Alaska Small Estate Affidavit

The affidavit lane (AS 13.16.680)

AS 13.16.680(a) provides that after 30 days, a holder pays or delivers to a successor on an affidavit stating four things only. First, the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, consists only of not more than two categories: vehicles subject to registration under AS 28.10.011 totaling $100,000, and other personal property not exceeding $50,000. Second, 30 days have elapsed since death. Third, no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction. Fourth, the claiming successor is entitled to payment or delivery of the property. Subsection (b) provides the transfer agent duty for securities. A transfer agent shall change registered ownership on presentation of the affidavit.

The statute states no real estate sentence, no notarization, and no death certificate requirement. All three arrive only in the court form and court FAQ lane below. The statute requires an affidavit and nothing more on those points. Valuation basis is liens and encumbrances only. The statute says entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances. It does not state a gross value test and does not state a net of all debts test. A secondary gloss that says ignore unsecured debts or value assets at death is not in the statute and is not carried here. No will, intestacy, or heir determination procedure, no creditor notice rule for the affidavit lane, and no time limit for presenting the affidavit after day 30 appear in sections 680 and 685. None is stated here.

No successor definition is quoted in this guide. The definition section, AS 13.06.050, was not opened on the official site. The court FAQ and form reprint agree that a successor is a person, other than a creditor, entitled under the will or Title 13, but that definition is not quoted as verified here because its source section was not opened. No sentence here defines successor beyond the statute words claiming successor is entitled. A creditor holding the decedent property cannot use section 680 to collect. The affidavit runs to the successor, from the holder.

The split cap, and the $150,000 error

The split cap is two caps, not $150,000. The $100,000 figure is vehicles only, for vehicles subject to registration under AS 28.10.011. The $50,000 figure is other personal property only. A $60,000 bank account plus a $90,000 truck fails, even though the total is $150,000. The $150,000 figure exists only on the Department of Motor Vehicles Form 827 title and in secondary arithmetic. Never state it as the section 680 test.

Vehicle scope is registration, not all vehicles. Only vehicles subject to registration under AS 28.10.011 count toward the $100,000 vehicle bucket. AS 28.10.011 was not opened for this guide, so no classification beyond the court FAQ list is stated as statute. The court FAQ lists Alaska registered vehicles up to $100,000 after debts and liens, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, trailers, and manufactured homes not permanently attached, and states that snowmachines, all terrain vehicles, tractors, off road equipment, and boats are not in that list. That list is stated here as the FAQ list, in the FAQ lane. An unregistered item value, if it counts at all, falls in the $50,000 other property bucket on the FAQ reading. The classification question is flagged, not resolved, in the Source section. The FAQ also restates the other property test per category after subtracting debts and liens, including cash, checks, bank accounts, the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, furnishings, jewelry, artwork, tools, and equipment, and excludes nonprobate property passing automatically, such as a joint bank account. The FAQ per category phrasing and the statute whole estate phrasing are stated in their own lanes here, never merged into one valuation rule. Nonprobate exclusion appears only in the FAQ, not in section 680.

Effect (AS 13.16.685)

Section 685 provides that the holder who pays or delivers is discharged as if dealing with a personal representative, need not see to the application of the property or inquire into the truth of any statement, and on refusal may be compelled on proof of right. The recipient is answerable and accountable to any personal representative or person having a superior right. The holder discharge is not the recipient discharge. No holder bond, indemnity, or fee shifting sentence from a sibling state is carried into this section. The compulsion proceeding in section 685 is the only refusal remedy stated for the affidavit lane.

Court form and FAQ lane, kept separate

The Alaska Court System FAQ, Collecting Personal Property without a Court Case, states that no court case is needed, and lists conditions in court guidance wording: 30 days; no probate case or personal representative appointment asked; no real property no matter how small the value, or real property that passed automatically, including tenants by the entirety property and Transfer on Death Deed property; Alaska registered vehicles up to $100,000 after debts and liens; other personal property up to $50,000 after debts and liens; form P-110; successor as the personal representative named in the will, will beneficiary, or intestacy heir; sign under oath before a notary or court clerk; give a copy to the holder, who is required by law to give the property; and the collector cannot keep the property, but must give it to will beneficiaries or intestacy heirs, and to a later appointed personal representative.

The express no real estate rule is the FAQ and form rule. Section 680(a)(1) says only that the estate consists only of the two personal property categories. This guide states the FAQ rule in the form lane and the statute consists only of wording in the statute lane, and never upgrades the FAQ no matter how small the value wording into section 680 text. The automatic passage examples are FAQ examples, not statutory carve outs. Oath before a notary or court clerk is the FAQ instruction. A death certificate copy that the collector may be asked to show is form P-110 item 8. A build stating the statute requires either misstates section 680.

