Wrongful Death Deadline vs. Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Alaska's wrongful death deadline and its ordinary personal injury deadline are both two years — but they don't start running from the same event.

Same length, different starting point

Ordinary personal injury claims in Alaska fall under the general two-year statute of limitations, AS 09.10.070, running from the date of injury. Wrongful death claims run on a separate two-year clock under AS 09.55.580, but from the date of death — which matters when someone is injured, survives for a period, and later dies from that injury. In that situation, the wrongful death deadline doesn't start until the death itself, effectively giving the family their own full two-year window separate from whatever remained of the original injury deadline.

The survival action runs separately

Alaska's survival statute, AS 09.55.570, is a different claim from wrongful death — it preserves the decedent's own causes of action that existed at the time of death (like their own pre-death pain and suffering claim), generally following whatever limitations period would have applied to the decedent's own claim. This can mean the survival action and the wrongful death action run on different timelines in the same case, which is worth flagging early with an attorney rather than assuming both automatically align.

Government defendants shorten everything

If a government entity may be responsible for the death, separate and typically much shorter notice requirements usually apply on top of the underlying statute of limitations. Confirm any government-related deadline immediately — waiting to sort this out until closer to the two-year mark can be too late.

This is general information, not legal advice, and deadline rules allow little room for error. Confirm the exact deadline for your situation — especially if a government entity may be involved — with a licensed Alaska attorney immediately.