How Long After a Death is a Will Executed?

A will is “executed” the moment it is properly signed. When you write a will in Alabama, assuming you are at least 18 years old, of sound mind, and you follow the signing formalities the law requires, the will is considered executed at the time you and your witnesses sign it, and it remains good indefinitely unless you revoke or replace it.

But most people asking this question mean something different: how long after a death does it take for a will to be carried out? The short answers: the will must be filed for probate within five years of the date of death to be legally effective, and once an estate is opened, it must stay open at least six months so creditors can present their claims.

Put together, a typical Alabama estate takes eight to twelve months from filing to final distribution, while small estates that qualify for summary distribution can finish in a matter of weeks. Everything below walks through both meanings of “executed” and the full timeline, step by step.

The Two Meanings of “Executed”

Lawyers use “execute” in two different ways, and the confusion between them is why this question gets asked so often.

The first meaning is signing. A will is executed when the testator (the person making it) signs it with the required formalities. This happens during life, usually in a lawyer’s office, and has nothing to do with anyone dying. A will executed today is just as valid thirty years from now.

The second meaning is carrying out. After the testator dies, the will gets “executed” in the sense of being performed: filed with the Probate Court, admitted, and its instructions followed by the personal representative until every asset is distributed. When people search for how long after a death a will is executed, this is almost always what they mean, and it’s a process measured in months, not days.

What Makes a Will Validly Executed in Alabama?

Under Alabama Code § 43-8-131, a valid will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by someone else in the testator’s presence and at his or her direction), and attested by at least two witnesses who sign in the testator’s presence. The testator must be at least 18 and of sound mind. That’s the whole recipe, and every element matters: a missing witness signature is the kind of defect that surfaces at the worst possible time, after the person who could fix it is gone.

Alabama does not recognize holographic wills, meaning wills written and signed entirely in the testator’s handwriting without witnesses. Some states allow them; here, an unwitnessed handwritten will is generally not admissible if it was made in Alabama. There is a narrow exception: under § 43-8-135, a will validly executed under the law of the place where it was signed can be admitted here, so a holographic will made by someone who lived in a state that permits them may still count. Don’t rely on that; get it witnessed.

One more feature worth having: a self-proving affidavit under § 43-8-132, where the testator and witnesses sign notarized statements at execution. A self-proved will can be admitted to probate without tracking down the witnesses years later to testify, which removes one of the most common sources of delay. Every will our Alabama will attorneys prepare is executed with a self-proving affidavit for exactly this reason.

How Long Do You Have to Probate a Will After a Death?

Five years. Under Alabama Code § 43-8-161, a will must be filed for probate within five years of the testator’s death, or it cannot be admitted at all. Miss that window and the will becomes a legally meaningless piece of paper: the estate passes under Alabama’s intestacy laws as if the will never existed, no matter how clear the testator’s wishes were.

Two related points people get wrong. First, you are not legally required to probate a will in Alabama. If the estate holds nothing that needs court authority to transfer, the family can simply not open an estate. But an unprobated will has no legal authority, so if you want its terms to actually control anything, it must be probated. Second, “within five years” is a deadline, not a suggestion to wait. Delay makes everything harder: witnesses move or die, assets drift, memories fade, and creditors’ interest compounds. Most families should file within weeks or a few months of the death, and our article on whether you have to go through probate when someone dies covers how to tell if your situation requires opening an estate at all.

The Probate Timeline, Step by Step

Here’s what actually happens after death, and how long each stage takes in a typical Alabama estate:

Weeks 1–4: Filing and Letters. The person named as personal representative (executor) takes the original will to the Probate Court in the county where the deceased lived and petitions to have it admitted. With a self-proved will and no objections, the court admits the will and issues Letters Testamentary, the document that gives the executor legal authority to act. If the will isn’t self-proved, add time to locate witnesses. If no will exists, the court appoints an administrator and issues Letters of Administration instead.

Months 1–2: Notice and inventory. The executor publishes notice to creditors in a local newspaper, gives direct notice to known creditors, and begins collecting the assets: bank accounts, vehicles, real estate, personal property. A testator who left an asset inventory with the will makes this stage dramatically easier, which is why we encourage clients to keep one; the executor may not have had intimate knowledge of everything the deceased owned.

Months 1–6: The creditor claim window. Under Alabama Code § 43-2-350, creditors generally have six months from the grant of letters to present claims against the estate. This is the floor under every Alabama probate timeline: the estate cannot safely close before the window ends, which is why even the simplest estate runs at least six months. During this stretch the executor pays valid claims, disputes invalid ones, and keeps estate funds intact.

Months 6–12: Distribution and closing. Once the claim window closes and debts, expenses, and any taxes are handled, the executor distributes what remains according to the will and files for final settlement. In a smooth estate, this lands the whole process at eight to twelve months from filing. Estates with real estate to sell, family friction, or complicated assets run longer.

The fast lane: small estates. If the estate holds only personal property below the Small Estates Act threshold (roughly $47,000 for deaths in 2026, adjusted annually), summary distribution can skip the full process entirely: one petition, published notice, a 30-day wait, and an order directing payment. No letters, no six-month window. Many modest estates qualify and finish in about six to eight weeks.

When Do Beneficiaries Actually Get Paid?

