(a) The following persons, in the priority listed, may control disposition of a decedent‘s remains:

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Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 13.75.020

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • municipality: means a political subdivision incorporated under the laws of the state that is a home rule or general law city, a home rule or general law borough, or a unified municipality. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • property: includes real and personal property. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
  • state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
(1) a person designated in a disposition document as the disposition agent for the decedent;
(2) a person serving, or nominated by the decedent in the decedent’s will to serve, as the personal representative of the decedent’s estate, if the person is acting according to the decedent’s written instructions contained in the decedent’s will;
(3) the individual who was the spouse of the decedent at the time of the decedent’s death;
(4) the sole surviving competent adult child of the decedent, or, if there is more than one surviving competent adult child of the decedent, the majority of the surviving competent adult children; fewer than one-half of the surviving competent adult children may exercise the rights and duties of this section if these surviving adult children use reasonable efforts to notify all other surviving competent adult children that they are exercising these rights and duties and are not aware of any opposition by one-half or more of all of the surviving competent adult children;
(5) the surviving competent parents of the decedent; if one of the surviving competent parents is absent, the remaining competent parent may exercise the rights and duties of this section after reasonable efforts have been unsuccessful in locating the absent surviving competent parent; in this paragraph, “absent” means a person who is unable to communicate decisions or participate in making decisions regarding the disposition of a decedent’s remains personally, telephonically, or through electronic communication;
(6) the surviving competent adult person in the next degrees of kindred, the two surviving competent adult persons of the same degree of kindred if there are two, or, if there are more than two surviving competent adult persons of the same degree of kindred, the majority of those persons; fewer than the majority of surviving competent adult persons of the same degree of kindred may exercise the rights and duties of this section if those persons use reasonable efforts to notify all other surviving competent adult persons of the same degree of kindred that they are exercising these rights and duties and are not aware of any opposition by one-half or more of all surviving competent adult persons of the same degree of kindred;
(7) in the case of an indigent or another individual whose final disposition is the responsibility of the state or a municipality, a public administrator, medical examiner, coroner, or another public official charged with arranging the final disposition of the decedent; or
(8) another person who is willing to assume legal and financial responsibility.
(b) If a person takes control of the disposition under (a) of this section, the person is liable for the reasonable costs of the disposition if the assets of the estate or other available assets are not adequate to pay the costs of the disposition.
(c) In this section,

(1) “adult” means a person who is 18 years of age or older;
(2) “competent” means a person who does not suffer from disabilities that prevent the person from managing the person’s property or affairs.
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