Call our Alabama Will Attorneys today at (205) 201-1789
Most executors learn what the job involves in the week after a funeral, holding a will and a stack of mail. The job is manageable with guidance and dangerous without it. The estate pays for the attorney; the first call is free.
In short: The executor offers the will for probate, receives Letters Testamentary, gathers and inventories the estate, notifies creditors and waits out the claims window, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains under the will. Then the executor accounts to the court and the beneficiaries and closes the estate.
The duties: An executor owes the beneficiaries loyalty, prudence, and evenhandedness. No commingling estate funds with personal funds, no self-dealing, no favoring one beneficiary, and no distributing before debts are settled. Breach the duties and the executor can be surcharged personally and removed.
The timeline: Alabama’s creditor claims window runs six months from the grant of Letters, so no estate closes faster than that. A typical uncontested estate takes eight to twelve months; real estate, a business, or a dispute among heirs extends it.
Compensation: An executor is entitled to reasonable compensation within the limits Alabama law sets, and to reimbursement of expenses, including attorney fees, from the estate. Many family executors waive the fee. None should waive counsel.
An Executor’s Duties, in the Order They Come
Get appointed. Locate the original will, order death certificates, and file a petition with the probate court in the county where the decedent lived. Once the will is admitted and the executor qualifies, the court issues Letters Testamentary, the document that gives the executor authority to act. Nothing can be sold, closed, or transferred before that.
Secure and inventory. Take control of the assets: real estate, accounts, vehicles, personal property, and anything owed to the decedent. Open an estate bank account under the estate’s tax identification number and run every dollar through it. File the inventory the court requires with date-of-death values, which also fixes the beneficiaries’ tax basis.
Creditors and taxes. Publish notice to creditors and give actual notice to the ones you know about. Alabama’s nonclaim statute bars most claims not presented within six months of the grant of Letters. Pay valid claims in the statutory priority, funeral and administration expenses first, and file the decedent’s final income tax return and the estate’s returns. Distribute before this is done and the executor may owe the shortfall personally.
Distribute and close. Pay specific gifts, then the residue, under the will’s terms. Fund any testamentary trust. Take receipts and releases from each beneficiary. File the final accounting or the waivers that replace it, and ask the court to discharge the executor. That order ends the personal exposure.
When the Executor Isn’t Doing the Job
Beneficiaries have rights, and Alabama courts enforce them. A beneficiary is entitled to know the estate is open, to see the inventory, to receive an accounting, and to be distributed under the will once debts are settled. An executor who will not communicate, will not account, or is sitting on assets a year past the claims window can be compelled by petition, surcharged for losses, and removed.
We represent beneficiaries in those petitions and executors defending against them. Most disputes resolve once the numbers are on the table. The ones that do not usually involve an executor who mixed funds, sold estate property to themselves or a relative below value, or paid themselves without court approval, and those are provable from the records.
If the will itself is the problem rather than the executor, a will contest has its own grounds and deadlines. If the decedent left no will at all, the process runs under Alabama’s intestacy statute with an administrator instead of an executor; see our probate of estates page.
How We Guide an Executor
The estate pays for the attorney. The first call is free.
Free Phone Consultation
We read the will, identify the assets and the likely complications, and tell you what the first thirty days look like. Fee quoted before anything else happens.
Petition and Letters
The petition for probate, notice to heirs, the hearing if one is required, and Letters Testamentary. Bond waived where the will allows.
Inventory, Notices, and Claims
The estate account, the inventory with date-of-death values, published and actual creditor notice, and the six-month claims window managed.
Taxes, Distribution, and Discharge
Final returns, valid claims paid in priority, distributions with receipts and releases, and the final settlement that discharges the executor.
Executor Duties — Frequently Asked Questions
1.What does an executor do in Alabama?
Offers the will for probate and obtains Letters Testamentary, gathers and inventories the estate, notifies creditors and waits out the six-month claims window, pays valid debts and taxes, distributes under the will, and accounts to the court and beneficiaries before being discharged. The executor is a fiduciary throughout.
2.How long does an executor have to settle an estate in Alabama?
There is no fixed deadline to finish, but the estate cannot close before the six-month creditor claims window runs from the grant of Letters. A typical uncontested estate takes eight to twelve months. Real estate to sell, a business, or a dispute among heirs extends it. An executor who stalls without reason can be compelled to act.
3.Can an executor be paid?
Yes. Alabama law allows reasonable compensation within statutory limits, plus reimbursement of expenses, including the estate’s attorney fees. Many family executors waive the fee. Compensation should be documented in the accounting either way.
4.Can I be held personally liable as executor?
Yes, for losses caused by breaching your duties: distributing before debts are paid and leaving a creditor short, commingling funds, self-dealing, or mismanaging assets. Following the process, keeping records, and taking counsel before major decisions is what keeps the liability theoretical.
5.Do I need an attorney to serve as executor?
Not legally, but nearly every executor benefits from one, and the estate pays the fee. The attorney handles the court filings, the creditor process, and the accounting, and tells you what not to do. Most executor liability we see comes from estates handled without counsel.
6.What if I don’t want to serve?
You can decline before qualifying, and the alternate named in the will, or the court’s choice if none, serves instead. Once you have qualified and received Letters, resigning requires the court’s permission and an accounting of what you did while serving.
Named Executor? Free Phone Consultation.
One free call tells you what the job requires, what the first thirty days look like, and what it costs, paid by the estate rather than by you.
Our Executor Service Includes
✓ Petition for probate and Letters Testamentary
✓ Estate account, tax ID, and inventory
✓ Creditor notices and the six-month claims window
✓ Final tax returns and claim priority
✓ Distributions, receipts, releases, and testamentary trust funding
✓ Final settlement and discharge of the executor
Call the Office Nearest You
Birmingham — (205) 201-1789
Chelsea — (205) 677-5490
Huntsville — (256) 665-9473
Montgomery — (334) 782-9938
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