This is the question underneath the question. Beneficiaries generally receive their inheritances after the creditor window closes and debts are resolved, meaning roughly seven to twelve months after the estate opens in a typical case. A few wrinkles:

• Partial early distributions are possible when the estate is clearly solvent, but a careful executor waits, because distributions made before creditors are paid can come back on the executor personally.
• Specific gifts (the car to a grandson, a ring to a daughter) often move earlier than the residuary estate, at the executor’s reasonable discretion.
• Non-probate assets skip the line entirely. Life insurance, retirement accounts, payable-on-death accounts, and jointly owned property with survivorship pass directly to the named beneficiary or co-owner within weeks of providing a death certificate, regardless of what the will says or how long probate takes. A family can be waiting on probate for the house while the life insurance paid out in week three.

What Can Delay a Will Being Carried Out?

When an estate blows past the twelve-month mark, one of these is usually why:

1. A will contest. Under Alabama Code § 43-8-190, an interested person can contest a will’s validity, generally within six months after it’s admitted to probate, on grounds like undue influence, lack of capacity, or improper execution. A contest converts a paperwork process into litigation and can add a year or more.
2. A will that wasn’t self-proved, requiring witness testimony that’s hard to obtain decades after signing.
3. Insolvent or debt-heavy estates, where claims exceed assets and priority fights follow.
4. Real estate that must be sold, especially with a soft market or co-owner disputes.
5. Missing heirs or beneficiaries who must be located and noticed.
6. Family conflict over personal property, the executor’s decisions, or old grievances the death reopened.
7. An executor who mishandles the paperwork. Probate can legally be done without an attorney, but errors in notices, claims handling, or accountings get expensive. A mishandled estate can cost thousands once creditors or beneficiaries involve the court, which is more than competent help costs in the first place. Our Alabama probate of estates lawyers spend a good share of their time straightening out estates that started as do-it-yourself projects.

How Long Does the Executor Have to Finish the Job?

Alabama law doesn’t put a single hard deadline on completing an administration, but that doesn’t mean an executor can sit on an estate forever. The executor is a fiduciary, legally obligated to administer the estate with reasonable diligence and to account for every dollar. The practical checkpoints: letters should be sought promptly after death, the inventory of estate assets is due to the court within a couple of months of appointment unless the will waives it, the creditor window fixes the six-month floor, and after that, unreasonable delay starts exposing the executor to consequences.

If an executor drags an estate out for years without cause, beneficiaries are not stuck waiting politely. Any interested person can petition the Probate Court to compel an accounting, forcing the executor to show what’s been done and where the money is. In cases of real neglect, self-dealing, or incapacity, the court can remove the executor and appoint a successor. And an executor who causes losses through mismanagement can be held personally liable on their bond. In our experience, most stalled estates aren’t malicious; they’re an overwhelmed family member who didn’t know the steps. But the remedies exist, and sometimes a letter from a probate attorney reminding an executor of them is all it takes to get a two-year-old estate moving again.

One deadline worth repeating from the other side: heirs and beneficiaries who believe the will itself is invalid can’t wait indefinitely either. The contest clock under § 43-8-190 is short, so anyone with genuine concerns about how a will was signed or procured needs legal advice immediately after the will is offered for probate, not after the estate closes.

Do Taxes Slow Down an Alabama Estate?

Less than people fear. Alabama has no state inheritance tax and no state estate tax, so nothing owed to Montgomery holds up distributions. The federal estate tax only touches estates above a very high exemption (several million dollars per person under current law), which means the overwhelming majority of Alabama estates owe no estate tax at all and file no estate tax return.

What can add a little time is income tax housekeeping: the deceased’s final individual return, and, if the estate earns income while open (interest, rent, sale gains), a fiduciary income tax return for the estate itself. A careful executor also waits to distribute until any tax liabilities are known, since taxes owed are a debt of the estate. For a typical family estate, this is a few extra weeks of accountant time inside the existing timeline, not a separate delay stacked on top. Where it does get complicated, larger estates, business interests, or a sale of appreciated property, the executor should get tax advice early rather than at closing, and that’s a coordination our probate attorneys handle routinely with the family’s CPA.

What If There’s No Will?

Someone who dies without a valid will dies “intestate,” and Alabama’s intestacy statutes decide who inherits. The scheme prioritizes the surviving spouse and the deceased’s “issue,” a legal term meaning all lineal descendants: children (natural and adopted), grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on down the line. The timeline for an intestate estate runs the same as a testate one, letters through the six-month window through distribution, except the court appoints the administrator (with statutory priority going to the spouse and next of kin) and the statute, rather than the deceased, picks the beneficiaries. The five-year deadline concept doesn’t apply, but the practical costs of waiting do.

The Bottom Line

Your will is executed the day you sign it correctly: two witnesses, sound mind, age 18, ideally self-proved before a notary. After a death, the will must reach the Probate Court within five years or it counts for nothing, and once filed, expect the estate to take a minimum of six months because of the creditor window, with eight to twelve months being the realistic range and small estates finishing in weeks through summary distribution. The single best things a family can do to shorten the timeline are done in advance: a properly executed, self-proved will, an asset inventory kept with it, and beneficiary designations kept current so the major assets never touch probate at all.

If you’ve lost a loved one and need to get an estate opened, or you want your own will executed properly so your family never has to guess, The Harris Firm LLC can help. Phone consultations on probate and estate matters are free, and a simple Last Will and Testament is a flat $750. We serve families across Alabama through our Birmingham probate attorneys, Chelsea probate attorneys, and Montgomery probate attorneys, with Huntsville families served through our office there as well. Call us at (205) 201-1789 and we’ll tell you exactly where your situation stands and what the timeline looks like from here.

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