Alaska's Care and Disposal Permit: How Unlicensed Families Can Legally Handle a Funeral

Most people assume you have to hire a licensed funeral director when someone dies. Alaska does not require that. Under Alaska Statute AS 08.42.020, the state explicitly permits unlicensed persons to apply for a Care and Disposal Permit — a formal authorization that allows a family member or designated individual to manage the preparation, transportation, and final disposition of a body without commercial funeral home involvement.

This is not a loophole or a gray area. It is a written statutory provision. Whether you are a family with strong cultural reasons to manage the process yourselves, a rural community where a licensed mortician is not practically accessible, or someone trying to avoid paying thousands of dollars in professional service fees for a simple direct burial, the permit pathway exists for you.

But using it correctly requires understanding exactly what the statute allows, where the practical limits are, and which tasks still require licensed professionals regardless of the permit.

What AS 08.42.020 Actually Says

Alaska Statute AS 08.42.020 governs the practice of mortuary science in the state. Subsection (c) of that statute carves out a specific exemption: unlicensed persons may be granted a permit to care for and dispose of the dead, provided that no embalming is involved.

The embalming restriction is the key boundary. Embalming is the chemical preservation of a body using arterial injection of formaldehyde-based compounds, and it is a licensed practice in Alaska. An unlicensed family member cannot legally perform embalming under the Care and Disposal Permit. If embalming is required — either because of a communicable disease death under 7 AAC 35.090, or because the body will be shipped via commercial airline to a destination state that mandates embalmed remains — a licensed embalmer must be engaged for that specific step.

For everything else — transportation within Alaska, preparing the body for viewing at home, direct burial, or delivering the body to a crematory — the permit authorizes the family to act.

Who Can Apply for the Permit

The Care and Disposal Permit application goes through the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED), specifically through the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (CBPL). The applicant must be the legal next of kin or a designated agent holding authority under the AS 13.75.020 disposition hierarchy.

The hierarchy under AS 13.75.020 determines who holds legal control over the remains. In order of priority: a designated agent named in a formal disposition document, the personal representative acting on written will instructions, the surviving spouse, the majority of surviving adult children, then surviving parents, then next of kin. If multiple people share equal priority and disagree, the CBPL will not process conflicting claims — the dispute must be resolved before the permit can be issued.

If the death occurred in circumstances requiring State Medical Examiner jurisdiction (sudden, violent, unexplained, or unattended deaths under AS 12.65.020), the SMEO must complete its investigation and issue a clearance before any family-directed handling of the body can begin. The Care and Disposal Permit does not bypass SMEO jurisdiction.

The Practical Workflow: Death to Disposition Without a Funeral Home

Here is what the process looks like when a family exercises the Care and Disposal Permit pathway:

Step 1: Medical certification. The attending physician, APRN, or physician assistant must complete and sign the medical portion of the death certificate within 24 hours of death. If no physician was attending the death, the State Medical Examiner assumes jurisdiction and the family must wait for SMEO clearance before proceeding.

Step 2: File the death certificate. The family member assumes the role of the filing agent — the role a funeral director would otherwise play. Under AS 18.50.230, the demographic portions of the death certificate must be completed and filed with the local registrar within three days of death and before any disposition takes place. The family gathers the required personal data from the next of kin and submits the paper death certificate directly to the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

Step 3: Obtain a Burial Transit Permit. Under 7 AAC 05.460, a Burial Transit Permit (BTP) is required before the body can be transported, stored beyond 72 hours, or finally disposed of by burial or cremation. The local registrar or subregistrar issues the BTP after confirming the death certificate has been initiated and there is no medical examiner flag on the case.

Step 4: Apply for the Care and Disposal Permit. Contact the DCCED's CBPL Mortuary Science program to obtain the Application for Care and Disposal of Human Remains Permit. This document formally establishes the family's legal right to proceed without a licensed funeral director.

Step 5: Execute disposition. With the BTP and permit in hand, the family can proceed with burial on private land (subject to DEC guidelines), deliver the body to a licensed crematory for cremation, or arrange other lawful disposition methods.

