Alaska Digital Assets After Death

An Alaska family usually reaches a loved one's online accounts through the provider, not the court. The fastest route is a tool the account holder set up in life, such as Google's Inactive Account Manager or Apple's Legacy Contact. Without one, the personal representative the Superior Court appoints asks each provider directly, with letters and a death certificate, and the provider decides what to release under its own rules and a federal disclosure law.

One gap needs saying up front. The Alaska Statutes are published only on the Alaska Legislature's website, and that site refused our reader when we checked on September 28, 2026. The Alaska Court System, which we use as the source of record for Alaska probate, does not discuss fiduciary access to digital assets on any probate self-help page or court form we read. So this page does not name an Alaska statute section for digital assets, and it does not say whether Alaska adopted the Uniform Law Commission's model act on the subject. Where Alaska law decides a question, we say so and stop.

Here is what we could verify, from federal law, the providers' own help pages and the Alaska Court System.

The Short Answers

What Alaska Law Says, and Why This Page Stops There

A state digital assets statute tells a provider when it must give a personal representative, agent, conservator or trustee access to a user's online accounts. The Uniform Law Commission publishes a model version, the Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, Revised, which a state legislature can adopt with or without changes.

We did not confirm whether Alaska adopted it. The Alaska Legislature's website answered our reader with an HTTP 403 message, "Please contact the site owner for access." We do not read copies of the code from other sites, because a copy can be out of date and a wrong section number on a legal page does real harm. The Alaska Court System's probate pages name many sections of the Alaska Uniform Probate Code, and none of them covers digital assets.

So treat anything you read elsewhere about an Alaska digital assets section as a claim to check at the Alaska Statutes before relying on it. An Alaska lawyer can read that text for you.

The Federal Rule Every Provider Reads

A federal law applies in every state, Alaska included, and it explains most of what providers do. Title 18, section 2702 of the U.S. Code covers voluntary disclosure by email and cloud storage providers. Let's break it down.

• Contents of messages. Under 18 U.S.C. 2702(a), a provider of electronic communication service to the public "shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the contents of a communication while in electronic storage by that service." Section 2702(a)(2) sets a matching rule for remote computing (cloud) services.
• The consent exception. Section 2702(b)(3) lets a provider divulge contents "with the lawful consent of the originator or an addressee or intended recipient of such communication, or the subscriber in the case of remote computing service."
• Records that are not contents. Section 2702(c)(6) lets a provider disclose a record or other information about a subscriber, not including contents, "to any person other than a governmental entity."

Two points follow. First, the statute says what a provider may do. It does not force the provider to release anything to a family member. Second, "lawful consent" is the phrase providers look for, and a tool the user set up in life is the clearest form of it. That is why Apple's court-order process asks the court to state that the requester's authorization constitutes "lawful consent," a phrase that tracks the federal exception.

Plans the Account Holder Can Make Now

The account holder has the easiest job in this whole process, because the providers built tools for it.

Google Inactive Account Manager. Google describes it as a way to share parts of your account data or notify someone if you have been inactive for a set period. You can select up to 10 people to receive data, share all of it or only specific data types, and share different data with different people. Google uses a trusted contact's phone number to confirm that only that person downloads the data.

Apple Legacy Contact. Apple calls it the easiest, most secure way to give someone access to the data in your Apple Account after your death, including photos, messages, notes, files and device backups. The person needs the access key you generate and your death certificate. A Legacy Contact cannot reach purchased movies, music, books or subscriptions, or anything in iCloud Keychain, such as passwords and payment information. You may name more than one, and Apple says any one of them can make decisions about the data, including deleting it permanently.

A written list. The Alaska Court System's page on practical steps before death suggests keeping a list of your electronic information: blog addresses, cloud data storage sites, email addresses, passwords to computer files, internet sites and email, photo sharing sites and social media sites. It says to update the lists from time to time and tell someone where they are. The same page notes that these lists are for information only and usually are not part of your will or trust.

A power of attorney. An agent acts for you during life, so this matters if you lose capacity before death. The Alaska statutory form power of attorney, in the booklet the Court System hosts, lists lettered categories (A) through (N). They include banking, insurance, records, reports and statements, and all other matters. None names digital assets, email or online accounts. Category (O) lets you limit the agent to powers you write out. Whether a general category reaches an online account is a question of Alaska statute we could not read. See granting digital authority to an agent for how the form works.

