Alabama probate leads and inheritance data, by county.

Where probate records appear

Probate Court no statewide probate case search. Alacourt.com and its per case service at pa.alacourt.com cover trial court criminal, civil, small claims, traffic, domestic relations and child support records for a fee and do not list probate among the available record types. Estate files are searched at the county probate court, several of which publish their own online index.

Probate court records in every state

Ways property can avoid ordinary probate

Devolution by operation of law is the main route: real property passes to heirs or devisees at the moment of death under Ala. Code 43-2-830(a), so no filing is needed to move title, though title stays unmarketable until an estate or a quiet title action clears it. Joint tenancy with right of survivorship and revocable living trusts cover the rest. Alabama has no transfer-on-death deed for real estate, and summary distribution reaches personal property only.

Small-estate route

summary distribution under the Revised Alabama Small Estates Act, Ala. Code 43-2-690 to 43-2-698, rewritten by Act 2025-431 effective October 1, 2025. Available only where the decedent owned no real property at death, since the Act defines the estate as the personal property of a decedent who owns no real property at the time of death (43-2-691). The ceiling is the combined homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance under 43-8-110 to 43-8-113 as adjusted by the State Treasurer under 43-8-116: $47,000 for exemptions claimed on or after April 1, 2024, being an $18,800 homestead allowance, an $18,800 family allowance and a $9,400 personal property exemption, rising to $51,175 for exemptions claimed on or after April 1, 2027.

Timing investors should understand

Claims must be presented within six months after the grant of letters or within five months from the date of first publication of notice, whichever is later, and a creditor entitled to actual notice gets 30 days after that notice (Ala. Code 43-2-350). The personal representative publishes notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where letters were granted and mails notice to creditors who are known or reasonably ascertainable within six months of the grant of letters (43-2-60, 43-2-61). On a summary distribution petition the probate court may not order distribution until at least 30 days after publication of the notice and at least 30 days after the Alabama Medicaid Agency receives notice (43-2-692, as rewritten by Act 2025-431). A will is not effective unless filed for probate within five years of the testator's death (43-8-161).