Form P-110, revision April 2017, was read only via vendor copies. Its eight numbered items include a successor basis statement, the split cap, an item stating no real estate or real estate that passed automatically, 30 days, no personal representative application, entitlement, accountability citing section 685, and an item stating the collector may be asked to show a copy of the death certificate, sworn before a notary or oath administrator, with a reprint of sections 13.06.050 and 13.16.680 and 685. The courts hosted P-110 PDF was not opened, and the current edition is unconfirmed. No item list is carried here as the current form. If a newer revision exists, its item list governs the form lane.

Vehicle lane, unresolved conflict, no procedure stated

The vehicle lane is affirmatively unresolved, and no vehicle transfer procedure is stated in this guide. The Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles Deceased Owner page, read in full, states only court appointed representative transfer for a sole owner or joint and ownership vehicle, states that the vehicle must go through probate, and allows only a court appointed representative, by Letters Testamentary, Letters of Administration, or Letter of Appointment, to transfer or sell. It mentions no affidavit, no Form 827, and no small estate lane anywhere on the page. Department of Motor Vehicles Form 827, revision December 2015, seen only in vendor copies, offers an estate affidavit at a combined $150,000 or less, with successor entitlement, 30 days, and no personal representative application, and states the vehicle must be titled in the successor name before sale. The page and the form contradict each other for vehicles. Until the current Form 827 is opened on the Department of Motor Vehicles site, or a Department office confirms acceptance, this guide states the conflict and no vehicle transfer procedure. Do not cite a secondary submit Form 827 instruction as the procedure. No fee figure is stated anywhere in this guide. No filing, fee, or bond sentence exists in the material read for the affidavit lane, and the FAQ no court case wording supports no filing only. No fee is claimed.

Summary administration and ANCSA stock, separate lanes

Sections 13.16.690 and 695 provide summary administration as a relative test closing mode for an appointed personal representative, not a second affidavit track. The test compares the estate to the homestead allowance, exempt property, reasonable family allowance, and administration, funeral, and last illness costs, with no creditor notice, closing by verified statement, and appointment termination one year after the statement if no action is pending, plus a six month court disposal rule for undisposed property. No dollar figure is stated for this test in this guide. Printing a homestead plus exempt property sum as a cap would fabricate a cap the section never states. The allowance sections were read only as stale crawl snippets, and their full current texts were not opened. No allowance figure, including any personal representative determined cap figure, is stated here.

Section 13.16.705 provides that Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act settlement common and inalienable stock is not subject to probate and its value is not counted in estate value or allowances. Entitlement is determined by the issuing corporation on affidavit with section 685 effect, with escheat to the corporation if no will and no heirs, and situs in Alaska. A build that adds stock value to the $50,000 test misstates section 705. The section 705 affidavit goes to the issuing corporation, not to a holder. Section 13.16.700 is a judge directed settlement backstop for a section 680(a)(1) limited estate with no qualified person appeared. It is not a filing track for a successor, and no sentence here presents it as one. The 60 day foreign personal representative procedure in a different section, for nonresident decedents, shares affidavit vocabulary and nothing else with section 680, and its 60 days are never carried into the 30 day rule.

For small estate procedures in other states, see the Small Estate Affidavits by State directory. For the questions each state procedure answers, see Small Estate Affidavit Questions.

Source

Sources: AS 13.16.680, 13.16.685, 13.16.690, 13.16.695, 13.16.700, and 13.16.705, official akleg.gov folio text, crawled November 1, 2026; Alaska Court System, Collecting Personal Property without a Court Case, Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property FAQ, official courts.alaska.gov text, read in full; Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles, Deceased Owner page, official dmv.alaska.gov text, read in full; court form P-110, revision April 2017, vendor copies only; Department of Motor Vehicles Form 827, revision December 2015, vendor copies only. Facts verified 2026-11-01. Open flags: (1) the act that made the $25,000 to $50,000 step was not identified, so no act is cited for that step, and the folio view carries no history lines; (2) sections 13.12.402, 403, 404, and 405 full current texts were not opened, so no allowance figure is stated; (3) the successor definition in AS 13.06.050 was not opened on the official site, so no definition is quoted; (4) the courts hosted P-110 PDF was not opened, so the current edition is unconfirmed; (5) Department of Motor Vehicles Form 827 currency and Department acceptance are unresolved and contradict the current Deceased Owner page, so no vehicle transfer procedure is stated; (6) AS 28.10.011 registration scope was not opened, so vehicle classification beyond the FAQ list is flagged, not resolved; (7) no fee figure is stated anywhere, because no fee source was read; (8) no will, intestacy, creditor notice, or post day 30 time limit sentence is stated for the affidavit lane, because none appears in the sections read; (9) on site coverage was not checked in the research run because the box tunnel was down, so the build must grep for an Alaska small estate slug and for any existing combined $150,000 Alaska claim before publishing.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to the Alaska court or a lawyer.