How Do I Get Appointed as Executor in Alabama?

In Alabama, the Probate Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled appoints the personal representative and the Judge of probate issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration; every appointment goes through the court.

State

Document Type

Getting appointed in Alabama

Personal representative (executor if testate, administrator if intestate)

The form that opens the estate

No statewide fill-in form

Attorney-drafted pleading

Start this petition for Alabama — the builder fills it with your answers. You review, sign, and file it with the court.

Where you file

Probate Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled (elected judge of probate; general and original jurisdiction over administration of estates)

What the court issues (with a will)

Letters Testamentary

issued by Judge of probate

Letters are an output — the court issues them after granting the petition.

At a glance

UPC adoptedInformal trackE-filing (self-represented)Self-represented filingLocal/county forms

AlaFile (efile.alacourt.gov) is the statewide e-filing system for the CIVIL divisions of the Unified Judicial System, not for probate. Probate e-filing exists only where the Chief Justice has authorized it — an order of June 23, 2015 authorized electronic filing in certain probate courts — and those courts run their own portals (Shelby County uses Benchmark, by Catalis). Availability therefore varies by county, and many probate courts still accept only paper. Pro se filers are permitted: AlaFile offers "Pro Se Individual" and "Pro Se Business" account types, the 2012 attorney e-filing mandate expressly does not reach self-represented parties, and Shelby’s probate procedures define "party" to include pro se litigants. Even where probate e-filing is available it does not carry the whole packet — Shelby lists original wills and codicils, original Letters filed in an ancillary estate, and surety bonds among the documents that may NOT be e-filed, so the original will and the bond still reach the court on paper.

Alabama has no statewide fillable AOC estate petition or letters form. Each elected county probate court accepts a sworn petition drafted to statute; some counties publish their own local petition packets and cover sheets, and the AOC E-Forms site has a separate "Local County Forms" category carrying local sets for 12 counties (Baldwin, Chambers, Jefferson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Mobile, Morgan, Shelby, Sumter, Washington). The judge of probate produces the Letters locally after granting the petition.

Bond

Required before Letters: Yes
Waivable by will: Yes
Waivable by beneficiaries: No

What to file with the petition

Sworn (verified) petition for letters / for probate of will, stating the decedent, domicile, date of death, heirs/devisees, and the estimated value of the estate
Original will and any codicils (testate estates), to be admitted to probate before letters testamentary issue
Death certificate — a county filing practice, not a statutory requirement; Alabama law does not condition letters on filing one, but a "certified or authenticated" copy is prima facie proof of the fact, place, date and time of death and the identity of the decedent (Ala. Code § 43-8-6(1)), which is what the judge examines the applicant on under § 43-2-45
Bond, unless waived by an express provision in the will (Ala. Code § 43-2-851)
Renunciation / waiver by persons with prior or equal right to serve, where applicable (e.g. spouse, next of kin)
Notice of appointment: published once a week for three successive weeks (within 30 days of the grant of letters) and mailed as soon as practicable to creditors known or reasonably ascertainable by the personal representative within six months from the grant of letters

Small-estate alternative

Bypasses full Letters: Yes
Form name: Petition for Summary Distribution (Small Estates Act)

State-specific notes

Testate: the will is first admitted to probate, then letters testamentary issue to the named executor; if a named executor renounces or fails to apply within 30 days after probate, letters go to the other named executors, then to the residuary/principal legatee with the will annexed (§§ 43-2-20, 43-2-26, 43-2-27). Intestate: letters of administration issue in statutory priority — the husband or widow, then the next of kin entitled to share in the distribution, then the largest creditor of the estate residing in Alabama, then any other person the judge of probate appoints (in counties of 400,000+ or with an elected general/county administrator, that administrator ranks fourth) — and a person with prior right who does not apply within 40 days after the death is known is held to have relinquished it (§§ 43-2-42, 43-2-43(b)). No letters of administration may be granted until 5 days after the death is known (§ 43-2-45). A nonresident cannot serve as administrator unless already the executor or administrator of the same estate duly qualified in another jurisdiction (§ 43-2-22(a)), but a nonresident may serve as executor (§ 43-2-191). Act 2025-431 rewrote the Small Estates Act: summary distribution (Division 10, §§ 43-2-690 to 43-2-696.02) reaches only a decedent who owned NO real property at death, and the cap is no longer a flat figure — the "small estate amount" is the sum of the homestead allowance (§ 43-8-110), exempt property (§ 43-8-111), and the family allowance (§§ 43-8-112, 43-8-113) as CPI-adjusted every three years by the State Treasurer under § 43-8-116 (restated at § 43-2-696.02: "The small estate amount shall at all times be equal to the combined maximum amount of the homestead allowance, exempt property, and family allowance provided under Sections 43-8-110 through 43-8-113, as adjusted pursuant to Section 43-8-116."). TESTATE TIME LIMIT: "Wills shall not be effective unless filed for probate within five years from the date of the death of the testator" (§ 43-8-161) — a bar on the WILL’s effectiveness, not on opening an administration, and there is no parallel outer limit on granting letters of administration. Only the intestate five-day wait (§ 43-2-45) is modelled in `appointmentTiming`; see the comment there.

General information about how a personal representative is appointed, not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions. Data verified Aug 24, 2026

Alabama has no single statewide fill-in petition; the opening document is prepared to statute and filed with the Probate Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled. Judge of probate issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration after the court grants the petition.

Along with the petition, Alabama generally requires: Sworn (verified) petition for letters / for probate of will, stating the decedent, domicile, date of death, heirs/devisees, and the estimated value of the estate; Original will and any codicils (testate estates), to be admitted to probate before letters testamentary issue.

Yes. Alabama requires a bond by default before Letters issue. A will can waive it.

Alabama permits a self-represented person to open an estate. E-filing is open to self-represented filers. The Alabama self-file probate assessment sets self-filing against attorney costs.

Yes. A revocable living trust passes its assets to the beneficiaries without a court appointment in Alabama: no petition, no Letters, no bond. A revocable trust built with SimplyTrust takes about fifteen minutes.

Getting Appointed in Alabama

In Alabama, a personal representative is appointed by the Probate Court of the county where the decedent was domiciled. Judge of probate issues the Letters that prove authority over the estate — Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (no will). Alabama has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code.

Alabama publishes no single statewide fill-in petition; the opening document is prepared to statute and filed with the court. The court filing fee runs $45, and Alabama has no informal (registrar) appointment track, so every appointment goes through the court.

Alabama requires a bond by default before Letters issue, though a will can waive it.

Estates under $47,000 in Alabama may qualify for a simplified procedure that avoids a full appointment entirely. The self-file probate assessment carries an Alabama cost comparison.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 8, 2026

Legal Sources

Ala. Code § 12-19-90(a)(1); Ala. Code § 12-19-90(a)(2)
Ala. Code § 43-2-696.02
Ala. Code § 43-2-851
Ala. Code §§ 43-2-20 to 43-2-27 (letters testamentary); §§ 43-2-40 to 43-2-48 (letters of administration); § 43-2-851 (bond)
Ala. Code §§ 43-2-20, 43-2-40 (letters granted by the probate court; Alabama has no registrar/informal-appointment track)

Data sourced from Alabama statutes and official state code. How we research.

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