What to Do When Someone Dies in Alaska

Tell the doctor, hospital or clinic if organ, tissue or body donation needs arranging, and call a funeral home. Then tell the personal representative named in the will, if you know of one, and the guardian named for any minor children.

Search the home, file cabinets and safes for the original will or trust, any prepaid funeral or burial contract, and military discharge papers if the person was a veteran. A will may also be on deposit with the court: search CourtView for a case number ending in WI. The original will matters, because informal probate requires it.

Lock the residence, collect the mail, and do not use the person's vehicles until they are insured. If the person's belongings are in someone else's hands, such as a landlord, a relative can take temporary custody of tangible personal property by signing form P-120 and the inventory form P-121, or can ask a court to appoint a temporary property custodian with form P-130. There is no court fee for either. A custodian has no ownership rights and turns the property over to the personal representative later.

Decide on burial or cremation and the service. Ask the funeral director for enough certified copies of the death certificate for probate, life insurance and similar needs; the Court System says usually 5 to 10. Alaska death certificates come only from the State, Health Analytics and Vital Records, with offices in Anchorage and Juneau: $30 for the first copy and $25 for each additional copy. Death records are restricted for 50 years, so only close family and authorized representatives can order them.

Only property that does not pass automatically has to go through probate. Joint accounts with a right of survivorship, payable on death accounts, life insurance and retirement benefits with a named beneficiary, property in a revocable trust, and real property covered by a transfer on death deed recorded before death all pass to the survivor or beneficiary without a court case.

Form P-110, the Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of Decedent, settles an estate with no court case if all of these are true: at least 30 days have passed since the death; nobody has asked a court to appoint a personal representative; the person owned no real property that has to pass through probate, no matter how small; registered vehicles total $100,000 or less after liens; and all other personal property totals $50,000 or less after liens. Snowmachines, ATVs and boats count as other personal property, not as vehicles. The Permanent Fund Dividend counts too.

Contact the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs if the person served, the employer, insurers and any agency that paid benefits. Contact the Permanent Fund Dividend Division if the person was an Alaska resident. Forward the mail to a relative or the personal representative. Keep paying the mortgage, insurance, taxes and utilities, but do not pay other bills, loans or debts until you understand how estate creditors are handled.

If a court case is needed, it is filed in the Superior Court at a court location in the judicial district where the person who died lived. Alaska has four judicial districts, First through Fourth, and the Court System's directory lists every court location by district. The Court System's own timeline puts this filing as soon as practical after the death, and says most probates take six months to a year.

Informal probate is the usual route and normally needs no hearing. It requires the original will if there is one, a latest will that revokes any earlier ones, no dispute about who serves, and the consent of anyone with equal or higher priority to serve. A missing will, a will that is not self-proved, a will contest, or a request for court supervision sends the case to formal probate before a judge.

With a will, file a certified death certificate, the original will, form P-315 (request), form P-316 (statement the court signs) and form P-335 (acceptance of duties and letters testamentary). Without a will, file forms P-325, P-326 and P-336. Sign the request and the acceptance before a notary or a clerk; notary service is free at every state court office. Leave the letters unsigned for the court. Some judges accept a funeral home letter if the death certificate is not ready.

A bond is required unless it is excused. It is excused when the will waives it, when every devisee (or, with no will, every heir) signs form P-334, when people with equal or higher priority waive it on form P-306, or when the court excuses it. File the waivers with the opening papers.

The court will not appoint a personal representative until 5 days after the death of an Alaska resident. For a non-resident the wait is 30 days, or 5 days if the will says Alaska law applies or the applicant is already appointed in another state. After that, signing the letters usually takes a few days to a few weeks. Ask for 3 to 5 extra certified copies, because banks and agencies often keep one.

Apply to the IRS for an Employer Identification Number (Form SS-4) and file Form 56 so the IRS sends tax mail to you. Open an estate checking account with the letters and the EIN. Never use the decedent's Social Security number or your own for estate accounts, and never mix estate money with your own.

Within 30 days of appointment, send Information to Heirs and Devisees (form P-340) to everyone named in the will and everyone who would inherit without a will. Heirs get it even when there is a will. Mail or hand delivery both work.

Publish the Notice to Creditors (form P-341) once a week for three weeks in a row in a newspaper commonly read in the judicial district where the case is filed, and mail or deliver it to every creditor you know of or could reasonably find. File the newspaper's Affidavit of Publication (form P-342). Claims are barred four months after the first publication. Publish early: the estate cannot close until six months after that first date. An estate that qualifies as a small estate can skip this.

List every item the person owned, its fair market value on the date of death and any lien against it, on form P-370. Send a copy to any interested person who asks. If you find more property later, prepare a supplementary inventory.

Before any creditor is paid, the surviving spouse (or, if none, the children the rules name) receives a homestead allowance of $27,000, a family allowance of up to $18,000 in one payment or up to $1,500 a month for up to a year, and up to $10,000 of exempt personal property. Together they can reach $55,000 or more, and a will cannot take them away. If the estate is short, homestead comes first, then family allowance, then exempt property. Alaska's form checklist says you do not need to wait for the creditor notice to finish before paying them.

Check CourtView and your mail for claims when the four-month window closes. You then have 60 days to act. To reject a claim, send and file a Notice of Allowance or Disallowance of Claim (form P-345); a claim you do nothing about is allowed when the 60 days run out. A disallowed creditor has 60 days from the mailing to petition the court or sue. If the estate cannot pay everyone, pay in the order the law sets: secured claims as to their security, then probate expenses, funeral expenses, federal-priority debts and taxes and past-due child support, last-illness medical costs, state-priority debts and taxes, and finally all other claims.

File the person's final federal income tax return (Form 1040) by April 15 of the year after death, an estate income tax return (Form 1041) if one is required, and a federal estate tax return (Form 706) within nine months of death if one is required. Alaska has collected no state estate tax since 2005.

If an heir or beneficiary refuses an inheritance, the written disclaimer is filed with the court or delivered to the personal representative before the person takes the property. The checklist on form P-337 lists filing disclaimers within nine months of the death.

Send a final accounting and proposed distribution (form P-380) to the heirs, devisees and other interested persons, or collect their written waivers. Anyone who gets a proposal for distribution has 30 days to object to the kind or value of what they will receive. Transfer each asset, and have each person sign a Receipt and Release (form P-385). In a formal case the court approves the distribution first.

In an informal case, file the Sworn Statement of Personal Representative to Close Informal Estate (form P-355) no earlier than six months after the first publication, with the court's Order Closing Estate (form P-301) attached. A small estate closes with form P-350 instead and needs no creditor notice. A formal case closes by court order after a request on form P-360 and a hearing. After a sworn statement, your powers last one more year and then end on their own if nothing is pending.