Alaska Probate Cost: One Flat $250 Court Fee Statewide
Settled Estate lists court filing fees and timelines for 6 Alaska probate procedures. The cheapest published route starts at $250 for open formal or informal probate. Last verified September 2026.
Alaska prices probate with a single court-rule fee that does not move with the size of the estate or the judicial district. Most of what a family actually spends goes to newspapers, recorders and professionals, not the court.
Opening a formal or informal Alaska estate costs $250. The figure is set by the Alaska Supreme Court in Administrative Rule 9(b)(2)(A), "upon filing a trust or estate action other than the registration or deposit of a will or trust document", and the Court System fee table lists Probate of Estates at $250 under its Effective 5/1/2023 column. Rule 9 adds no surcharge for probate, and the Court System says no further fees are charged once a case is open unless you ask for copies or certification.
The fee is the same whatever the estate is worth and wherever the person lived. Alaska has no counties, its boroughs and census areas run no courts, and every estate is a Superior Court case in one of four judicial districts under the same rule. Alaska charges no probate tax, so a $60,000 estate and a $3,000,000 estate pay the same $250 to open. The Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property under AS 13.16.680 carries no court fee at all, because it is handed to whoever holds the property and never filed.
Alaska sets no percentage for the personal representative. Alaska R. Prob. P. 7.1 says the fee "shall be reasonable" and lists what the court may weigh. No Court System rule read for this page sets attorney fees either, so no attorney or personal representative figure is estimated here. Ask any attorney for a written fee agreement.
Quick Summary
- Open formal or informal probate
- $250Flat in every judicial district (Alaska R. Admin. 9(b)(2)(A))
- Small estate affidavit
- $0Never filed. Vehicles up to $100,000, other personal property up to $50,000 (AS 13.16.680)
- Certified copy of Letters
- $10$3 for each additional copy requested at the same time
- Personal representative fee
- ReasonableNo percentage schedule (Alaska R. Prob. P. 7.1)
There is no cheaper place in Alaska to open an estate. Court fees come from one Supreme Court rule, every estate is a Superior Court case in one of four judicial districts, and no borough or census area runs a probate court or charges a local probate tax. Recording fees are statewide too, set by the Recorder's Office for every recording district. The one genuinely local cost is the newspaper commonly read in the judicial district that prints the notice to creditors.
Typical Total Cost Ranges
Estimate your borough or census area’s exact feesProbate Cost by Procedure
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| Procedure | Estate Size | Court Fee | Timeline | Attorney? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Informal Probate and Appointment | Any estate. The fee does not depend on value | $250 (Alaska R. Admin. 9(b)(2)(A)); no surcharge | No earlier than six months after the first published notice to creditors | No statutory requirement | An uncontested estate that needs a personal representative, including one with a home or land |
| Formal Testacy and Appointment | Any estate | $250, the same as informal probate | Longer than informal probate because of notice and a hearing; the same six-month floor after first publication | No statutory requirement, and rare without one | A disputed will, competing applicants, or a family that wants a court order |
| Small Estate Closing by Sworn Statement | Estate, less liens and debts, within the allowances, administration costs, funeral and last-illness expenses (AS 13.16.690 and AS 13.16.695) | $250 to open the informal probate; no separate fee for form P-350 | Distribution at once after the inventory, with no creditor period to wait out | No statutory requirement | A modest estate, with or without a home, that the family protections and final costs would use up |
| Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property | Registered vehicles up to $100,000 and other personal property up to $50,000, both net of liens, and no probate real property (AS 13.16.680) | $0. It is presented to the holder of the property and never filed | Usable 30 days after the death | No | Accounts, the Permanent Fund Dividend, vehicles and belongings with no home or land in the probate estate |
| Ancillary Letters From Another State's Court | An estate already opened in another state | $50 to file authenticated copies of the foreign letters | On filing | No statutory requirement | A personal representative appointed elsewhere who needs to act on Alaska property |
| Temporary Property Custodian | Any estate before a personal representative is appointed | $0 for the petition and for lodging the custodian's affidavit and inventory (Alaska R. Admin. 9(b)(2)(E) and (F)) | On filing, before probate opens | No statutory requirement | Securing property before anyone has authority, through a magistrate appointment under AS 22.15.110(a)(3) |
Additional Costs to Expect
Opening an Alaska Estate
The $250 under Alaska R. Admin. 9(b)(2)(A) is paid once, when the estate case is opened at a court location in the judicial district where the person lived. It is the same for an informal application decided by a registrar and a formal petition heard by a judge. A person who cannot afford it can file form TF-920, Request for Exemption from Payment of Fees, when opening the case, and Rule 9(f)(1) charges no filing, certifying or copying fee to a person the court finds indigent.
Personal Representative Fee
Alaska R. Prob. P. 7.1: "A personal representative's fee shall be reasonable." The court may consider the time and labor required, how involved the estate is, the skill and training required, the personal liability the personal representative is exposed to, time taken from the personal representative's profession, expenses and whether they were charged to the estate, agents retained and their fees, whether the personal representative also served in another paid capacity, whether one or more persons or corporate fiduciaries serve, and other equitable factors.
Attorney Fees
No attorney is required to open an Alaska estate, and no Court System rule read for this page sets a percentage or schedule for probate attorney fees. Ask any attorney for a written fee agreement before work starts.
Certified Copies of Letters
Banks, the DMV and other holders usually want certified Letters. Three certified copies of the same document ordered together cost $16. Plain copies are $5 for the first and $3 for each additional, charged per document rather than per page.
Certified Death Certificates
Alaska death certificates come only from the State, through the Department of Health's Health Analytics office, with walk-in counters in Anchorage and Juneau, by mail or fax, or online through VitalChek, which adds its own fees. No borough or city issues them.
Recording a Deed
The Department of Natural Resources Recorder's Office charges $20 for the first page of any document and $5 for each additional page of the same instrument, $2 for indexing each name over six, and $5 per certified document (AS 40.17.030(a)(10); 11 AAC 05.200). A personal representative's deed to heirs or a buyer is recorded in the recording district where the land lies.
Publishing a Notice to Creditors
In an ordinary estate the personal representative publishes form P-341 once a week for three weeks in a row in a newspaper commonly read in the judicial district, which bars claims not presented within four months of the first publication (AS 13.16.450). The newspaper sets the price and it is payable from estate funds. A small estate closed by sworn statement needs no notice to creditors.
The Personal Representative's Bond
In an informal probate, bond is waived by the will, waived by each person eligible to inherit (form P-334), posted, or excused by court order. When a bond is posted, the surety sets the premium, and it is paid from the estate.
Depositing a Will
Depositing a will with the court for safekeeping costs $50 under Alaska R. Admin. 9(b)(2)(B). It is optional, and there is no fee when a guardian or conservator deposits a protected person's will after that person's death.
Guardianship and Conservatorship, a Separate Case
A guardianship or conservatorship is a different case from the estate, with its own $150 fee on the Court System fee table.
Taxes
Alaska charges no probate tax beyond the flat $250 court fee. The Court System says that as of 2005 Alaska no longer collects a state estate tax. A federal estate tax return (Form 706), if required for a large estate, is due nine months after the death.
One more cost source to check: if the person who died received Medicaid long-term care benefits, the state may file a recovery claim against the estate. The Alaska Medicaid estate recovery guide explains when that applies.