The Known Shipper Problem: Where Air Transport Complicates Things

The Care and Disposal Permit gives families broad authority on the ground. It does not solve the air transport problem, and in Alaska — where many communities are only accessible by air — this is a critical limitation.

TSA regulations require that all commercial air freight shippers of human remains hold "Known Shipper" status, a federal security designation. Alaska Airlines Cargo and most regional carriers will not accept a body tendered by a private individual. This means that if the body needs to travel by air — from a remote village to a crematory in Anchorage, or out of the state entirely — the family will practically need to engage a licensed funeral home or an approved medical institution to act as the Known Shipper intermediary.

The strategic workaround many families use is to engage the funeral home for the bare minimum: the forwarding of remains service under FTC Funeral Rule pricing. The funeral home acts as the Known Shipper and tenders the body to the airline. The family holds the Care and Disposal Permit and directs everything else. This hybrid approach captures the cost savings of the family-directed model while navigating the federal aviation requirement.

If the body is being cremated and the family is transporting cremated remains (ashes) rather than the whole body, the Known Shipper issue disappears — cremated remains can be carried on a commercial flight as carry-on or checked baggage, subject to TSA screening, without requiring Known Shipper status.

For a complete explanation of the air cargo requirements and how to structure a hybrid family-directed arrangement, the Alaska Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide covers the Known Shipper framework in detail.

What the Permit Does Not Cover

Several tasks remain outside the scope of what an unlicensed permit authorizes:

Embalming. As stated above, this is the hard line. Any arterial or cavity embalming must be performed by a licensed embalmer.

Death certificates for medical examiner cases. If the SMEO has jurisdiction, the family cannot file the death certificate until the Medical Examiner completes the investigation and returns jurisdiction. The 10-day clock on the SMEO's release authorization form begins ticking after the examination concludes — failing to file the release authorization within that window results in the body being reclassified as unclaimed and released to a rotational funeral home.

Cremation authorization disputes. If family members disagree on cremation, the crematory is legally protected under AS 13.75.020 in refusing to proceed until the dispute is resolved. The Care and Disposal Permit does not override a factional dispute among equally-ranked next of kin.

Burials in Anchorage. The Municipality of Anchorage prohibits private land burial and requires interment in approved cemeteries. A Care and Disposal Permit covers the legal authority to handle the body — it does not override Anchorage's municipal cemetery ordinance.

The Financial Case for the Permit

A licensed funeral director's basic service fee in Alaska averages between $1,500 and $2,200 before any merchandise or additional services are added. For a direct cremation, that basic service fee often represents the largest single line item on the invoice. For families who qualify and who can manage the paperwork themselves, the Care and Disposal Permit eliminates that charge entirely.

For rural and Alaska Native families with limited resources, the permit also interacts favorably with the state's financial assistance programs. If you are pursuing General Relief Assistance (GRA) from the Division of Public Assistance or BIA Burial Assistance through a tribal organization, holding the Care and Disposal Permit and managing the process directly means the limited assistance funds stretch further — you are not spending GRA dollars on professional service fees that you legally do not need to pay.

GRA caps assistance at $1,250, and the BIA program through organizations like AVCP or Tlingit & Haida can provide up to $2,500. Neither amount covers a traditional full-service funeral. Used in combination with the Care and Disposal Permit, families can often close the gap between the assistance maximum and a dignified, lawful disposition.

One Practical Note on Timing

The 48-hour disposition authority rule under AS 13.75.020 applies here. If the person holding primary authority fails to exercise it within 48 hours of being notified of the death, that authority legally passes to the next person in the hierarchy. If you intend to use the Care and Disposal Permit, act promptly. Delays in establishing your legal authority can inadvertently forfeit your right to direct the disposition entirely, even before you have had a chance to apply for the permit.

The Alaska Funeral Laws & Consumer Rights Guide includes the full text of the disposition authority hierarchy, a fillable disposition document template compliant with AS 13.75.030, and step-by-step instructions for applying for the Care and Disposal Permit so your family can move quickly and confidently.

See more Alaska guides →