Wills and estate planning in Alabama

Researched 2026-10-20 · confidence: medium · 2026 figures

In plain words: in Alabama a will is valid when it's signed in front of 2 adult witnesses. There is no state estate tax. The federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 a person in 2026.

Witnesses to a will	2
Handwritten (holographic) will	Not recognised
Self-proving affidavit	Available
Electronic wills	Not allowed
Power of attorney	Notary · Uniform Power of Attorney Act
Health care directive	2 witnesses
State estate tax	No
State inheritance tax	No
Community property	No
Age of majority / UTMA age	19 / 21

Signing a will

Statute: Ala. Code § 43-8-131.

The will and its gifts stay valid when an interested witness signs (Ala. Code § 43-8-134); good practice is still to use disinterested witnesses.

Unwitnessed handwritten wills are not valid; all wills need two witnesses. No electronic-wills statute was found, so wills are paper-only. Age of majority is 19, so a will for a minor beneficiary should use a trust or UTMA custodian until 21. The Alabama Code text was confirmed through Justia and other secondary copies, not the official ALISON site, which could not be fetched. UTMA age 21 (Ala. Code § 35-5A-1 et seq.) is from general knowledge and was not re-verified this pass.

Power of attorney

Statute: Ala. Code § 26-1A-101 et seq. (Alabama Uniform Power of Attorney Act).

§ 26-1A-105 requires only the principal's signature. A notary acknowledgment is not a validity requirement, but it creates the presumption that the signature is genuine and is needed in practice for banks and for recording real estate. Statutory form at § 26-1A-301. Gifts, creating or changing beneficiary designations, trust changes and similar 'hot powers' need an express grant (UPOAA § 201, codified at § 26-1A-201).

Health care directive

Called: Advance Directive for Health Care (Living Will and Health Care Proxy).

Statute: Ala. Code § 22-8A-1 et seq. (Natural Death Act); form at § 22-8A-4.

Witnesses must be at least 19. A witness cannot be the person who signed for the declarant, a relative by blood, adoption or marriage, someone entitled to part of the estate, someone directly financially responsible for the declarant's medical care, or the named health care proxy.

The statutory form is in § 22-8A-4. No form published by a state agency was found; copies are hosted by hospitals and Auburn Extension (aces.edu). The witness rules come from consistent secondary summaries of § 22-8A-4, not the official code text. The directive may be filed with the county probate judge.

If there's no will: what a spouse gets

The first $50,000 plus one-half of the balance of the intestate estate (Ala. Code § 43-8-41(2)).

A spouse's right to a share

The lesser of (1) the whole estate minus the value of the spouse's separate estate, or (2) one-third of the estate (Ala. Code § 43-8-70).

Estate and inheritance tax

No state estate tax.

No inheritance tax.

Probate

Moderate. Summary distribution of small personal-property estates moved to a court petition under 2025 Act 431 (HB164, effective Oct 1, 2025; codified at Ala. Code § 43-2-690 et seq. per secondary sources). The cap is tied to the combined homestead, exempt-property and family allowances and is about $47,000, CPI-indexed. Exact current figure not confirmed on the official site.

Money God drafts a Alabama will, power of attorney and health care directive from a short interview, then you send it to your attorney for review before signing.

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Sources

Researched from state statutes and official forms. Laws change; this page is information, not legal advice. Every Money God draft is reviewed by a licensed attorney in your state before you sign it.