resources
Alaska probate resource map by source type
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
All Alaska self-help resources (10 links)Official court, form, law-library, referral, and legal-education links, plus how to use each source
Alaska probate source navigation starts with state court, form, agency, legal-help, or referral links that are already tracked in Settled state data. These links are state-level starting points, not county-specific filing instructions.
Which Alaska probate source should you use?
- Start with the state court, form, or self-help source for general Alaska probate context.
- Use county filing-office, clerk, register, or court pages for local filing locations, local forms, fee schedules, and records portals.
- Use legal-help, law-library, or referral links as research or referral paths, not as a substitute for counsel.
- Verify current filing steps with the borough or census area office, court, clerk, register, legal-aid source, or counsel before filing.
Statewide process, forms, and code sources
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
- Alaska Court System Self-Help Center: Probate: Estates
Step-by-step guides for informal, formal and small estate probate, the affidavit for personal property, creditors and distribution, plus the statewide probate forms. No probate help line is published; the Family Law Self-Help Center number printed on court pages is for family law and TrueFiling questions, so it is not listed here as a probate resource.
- Alaska Court System Self-Help, Filing Fees and Fee Waiver
The court fee table effective May 1, 2023. Opening a formal or informal estate costs $250 in every judicial district (Alaska R. Admin. 9(b)(2)(A)). Form TF-920 asks the court to exempt a person who cannot afford the fee.
- Alaska Court System Self-Help, Probate Forms
The statewide probate forms, including P-110 (affidavit for collection of personal property), P-340 (information to heirs and devisees), P-341 (notice to creditors), P-350 (closing a small estate) and P-150 (transfer on death deed). No form is specific to a borough or census area.
- Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, Deceased Owner
How a deceased owner's vehicle is transferred: a surviving owner on a title joined by 'OR' releases it, otherwise the personal representative or the Form 827 small-estate affidavit. Every transfer also needs the Vehicle Transaction Application (Form V1) and the $15 title fee.
- Alaska Department of Health, Vital Records Orders
How to order a death certificate from Health Analytics and Vital Records in Anchorage or Juneau, by mail, fax, in person or through VitalChek. The first copy is $30 and each additional copy in the same order is $25.
- Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Recorder's Office: Find Your Recording District
Deeds, including a transfer on death deed, are recorded with the state Recorder's Office in the recording district where the land lies. Recording costs $20.00 for the first page and $5.00 for each additional page.
- Alaska Department of Health, Division of Health Care Services
The division whose Third Party Liability section handles Medicaid estate recovery. Alaska recovers from the probate estate only, for assistance paid at 55 or older or for a permanently institutionalized recipient, and waits while a surviving spouse or a child under 21 or blind or disabled survives.
County filing-office sources
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
- Alaska Court System, Court Directory
Court locations grouped by judicial district, each with its address, phone numbers and, at some rural locations, a filing mailbox. Probate is a Superior Court case filed at a court location in the judicial district where the person who died lived; Alaska has four judicial districts and no borough or county probate court.
Referral-navigation sources
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
- Alaska Legal Services Corporation
Free civil legal help for eligible Alaskans. Apply online or through the toll-free statewide intake line, 1-888-478-2572. Its apply page lists personal injury, accident and wrongful death cases among matters it cannot take.
- Alaska Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service
Statewide lawyer referral with a Trusts/Wills/Estates category: 907-272-0352, or 1-800-770-9999 toll-free in Alaska. Listed lawyers charge no more than $125 for the first half-hour of consultation. A referral is not advice and does not decide whether an estate needs a court proceeding.
Settled pairs these Alaska source links with county pages, forms, first-step guides, transfer guides, and source notes so families can move from statewide context to the local office that handles the estate.
Alaska Estate Law Overview
Alaska Estate Tax Info
For almost every Alaska estate the only tax filings are the decedent's final federal income tax return and, if the estate earns more than $600 in a year, a federal estate income tax return (Form 1041).
Federal estate tax info
Federal estate tax only applies to estates exceeding $15,000,000 (2026).
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Rules for property distribution when someone dies without a valid will.
Alaska Homestead Protection
In an Alaska probate, 'homestead' means the homestead ALLOWANCE: up to $27,000 of estate property for the surviving spouse, or for minor and dependent children if there is no spouse, paid before creditors and free from their claims. It is a dollar amount, not a right to the house. The house itself passes by how it was titled (tenancy by the entirety, community property with right of survivorship, a transfer on death deed) or through probate.
Exempt Property
Before creditors are paid and before anything is distributed, the personal representative pays the homestead allowance (up to $27,000) and the family allowance (up to $18,000, or up to $1,500 a month for a year), and sets aside exempt property (up to $10,000). Together they can total up to $55,000, or more in some cases, and they pass free from creditor claims.