What Are the Burial and Cremation Laws in Alaska?

Alaska has no statutory minimum waiting period before cremation. The person with disposition authority under AS 13.75.020 must authorize the cremation. If the decedent left a disposition document stating they did not wish to be cremated, no person may authorize cremation (AS 13.75.070). A burial-transit permit from the local registrar is required before cremation, and is issued once the death certificate has been filed (AS 18.50.250; 7 AAC 05.460).

No. Natural organic reduction (human composting) is not currently authorized in Alaska.

No. Alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation) is not currently authorized in Alaska.

Alaska sets a statutory order for who controls the disposition of remains (AS 13.75.020): Person designated in a disposition document as the disposition agent (AS 13.75.020(a)(1)), then Person serving, or nominated by the decedent in the decedent's will to serve, as personal representative — if acting according to the decedent's written instructions contained in the will (AS 13.75.020(a)(2)), then The individual who was the spouse of the decedent at the time of the decedent's death (AS 13.75.020(a)(3)), and so on. You can also name your own agent to control your remains in a signed, written document before death. You can record those wishes alongside the rest of your estate plan when you create a revocable living trust.

No. Alaska does not require embalming by law. No Alaska statute requires embalming. The commissioner of health may adopt regulations on the transportation of dead bodies "except that the commissioner may not require that a dead body be embalmed unless the body is known to carry a communicable disease or embalmment is otherwise required for the protection of the public health or for compliance with federal law" (AS 18.05.040(a)(4)). If remains cannot reach their intended destination within 24 hours after death, the department may embalm them, but only upon receiving permission from the deceased's family, next of kin, or a person legally responsible for the burial (7 AAC 35.100(c)). A funeral provider may not represent that state or local law requires embalming when it does not, and must disclose that embalming is not required by law except in certain special cases (FTC Funeral Rule, 16 C.F.R. 453.3(a)(1)). Refrigeration is an accepted alternative.

Alaska does not require a licensed funeral director for disposition that does not involve embalming. AS 08.42.020(a) bars an unlicensed person from engaging in the "practice of mortuary science," but AS 08.42.200(3) defines that practice narrowly as embalming, taking charge of remains dead of a communicable disease, preparing bodies for shipment, or directing or supervising funerals. AS 08.42.020(c) expressly provides that "in the event the dead body is to be disposed of in a manner not requiring embalming, the department may issue a permit to an unlicensed person for the care and disposition of dead human bodies for compensation" (the implementing regulation, 12 AAC 50.300, issues that permit for disposal of remains that have been cremated). A family directing its own disposition without compensation falls outside the licensing act entirely. The vital-statistics steps a family must complete — filing the death certificate within 3 days (AS 18.50.230) and obtaining a burial-transit permit from the local registrar (AS 18.50.250) — do not require a licensed funeral director; AS 18.50.230(b) and 18.50.250(a) assign those duties to "the funeral director or person acting as the funeral director" (the regulation, 7 AAC 05.470(a), reads "The funeral director, or person acting as such, who assumes custody of a dead body or fetus for final disposition is responsible for obtaining the burial-transit permit"), and the permit is issued upon filing of the death certificate, not conditioned on funeral-director involvement. Family-directed (home funeral) disposition is therefore legally permitted in Alaska. Embalming, if performed, must be done by a licensed embalmer.

Alaska provides a publicly funded option when a family cannot pay for disposition: Alaska General Relief Assistance (GRA) burial assistance, Alaska Department of Health, Division of Public Assistance. Eligible veterans may also be interred at no cost through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Alaska Department of Health, Division of Public Assistance, administers General Relief Assistance (GRA), which can pay essential funeral and burial costs when a household cannot afford them from its own resources. Applicants file the "General Relief Assistance Burial Application" (form GEN-60). GRA is a payer of last resort, used only when the need cannot be met by any other program, agency, or asset (the household may hold no more than $500 in resources and must be under the GRA net-income limits, and the application requires disclosure of life insurance, burial insurance, crowdfunding accounts, bank accounts, and other liquid resources; the Division may place a claim against the estate or find the applicant personally liable up to the amount paid). Per 7 AAC 47.130, the department pays the vendor that prepares the deceased for burial or cremation at its published general-price-list rates, up to a maximum payment of $1,250 to each vendor for each deceased person for basic funeral and burial services, plus additional necessary costs such as the least expensive reasonably available cemetery plot, cremation if the next of kin requests it, and opening and closing the grave; multiple vendors may be paid when services at different locations are necessary, though only one vendor may be paid for chapel services (the regulation directs the department to review the maximum at least every three years — confirm the current cap with the Division of Public Assistance, 800-478-7778). Separately, where the State Medical Examiner ordered a post-mortem examination, the Department of Health must provide clothing and a casket when the person legally responsible for the burial is unable to pay, and may pay for cremation and inurnment instead at that person's request (AS 12.65.025(b), (c)). Veteran benefits: federal VA burial allowances and benefits are available to eligible Alaska resident veterans (cem.va.gov; veterans.alaska.gov), and Alaska has two VA national cemeteries open for interment of eligible veterans — Fort Richardson National Cemetery (Anchorage) and Sitka National Cemetery (Sitka). The Alaska Office of Veterans Affairs (907-334-0874) coordinates state-level veteran burial support.