Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Employment and Training Services (Unemployment Insurance)

Alaska · Unemployment

labor.alaska.gov/unemployment

State Unemployment Benefits in Alaska

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development administers unemployment insurance. Benefits that were due and payable to a claimant who dies are not paid through the estate: Alaska Stat. 23.20.370 directs the department to pay them to a surviving relative in a set order, beginning with the spouse.

Steps to takeKey facts

Steps to take when someone dies

1
Report the claimant's death to an Alaska unemployment insurance claim center (Anchorage (907) 269-4700, Juneau (907) 465-5552, or Fairbanks (907) 451-2871) so weekly filing and payments stop.
2
Identify the person entitled under Alaska Stat. 23.20.370 — spouse first, then child, parent, sibling, aunt or uncle — and ask the claim center what proof of death and relationship it requires.
3
Ask the department to determine the benefits that were due and payable for weeks the claimant had already certified before death; those are paid to that relative rather than to the estate.
4
If the department issues an overpayment determination for benefits the claimant was not entitled to, request a waiver of repayment within 30 days after the determination becomes final (8 AAC 85.220(a)).
5
The director waives repayment where the individual has died and recovery would be against equity and good conscience (8 AAC 85.220(b)).

State Unemployment Benefits in Alaska: key facts

What Alaska says5

Reporting a death

The claimant's death is reported to an Alaska unemployment insurance claim center so weekly filing and payments stop.1

Benefits at and after the death

Benefits that were due and payable to a claimant who dies are not paid through the estate: Alaska Stat. 23.20.370 directs the department to pay them to a surviving relative in a set order.2

Under Alaska Stat. 23.20.370, a receipt from the person paid discharges the fund.2

Who may claim a final payment

Alaska Stat. 23.20.370 pays benefits due and payable to a deceased claimant, under department regulations, to persons in this order: spouse, child, parent, sister or brother, aunt or uncle.2

The department picks the person within that order whose payment best carries out the purposes of the unemployment law, and the rule does not follow the intestate-succession statutes.2

Overpayments

Under Alaska Stat. 23.20.390(b), benefits paid that the claimant was not entitled to are a debt to the unemployment fund, but the department may absolve the liability where the individual has died and recovery would be against equity and good conscience.3

8 AAC 85.220(b) directs the director to waive repayment where the individual has died, repayment would be against equity and good conscience, and the waiver request meets the regulation's requirements.4

Under 8 AAC 85.220(a), the determination of overpayment liability itself states the right to request a waiver.4

Deadline

A request to waive an overpayment is made within 30 days after the determination of liability becomes final; under 8 AAC 85.220(a) the director may extend that period where the delay was beyond the individual's control.4

Governing law: Alaska Stat. 23.20.370

Deadlines1

Request for a waiver of overpayment repayment

within 30 days of the date the determination of liability becomes final4

Sources4

  1. 1.Unemployment Insurance (Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development)
  2. 2.Alaska Stat. 23.20.370
  3. 3.Alaska Stat. 23.20.390
  4. 4.8 AAC 85.220, Waiver of repayment of overpayments

Alaska unemployment benefits

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Employment and Training Services (Unemployment Insurance)

Juneau claim center

1-907-465-5552

Fairbanks area claim center

1-907-451-2871

Claim centers toll-free line (areas with underserved broadband only)

1-888-252-2557

TTY

711

Hours

10 a.m.–3 p.m. Alaska Standard Time (AKST), Monday–Friday
Verified Aug 2026