Alabama Intestate Estates | The Harris Firm LLC

No Will? Alabama Law Wrote One for You. We Help Your Family Navigate It.

When someone dies without a will, Alabama’s intestacy statutes decide who inherits — and the probate court decides who is in charge. The Harris Firm LLC guides families through intestate administrations statewide, with free phone consultations from offices in Birmingham, Chelsea, Huntsville, and Montgomery.

Two things surprise almost every family we help with an intestate estate: the state does not take the property — and the surviving spouse does not automatically get all of it. Who actually inherits depends on a statutory formula most people have never read until it applies to them.

How Alabama Decides Who Inherits

Intestacy is a fixed formula, not a judgment call. The statute looks at who survived the decedent — spouse, children, parents, siblings, and so on down the family tree — and assigns shares in a strict order. A surviving spouse with no children or surviving parents in the picture inherits everything. Add the decedent’s surviving parent, or children of the marriage, and the spouse takes a statutory first slice plus half of the rest. If any of the decedent’s children came from another relationship, the spouse’s share drops to half with no first slice — a rule that regularly stuns blended families.

When there is no surviving spouse, the children inherit everything in equal shares, with a deceased child’s share flowing down to their own children. No spouse or descendants, and the estate climbs the tree: parents, then siblings and their descendants, and outward from there. Property “escheats” to the state only when no eligible relative exists at all — which is genuinely rare.

Note what the formula ignores: unmarried partners, stepchildren who were never adopted, close friends, and charities all take nothing under intestacy — no matter what the decedent intended or promised. That is the real cost of dying without a will, and the reason we encourage every client we help through an intestate estate to get their own estate paperwork in order when it is over.

Who Runs the Estate When No One Was Named

With no will naming an executor, the probate court appoints an administrator under a statutory priority: the surviving spouse first, then next of kin, then others including major creditors if family does not step forward within the statutory windows. The administrator takes an oath, posts a bond sized to the estate, and receives Letters of Administration — the certified authority every bank and title company will ask to see.

Family disagreement over who should serve is one of the most common intestate complications, and it is worth resolving early — competing petitions cost the estate money and poison relationships that are already strained by grief. We regularly help families agree on an administrator, or present the strongest petition when agreement is not possible.

Two more wrinkles worth flagging: minor heirs cannot simply be handed their inheritance — a conservatorship or other protective arrangement is often required until they turn 19 — and smaller estates may skip full administration entirely through Alabama’s small estate summary distribution process, which is faster and far cheaper when it fits.

The Intestate Administration Process

Most intestate estates close in eight months to a year, longer when disputes or unusual assets are involved.

Intestate Estates — Frequently Asked Questions

Sort Out an Estate With No Will — Free Phone Consultation

One free call maps who inherits, who should serve, and what the administration will cost. If a will does exist, our testate estate service handles that path instead.