After a Death: The Personal Representative's Route

Once someone has died, the Superior Court can appoint a personal representative, the Alaska term for an executor or administrator. Form P-335 (5/21) holds the personal representative's written acceptance of duties and the letters testamentary the court issues when there is a will. The acceptance lists the job: gather the estate property, complete an inventory on Form P-370, deal with creditors, pay taxes, and close the estate.

Form P-370 (7/14) says the personal representative "must prepare and file this inventory" within three months of appointment, and tells them to list all property owned by the person who died on the date of death. An online account that holds money, such as a payment app balance, fits that description. The form does not address how to classify a social media account or a photo library, so use judgment and keep notes.

The Court System's page on managing estate assets also tells the personal representative to guard against identity theft and to "Change electronic passwords and personal questions to online accounts." Next steps with the two largest providers:

• Google. Google's deceased-user page offers three requests: close the account, request funds from the account, or obtain data from the account. Google says it may provide content "in certain circumstances," decides only after a careful review, and cannot provide passwords or other login details. It also warns that once you ask it to close the account, it cannot later turn over the contents, so request data first.
• Apple. If there is no Legacy Contact, Apple accepts a court order in the United States. The order must name the requester as the rightful inheritor of the person's information and, where applicable, specify that the requester is the legal personal representative, agent or heir whose authorization constitutes lawful consent. Apple says only one person can request access, and some data may be end-to-end encrypted beyond Apple's reach.

For every other provider, look for a help page on a deceased user's account and follow its document list. Keep a copy of the letters and a certified death certificate ready, since most requests ask for both. The wider job is covered under the personal representative's access.

Trusts

If a trust owns an account, or the trustee needs the settlor's records, the trustee faces the same provider rules. Whether Alaska statute gives a trustee a specific route to a provider is part of the gap described above. See a trustee's access for the rest of the trustee's work.

A Checklist for Alaska Families

1. Set up Google Inactive Account Manager and Apple Legacy Contact, and the matching tool at any other provider you use.
2. Keep the Court System's suggested list of electronic information, and tell someone where it is.
3. Store the Apple access key with your estate papers.
4. If you sign an Alaska statutory power of attorney, read the categories and decide whether to write out online-account powers.
5. After a death, request data from Google before asking it to close the account.
6. List money-holding online accounts on Form P-370.
7. Ask an Alaska lawyer before relying on any Alaska statute section about digital assets.

Related Alaska Guides

• Alaska executor duties covers the personal representative's full job.
• Alaska power of attorney covers the statutory form and its categories.
• Alaska trust administration covers the trustee's duties.
• Avoid probate in Alaska covers other planning steps.
• Alaska probate guide covers what the Superior Court does after a death.

Sources:

• Title: 18 U.S.C. 2702, Voluntary disclosure of customer communications or records. Publisher: Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section2702&num=0&edition=prelim
• Title: About Inactive Account Manager. Publisher: Google Account Help. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546
• Title: Submit a request regarding a deceased user's account. Publisher: Google Account Help. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://support.google.com/accounts/troubleshooter/6357590
• Title: How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account. Publisher: Apple Support. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102631
• Title: Request access to a deceased family member's Apple Account. Publisher: Apple Support. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102431
• Title: Practical Steps to Take Before Death. Publisher: Alaska Court System, Self-Help Services. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://courts.alaska.gov/shc/probate/before-death.htm
• Title: Inventory and Management of Assets. Publisher: Alaska Court System, Self-Help Services. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://courts.alaska.gov/shc/probate/inventory.htm
• Title: Acceptance of Duties and Letters Testamentary, form P-335. Publisher: Alaska Court System. Publication Date: May 2021 (form revision 5/21). URL: https://public.courts.alaska.gov/web/forms/docs/p-335.pdf
• Title: Inventory of Property, form P-370. Publisher: Alaska Court System. Publication Date: July 2014 (form revision 7/14). URL: https://public.courts.alaska.gov/web/forms/docs/p-370.pdf
• Title: Power of Attorney (booklet and Alaska statutory form power of attorney). Publisher: Alaska Legal Services Corporation, hosted by the Alaska Court System. Publication Date: January 2017. URL: https://courts.alaska.gov/shc/family/docs/poa-booklet.pdf
• Title: Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, Revised. Publisher: Uniform Law Commission. Publication Date: Not listed; accessed 2026-09-28. URL: https://www.uniformlaws.org/committees/community-home?CommunityKey=f7237fc4-74c2-4728-81c6-b39a91ecdf22

It is not legal advice.