When an Alabama resident dies without a valid will, state law decides who inherits. The rules of Alabama intestate succession, set out in Title 43, Chapter 8 of the Alabama Code, pass property to the closest living relatives in a fixed order: the surviving spouse and descendants first, then parents, then siblings and their children, then grandparents and their descendants. Exactly how much each person receives depends on who else survives, and dollar thresholds in the statute can shift tens of thousands of dollars from one relative to another.
What Property These Rules Actually Cover
Intestate succession only controls property that was in the deceased person’s name alone at death with no built-in transfer mechanism. Real estate titled solely to the decedent, individual bank accounts without a payable-on-death designation, and personal belongings like vehicles and furniture fall into this category. These are the probate assets, and they must pass through probate court before heirs receive them.
Many valuable assets skip the process entirely. Life insurance proceeds go to the named beneficiary. Retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs with designated beneficiaries transfer directly. Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving co-owner. None of that is governed by intestate succession, no matter what the statute would otherwise say. Before applying the rules below, separate the assets that transfer automatically from the ones that don’t.
Allowances That Come Off the Top
Before intestate shares are calculated, Alabama law gives the surviving spouse — or, if there is no surviving spouse, the minor and dependent children — a set of protected allowances that come out of the estate first. These take priority over almost all other claims, including most creditors.
The homestead allowance is $15,000.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code Title 43 – 43-8-110 If there is no surviving spouse, minor and dependent children split that same $15,000 among them. The estate also provides an exempt property allowance and a family allowance for reasonable maintenance during administration. Combined, these allowances total roughly $47,000. They come out before anything is divided under the shares below, so for smaller estates they can absorb most or all of what’s available.
What the Surviving Spouse Inherits
The spouse’s share depends entirely on who else is alive. The statute sets out four scenarios.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-41 – Share of the Spouse
- No surviving descendants or parents: the spouse inherits the entire intestate estate.
- Surviving descendants who are all also descendants of the spouse: the spouse receives the first $50,000 in value plus one-half of what remains; the descendants split the rest.
- Surviving parents but no descendants: the spouse receives the first $100,000 in value plus one-half of what remains; the parent or parents inherit the rest.
- Surviving descendants where at least one is not the spouse’s child: the spouse receives one-half of the estate, and the descendants receive the other half.
The difference between the second and fourth scenarios catches families off guard. When every child belongs to both the decedent and the surviving spouse, the spouse gets a $50,000 cushion before splitting the rest. If the decedent had even one child from a prior relationship, that cushion disappears and the split is straight down the middle. On a $120,000 estate, the spouse ends up with $85,000 in the first case and $60,000 in the second.
Who Inherits If There Is No Surviving Spouse
Without a surviving spouse, the estate moves down a priority ladder. Only one tier inherits: once a tier has at least one living member, the search stops there.3Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-42 – Share of Heirs Other Than Surviving Spouse
- Descendants first. Children take equally. If a child died before the decedent but left children, those grandchildren step into their parent’s share — a distribution the statute calls “by representation.”
- Parents, if there are no descendants. Equally, or entirely to the one surviving parent.
- Siblings and their descendants, if both parents have died. Predeceased siblings’ children take by representation.
- Grandparents and their descendants, if no one above is alive. The estate splits in half — paternal side and maternal side. On each side, the grandparents take if living; otherwise their descendants (the decedent’s aunts, uncles, and cousins) take by representation. If one side has no living relatives, the whole estate goes to the other.
If no qualifying relative can be found anywhere on the ladder, the property passes to the State of Alabama through escheat.3Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-42 – Share of Heirs Other Than Surviving Spouse
Who Counts as a Child or Heir
Because so much turns on parent-child relationships, Alabama defines them precisely.
