Call our Alabama Will Attorneys today at (205) 201-1789
If you die without a valid will in Alabama, the state’s intestacy statute decides who gets what, and a probate judge decides who raises your minor children. A will replaces both with your choices. Phone consultations for estate planning are free; in-person consultations are $100. A simple will is a flat $750.
In short: A last will and testament is the legal document that names your beneficiaries, your executor, and, if you have minor children, their guardian. It takes effect only at death and is carried out through the probate court. Without one, Alabama’s intestate succession law distributes your estate by formula, with no regard for your wishes, your stepchildren, or your partner.
What makes it valid: Under Alabama Code § 43-8-131, a will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by someone at their direction and in their presence), and signed by at least two witnesses. A self-proving affidavit under § 43-8-132 lets the will be admitted without tracking down the witnesses later. Alabama does not recognize handwritten wills without witnesses or oral wills.
What a will cannot do: It does not avoid probate, and it does not control assets with their own beneficiary designations, such as life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts. Those pass by the designation on file, no matter what the will says.
The biggest mistake: Treating the will as finished. Divorce, remarriage, births, deaths, and moves all change what the will should say. Alabama revokes only the ex-spouse provisions after a divorce and leaves the rest, and pen-and-ink edits to a signed will do not count. A five-minute call every few years keeps it current.
Beyond Drafting: The Three Situations That Bring People Back
Will ContestsGrounds, deadlines, and standing to challenge a will in Alabama, and how to defend one as executor.
Executor DutiesYou have been named executor. What the job requires, in order, and the mistakes that create personal liability.
What a Will Does, and What Happens Without One
A will does four things nothing else can do as cleanly. It names the people or organizations who receive your property. It names an executor, the person who gathers your assets, pays your debts, and distributes the rest through the probate court. If you have minor children, it nominates their guardian, the single decision most parents care about most and the one no other document can make. And it can create a trust inside itself, a testamentary trust, that holds a child’s inheritance past Alabama’s age of majority of 19 until ages you choose.
Without a will, Alabama’s intestate succession statute, Alabama Code § 43-8-40 and following, decides for you. A surviving spouse shares the estate with the decedent’s children or parents by a fixed formula that surprises most families; children from a prior relationship can shift the split; stepchildren, unmarried partners, and close friends inherit nothing. The probate court appoints the administrator and, for minor children, chooses the guardian from whoever applies. Every one of those outcomes is what people are trying to avoid when they call.
Beneficiaries
Who receives what: a spouse, children, a partner, a charity, a friend. Specific gifts and the residue, with backups if a beneficiary dies first.
Executor
The person who settles the estate. You choose them and a backup, and you can waive the bond the court would otherwise require.
Guardian for Minor Children
Who raises your children if both parents are gone. Only a will can nominate one, and courts give the nomination great weight.
Testamentary Trust
Holds an inheritance for a child or a vulnerable beneficiary until the right time, managed by a trustee you name. See testamentary trusts.
Keeping the Will Current, and What Happens After You’re Gone
Divorce. Alabama automatically revokes the provisions of a will in favor of a former spouse, and only those. The ex is treated as having died first; everything else stands, including gifts to the ex’s family and the ex as backup executor or guardian. A new will is the fix, and the beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts need the same attention, because federal law can override Alabama’s revocation rule on employer plans. Our updating your will after divorce page walks through it.
Marriage, children, deaths, moves. A new marriage or a child born after the will can give that spouse or child a statutory share the will did not anticipate. A named executor or beneficiary who dies first needs a replacement. A move to Alabama from another state is a good time to confirm the old will’s execution and update it to Alabama practice. Every will we draft comes with a free review call whenever life changes.
The executor’s job. At death, the executor offers the will to the probate court, receives Letters Testamentary, inventories the estate, publishes notice to creditors and waits out the six-month claims window, pays debts and taxes, and distributes under the will. It is a real job with personal liability attached, and most executors have never done it. Our executor duties page lays it out in order, and our probate of estates practice handles it with you.
When a will is challenged. Contests are rare and they are serious. The grounds are execution defects, lack of capacity, undue influence, fraud, and revocation, not unfairness. A challenge is filed in the probate court before the will is admitted or in the circuit court within six months after. We represent both the family member challenging a will and the executor defending one.
