Alabama Probate Court: What It Does and How to Navigate It

Most people encounter probate court under the worst circumstances — grieving, overwhelmed, and handed a stack of court forms by a lawyer they just met. Understanding what probate court actually does, and what it doesn't do, removes a lot of the fear from the process.

Alabama probate courts are county-level courts. There is one probate court per county — 67 counties, 67 courts — and each is presided over by an elected Probate Judge. The court is the legal forum where a deceased person's estate is officially administered: debts are cleared, assets are inventoried, and ownership of property is transferred to heirs.

What Probate Court Actually Does

When someone dies leaving solely owned assets — bank accounts, real estate, personal property — those assets have no legal owner until a court says otherwise. The probate court provides that legal mechanism. Specifically, it:

Validates the will. If the deceased left a will, the court reviews it for legal sufficiency and admits it to probate. This is a prerequisite for the executor to act with legal authority.

Issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration. These are the documents that actually empower the executor to access accounts, sign titles, and act on behalf of the estate. Without them, banks and the DMV will turn you away. With a will, the court issues Letters Testamentary. Without a will (intestate), it issues Letters of Administration after appointing an administrator.

Oversees creditor notification. The executor must publish a Notice to Creditors in a local newspaper for three consecutive weeks and notify known creditors directly. The court supervises this process and enforces the six-month creditor claim window before final distributions can happen.

Reviews the estate inventory. Within 60 days of appointment, the executor must file a sworn, itemized inventory of all estate assets with the court — each asset described and valued as of the date of death.

Approves final distributions. After all valid creditor claims are settled and the administration period concludes, the court approves the final accounting and distribution of assets to heirs.

Which County Probate Court Do You Use

You file in the county where the deceased was legally domiciled (their permanent residence) at the time of death. If the deceased lived in Jefferson County, you file in Jefferson County Probate Court. If they lived in Mobile County, you file there.

The only exception is when there's no property in Alabama at all but the deceased was domiciled elsewhere — that situation rarely arises for resident estate settlements.

How Much It Costs to File

Filing costs vary meaningfully by county, and that variation surprises many executors. Here's what you'll encounter at the major courts:

These are base statutory filing fees. By the time you add judicial review fees, multiple certified copies of the Letters, newspaper publication invoices, and court recording fees, the practical startup cost for opening a probate estate typically runs $300 to $600 before attorney fees enter the picture.

How Long Does Probate Court Take in Alabama

The hard minimum is six months. Alabama Code § 43-2-350 requires creditors to have a full six-month window to file claims against the estate, measured from the grant of letters or five months from the first creditor publication, whichever is later. The court will not approve final distributions until that window closes and all valid claims are settled.

In practice, straightforward estates with a clear will, few assets, and no creditor disputes often close within nine to twelve months. Contested estates — disputes over the will's validity, fiduciary misconduct claims, Medicaid recovery complications — routinely extend to two years or longer.

Factors that accelerate the timeline:

• All assets are straightforward to value
• No real estate disputes
• Creditors are known and paid quickly
• The will is self-proving (notarized affidavit from witnesses already included)

Factors that delay it:

• Real estate requiring appraisal
• Out-of-state assets
• Unknown creditors surfacing late
• Family disagreements triggering adversarial court proceedings
• Alabama Medicaid Agency recovery claims (which run on their own 30-day clock)

Do You Need an Attorney

For full probate administration in Alabama, retaining a licensed probate attorney is functionally necessary, not optional. Alabama law draws a clear line: an executor appearing in court on behalf of the estate is representing the legal interests of third parties (heirs and creditors), which constitutes the practice of law. Filing petitions, negotiating creditor settlements, and appearing before the judge as an unlicensed person is unauthorized practice of law — a misdemeanor under Alabama Code § 34-3-1.

Probate attorneys typically charge 3% to 6% of the estate's gross value, and those fees are paid from estate funds — not out of the executor's pocket — after court approval.

Small Estate Summary Distribution: Skipping Full Probate

Not every estate requires full court administration. Alabama's Revised Small Estates Act (effective October 2025) allows estates with no real property and total personal property value under approximately $47,000 to use a streamlined summary distribution process. The filing fee is lower (Jefferson County charges $50 flat, for instance), the timeline is compressed, and no formal court hearings are required.

The catch: you still file in probate court, you still must wait 30 days from the date of death before filing, you still must notify the Alabama Medicaid Agency, and distributions can't happen until 30 days after publication of notice. It's faster and cheaper than full probate — but it's not a way to completely bypass the probate court.

For a complete breakdown of Alabama's probate process — including the exact forms required, county-level contacts, and a timeline calendar for hitting every statutory deadline — see the Alabama Estate Settlement Guide.

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