Personal Property Memorandum Requirements in Alabama
At a glance
| Governing law and device recognized | Limited statutory route: fixed incorporation by reference under Ala. Code § 43-8-139, not a freely updatable memorandum |
|---|---|
| Will reference required | Yes; will must manifest incorporation intent and describe the existing writing sufficiently for identification (§ 43-8-139) |
| Eligible property and exclusions | No memorandum-specific tangible-property definition, exclusion list, or value cap; § 43-8-139 is a general incorporation rule |
| Signature, handwriting, and date | No separate handwriting, signature, witness, or date condition for the incorporated writing; incorporating will must satisfy § 43-8-131 |
| Item and devisee identification | No personal-property item-and-recipient formula; the will must describe the writing sufficiently to permit its identification (§ 43-8-139) |
| Timing before or after the will | Writing must exist when the will is executed; later acts/events work only if independently significant (§§ 43-8-139, -141) |
| Alteration, replacement, and conflict priority | No casual later-list update or memorandum priority rule; a later will may revoke or revise the earlier will (§§ 43-8-1(34), -136) |
| Probate use, effect, and failure consequence | Qualifying writing is incorporated into the will; § 43-8-139 states no separate filing, delivery, lapse, savings, or priority rule |
Alabama uses fixed incorporation
Alabama's current will-execution division contains §§ 43-8-130 through 43-8-141. It includes incorporation by reference and independent-significance rules but no special statute for a separate personal-property list that may be created or revised after will execution.
The narrower route is Ala. Code § 43-8-139:
“Any writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification.”
The separate writing therefore must already exist when the will is executed. The will must show an intent to make that writing part of the will and identify it sufficiently. Section 43-8-139 states no separate tangible-property definition, excluded-asset list, value ceiling, handwriting requirement, signature requirement, witness requirement, or date requirement for the incorporated writing.
The incorporating will remains subject to § 43-8-131. Except for the foreign- execution route cross-referenced there, a will must be written, bear the required testator or directed signature, and be signed by at least two people who witnessed the signing or the testator's acknowledgment.
What trips people up
A later-edited list is not the writing that existed when the will was executed. Section 43-8-1(34) includes a codicil and an instrument that revises another will within “will,” and § 43-8-136(a) permits a subsequent will to revoke an earlier will or part expressly or by inconsistency. A binding later revision therefore needs the later-will route rather than an informal edit relying on the old incorporation clause.
Section 43-8-141 does allow a will to refer to later acts and events, but only when they have significance apart from their effect on the will's dispositions. A personal-property list created solely to control testamentary gifts does not gain the fixed writing's independent effect from that section.
Common questions
Must the incorporated writing be signed, witnessed, handwritten, or dated?
Section 43-8-139 states none of those as an independent condition for the separate writing. They may help identify a particular document, but the statutory conditions are existence at will execution, manifested incorporation intent, and a description sufficient for identification. The will itself must satisfy the applicable execution rules.
Can the will refer to a list that will be written later?
Not through § 43-8-139. The section requires the writing to be in existence when the will is executed.
Does Alabama impose a special property-exclusion list or value cap?
No memorandum-specific list or cap appears in § 43-8-139. It is a general incorporation provision rather than a tangible-personal-property memorandum statute. Other ownership, title, nonprobate-transfer, and transfer laws may still govern a particular asset.
Is there a separate probate filing deadline for the writing?
Section 43-8-139 states no separate filing or delivery deadline. It makes the qualifying writing part of the will through incorporation by reference.
Statutes and sources
- Ala. Code §§ 43-8-130 to -141 — complete current Division 1 section index, including incorporation by reference and independent significance but no freely updatable personal-property-list provision. Official Alabama Code endpoint: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/graphql (accessed 2026-08-11).
- Ala. Code § 43-8-139 — writing must exist at will execution; the will must manifest incorporation intent and identify the writing sufficiently. Same official endpoint (accessed 2026-08-11).
- Ala. Code § 43-8-141 — later acts and events must have significance apart from their effect on the will's dispositions. Same official endpoint (accessed 2026-08-11).
- Ala. Code §§ 43-8-1(34), 43-8-131, and 43-8-136 — codicil and revising- instrument definition, will execution, and later-will revocation. Same official endpoint (accessed 2026-08-11).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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