Adopted Children
A legally adopted child is treated the same as a biological child of the adopting parent, and the legal tie to the birth parents is severed. One exception: when a stepparent adopts, the child can still inherit from and through both the adoptive stepparent and the biological parent who is married to the stepparent.4Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-48 – Parent and Child Relationship
Stepchildren
A stepchild who was never legally adopted has no inheritance rights under Alabama’s intestate rules. The parent-child relationship is defined through biology and legal adoption only. Closeness of the actual relationship does not matter.4Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-48 – Parent and Child Relationship
Children Born Outside of Marriage
A child born outside of marriage automatically inherits from the mother. To inherit from the father, one of the following must be true: the parents participated in a marriage ceremony (even a void one) before or after the child’s birth; paternity was established by court adjudication before the father’s death; or paternity is proven after death by clear and convincing evidence. Even with post-death proof, the father’s relatives cannot inherit from or through the child unless the father openly treated the child as his own and did not refuse support.4Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-48 – Parent and Child Relationship
Posthumous Children
A child conceived before the decedent’s death but born afterward inherits as if born during the decedent’s lifetime.5Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 35-4-8 – Posthumous Children Included in Heirs, Issue, or Children
Half-Blood Relatives
Relatives who share only one parent with the decedent inherit the same share as whole-blood relatives. Alabama draws no distinction.6Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-46 – Inheritance by Relatives of Half Blood
The Five-Day Survival Rule
An heir who dies within five days of the decedent is treated as having died first. Their share drops back into the decedent’s estate and passes to the next eligible heirs instead of moving through the heir’s own estate. If it can’t be determined whether the heir survived by the required five days, the law presumes they did not. The rule does not apply if enforcing it would send the entire estate to the state through escheat.7Alabama eCode. Alabama Code 43-8-43 – Requirement That Heir Survive Decedent for Five Days
When an Heir Is Disqualified
An heir who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent forfeits all inheritance rights. The estate is distributed as if the killer had died before the decedent, which means the killer’s own children may still inherit through representation, but the killer personally receives nothing.8Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-8-253 – Effect of Homicide on Intestate Succession, Wills, Joint Assets, Life Insurance and Beneficiary Designations
The forfeiture reaches beyond the probate estate. A killer named as beneficiary on a life insurance policy, retirement account, or joint bank account loses those benefits too. A joint tenant who kills the other joint tenant loses survivorship rights, and the decedent’s share passes as separate property. A criminal conviction is conclusive proof. Without a conviction, the probate court can still make the finding on a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.
Lifetime Gifts Counted Against a Share
If the decedent made significant gifts to an heir during life, those gifts can be counted against the heir’s intestate share, but only if there is a written record. Alabama requires either a written statement by the decedent at the time of the gift declaring it an advancement, or a written acknowledgment from the heir. Without that documentation, the gift is just a gift and does not reduce the heir’s share.9Onecle. Alabama Code Title 43, Chapter 8 – Probate Code The property is valued at the time the heir took possession or at the decedent’s death, whichever came first.
How the Estate Actually Gets Distributed
Distributing an intestate estate requires a formal proceeding in the Alabama Probate Court for the county where the decedent lived.10Probate Court of Shelby County, Alabama. Intestate Estate Administration Personal Representative Handbook An interested party, usually a close family member, petitions the court to appoint a personal representative (also called an administrator) to manage the estate. The representative generally must post a bond before receiving authority to act.11Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-2-851 – Bond
Once appointed, the representative receives Letters of Administration proving legal authority over the estate and then inventories assets, notifies creditors, and pays valid claims. Notice to creditors is published once a week for three consecutive weeks, with individual notice to anyone known to have a claim.12Mobile County Probate Court. Administration of an Intestate Estate Creditors then have six months from the grant of letters, or five months from the first published notice, whichever is later; a creditor entitled to individual notice gets at least 30 days after receiving it. Claims filed after the deadline are permanently barred.13Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 43-2-350 – Time and Manner of Filing Claims The estate generally cannot be divided until claims and expenses are paid, meaning at least six months after opening. Only then are the remaining assets distributed to the heirs under the shares described above.
The Small-Estate Shortcut
Not every intestate estate needs full administration. Under Alabama’s Small Estates Act, estates valued at or below the combined homestead, exempt property, and family allowances — roughly $47,000 — can use a simplified summary distribution. To qualify, the decedent must have been an Alabama resident, the estate must not include real property that requires probate to transfer, no petition for a personal representative can be pending, and the applicant must be the surviving spouse or a rightful heir. Estates with a surviving minor child who is not the child of the surviving spouse are excluded from the simplified process.
A Note on Taxes
Alabama does not impose a state estate tax or inheritance tax. Estates where the decedent died after December 31, 2004, are not required to file a state estate tax return.14Alabama Department of Revenue. Alabama Fiduciary, Estate, and Inheritance Tax Federal estate tax is separate but affects very few families given current exemption levels.