How We Prepare Your Will
Most wills are signed within two to three weeks of the first call. Urgent situations, a hospital bedside, an imminent surgery, can be handled faster.
Free Phone Consultation
We learn your family, your assets, and your goals, and tell you whether a will-based plan does the job or whether a trust earns its cost. Flat-fee quote before anything is drafted. A simple will is $750.
Questionnaire
Beneficiaries and backups, executor and backup, guardian for minor children, specific gifts, and any beneficiary who should not inherit outright. This is where a blended family, a child with special needs, or a family business gets its own provisions.
Drafting and Review
The will, and usually a durable power of attorney and health care directive alongside it, drafted and reviewed with you until every clause is understood. Testamentary trust provisions are added where a beneficiary needs them.
Signing
Executed at one of our offices with two disinterested witnesses and a notary, with the self-proving affidavit, so the will is ready for probate without anyone having to find the witnesses later.
Beneficiary Designations
Life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts pass outside the will. We review them so they agree with the plan rather than defeat it, which is the most common way a good will goes wrong.
Storage and Review
You keep the original somewhere your executor can find it, we keep a copy, and you call, free, whenever a marriage, divorce, birth, death, or move means the will should change. A new will or a properly executed codicil, never a handwritten edit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Wills in Alabama
1.How much does a will cost at The Harris Firm LLC?
A simple will is a flat $750. Testamentary trust provisions, powers of attorney, and a health care directive are quoted alongside at your free phone consultation, so you know the full package price before committing. In-person consultations are $100.
2.Is a handwritten will valid in Alabama?
Not without witnesses. Alabama does not recognize holographic wills, so a will written entirely in the testator’s hand is invalid unless it was also signed by two witnesses under Alabama Code § 43-8-131. A handwritten will that was validly executed in another state that accepts them is honored here. Oral wills are never valid in Alabama.
3.Can I change my will by writing on it or attaching a note?
No. Handwritten changes, crossed-out lines, and attached notes are not effective and can put the whole will in question. A change requires either a new will or a codicil, a formal amendment signed with the same two witnesses and self-proving affidavit as the original. For anything more than a single small change, a new will is cleaner and usually costs no more.
4.Does a will avoid probate?
No. A will is the document the probate court carries out; it directs probate rather than avoiding it. Assets with beneficiary designations and assets held in a funded trust pass outside probate. For a modest Alabama estate, probate under a well-drafted will is manageable; where avoiding it matters, a revocable living trust does that work and the will becomes a pour-over backstop.
5.What happens to my will if I get divorced?
Alabama automatically revokes the provisions in favor of your former spouse and treats them as having died before you. Everything else stays: gifts to your ex’s relatives, your ex as backup executor or guardian, and the old structure of the estate. Beneficiary designations on employer retirement plans may not be revoked at all under federal law. A new will after divorce is the safe answer, and the phone call to start it is free.
6.Who should I name as executor?
Someone organized, honest, and willing, who lives close enough to handle the practical work and is likely to outlive you. A spouse or adult child is typical; name a backup. Alabama allows a nonresident to serve as executor under a will, though nonresidents face restrictions as administrators of an intestate estate. The executor can hire an attorney and pay the fee from the estate, so the job does not require legal knowledge, only judgment.
Will Attorneys in Four Alabama Offices
Steven Harris and Christopher Owens prepare wills from Birmingham and Chelsea; John Tyler Winans and Julia Collins from Montgomery; LaTasha Huffman and Rebecca Lee from Huntsville. We serve clients throughout Alabama, and wills are signed at whichever office is closest to you.
Get Your Will Done Right. Free Phone Consultation.
One free call covers your family, your assets, and what the will needs to do. A simple will is a flat $750, signed within a few weeks, and reviewed for free whenever life changes.
Our Will Services Include
✓ Simple wills, $750 flat
✓ Wills with testamentary trusts for minor children
✓ Guardian and executor nominations
✓ Self-proving execution with witnesses and notary
✓ Updates after divorce, marriage, or a move
✓ Will contests, challenging and defending
Phone consultation free. In-person consultation $100. Flat fees quoted before anything is drafted.
Call the Office Nearest You
Birmingham — (205) 201-1789
Chelsea — (205) 677-5490
Huntsville — (256) 665-9473
Montgomery — (334) 782-9938
Related: Alabama Estate Planning Attorneys · Trusts in Alabama · Alabama Probate Attorneys
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