2022 Alaska Statutes
Title 13. Decedents' Estates, Guardianships, Transfers, Trusts, and Health Care Decisions
Chapter 12. Intestacy, Wills, and Donative Transfers
Article 9. General Provisions Concerning Probate and Nonprobate Transfers.
Sec. 13.12.803. Effect of homicide on intestate succession, wills, trusts, joint assets, life insurance, and beneficiary designations.

(a) An individual who feloniously kills the decedent forfeits all benefits under this chapter with respect to the decedent's estate, including an intestate share, an elective share, an omitted spouse's or child's share, a homestead allowance, exempt property, and a family allowance. If the decedent died intestate, the decedent's intestate estate passes as if the killer disclaimed the killer's intestate share.

(b) The felonious killing of the decedent

(1) revokes a revocable

(A) disposition or appointment of property made by the decedent to the killer in a governing instrument;

(B) provision in a governing instrument conferring a general or nongeneral power of appointment on the killer; and

(C) nomination of the killer in a governing instrument, nominating or appointing the killer to serve in fiduciary or representative capacity, including a personal representative, executor, trustee, or agent; and

(2) severs the interests of the decedent and killer in property held by them at the time of the killing as joint tenants with the right of survivorship, transforming the interests of the decedent and killer into tenancies in common.

(c) A severance under (b)(2) of this section does not affect a third-party interest in property acquired for value and in good faith reliance on an apparent title by survivorship in the killer unless a writing declaring the severance has been noted, registered, filed, or recorded in records that are appropriate to the kind and location of the property and that are relied upon, in the ordinary course of transactions involving the type of property, as evidence of ownership.

(d) Provisions of a governing instrument are given effect as if the killer disclaimed all provisions revoked by this section or, in the case of a revoked nomination in a fiduciary or representative capacity, as if the killer predeceased the decedent.

(e) A wrongful acquisition of property or interest by a killer not covered by this section shall be treated in accordance with the principle that a killer may not profit from the killer's wrong.

(f) After all right to appeal has been exhausted, a judgment of conviction establishing criminal accountability for the felonious killing of the decedent conclusively establishes the convicted individual as the decedent's killer for purposes of this section. In the absence of a conviction, the court, upon the petition of an interested person, shall determine whether, under the preponderance of evidence standard, the individual would be found criminally accountable for the felonious killing of the decedent. If the court determines that, under that standard, the individual would be found criminally accountable for the felonious killing of the decedent, the determination conclusively establishes that individual as the decedent's killer for purposes of this section.

(g) A payor or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument affected by a felonious killing, or for having taken other action in good faith reliance on the validity of the governing instrument, upon request and satisfactory proof of the decedent's death, before the payor or other third party received written notice of a claimed forfeiture or revocation under this section. A payor or other third party is liable for a payment made or other action taken after the payor or other third party receives written notice of a claimed forfeiture or revocation under this section.

(h) Written notice of a claimed forfeiture or revocation under (g) of this section shall be mailed to the payor's or other third party's main office or home by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or served upon the payor or other third party in the same manner as a summons in a civil action. Upon receipt of written notice of a claimed forfeiture or revocation under this section, a payor or other third party may pay an amount owed or transfer or deposit an item of property held by it to or with the court having jurisdiction of the probate proceedings relating to the decedent's estate, or if proceedings have not been commenced, to or with the court in the judicial district of the decedent's residence. The court shall hold the funds or item of property and, upon the court's determination under this section, shall order disbursement in accordance with the determination. Payments, transfers, or deposits made to or with the court discharge the payor or other third party from all claims for the value of amounts paid to or items of property transferred to or deposited with the court.

(i) A person who purchases property for value and without notice, or who receives a payment or other item of property in partial or full satisfaction of a legally enforceable obligation, is not obligated under this section to return the payment, item of property, or benefit, or liable under this section for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit. However a person who, not for value, receives a payment, an item of property, or other benefit to which the person is not entitled under this section is obligated to return the payment, item of property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who is entitled to it under this section.

(j) If this section or part of this section is preempted by federal law with respect to a payment, an item of property, or other benefit covered by this section, a person who, not for value, receives the payment, item of property, or other benefit to which the person is not entitled under this section is obligated to return the payment, item of property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or benefit, to the person who would have been entitled to it if this section or part of this section were not preempted.

(k) In the case of an unintentional felonious killing, a court may set aside the application of (a), (b), (d), or (e) of this section if the court makes special findings of fact and conclusions of law that the application of the subsection would result in a manifest injustice and that the subsection should not be applied.

(l) In this section,

(1) “disposition or appointment of property” includes a transfer of an item of property or other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument;

(2) “governing instrument” means a governing instrument executed by the decedent;

(3) “revocable,” with respect to a disposition, appointment, provision, or nomination, means a disposition, appointment, provision, or nomination under which the decedent, at the time of or immediately before death, was alone empowered, by law or under the governing instrument, to cancel the designation in favor of the killer, whether or not the decedent was then empowered to designate the decedent in place of the decedent's killer or the decedent then had capacity to exercise the power.