Probate Notice to Creditors and Claim Deadlines in Alabama

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Give publication and actual notice on separate schedules

Ala. Code § 43-2-60 requires the personal representative to publish notice within 30 days after letters are granted. Publication then runs once a week for three successive weeks under § 43-2-61(2). The newspaper must be one of general circulation published in the county where letters were granted or, if none is published there, the qualifying newspaper nearest the courthouse or in an adjoining county.

The notice states the decedent's name, the day letters were granted, the court and county, and the warning that claims must be presented within the time the law allows or will be barred.

Notify known and reasonably ascertainable creditors

Section 43-2-61(1) requires first-class mail to the creditor's last known address or another mechanism reasonably calculated to provide actual notice. The class consists of creditors known or reasonably ascertainable by the representative within six months after letters. Section 43-2-60 requires that notice as soon as practicable after the creditor's identification is known.

The researched sections do not prescribe a particular records review, database search, or inquiry checklist. The statutory standard is the known-or- reasonably-ascertainable class and its six-month identification period.

File a verified claim with the probate judge

Ala. Code § 43-2-350 requires filing a verified claim or verified statement in the office of the probate judge for the county where letters were granted. Under § 43-2-352, the claimant or another person with knowledge swears that the claim is correct and that the amount is justly due, or will become due, after proper credits. The probate office dockets the claim and presentation date.

An affidavit defect or insufficiency may be supplied by amendment at any time. That amendment rule does not state a general extension of the original filing deadline.

Apply the letters, publication, and actual-notice clocks

Section 43-2-350 sets the ordinary deadline at the later of six months after letters or five months after first publication. A creditor entitled to actual notice under § 43-2-61 must be allowed 30 days after notice to present the claim. A claim not timely presented is forever barred, and its payment or allowance is prohibited.

The researched ordinary notice-and-claims sequence states no separate outside bar measured from death. Its stated clocks instead run from letters, first publication, or actual notice.

Preserve the disability and pending-action routes

Ala. Code § 43-2-351 excepts a minor or person of unsound mind from subsection 43-2-350(b) when that claimant has no legal guardian when letters are granted. The claimant then has six months after a guardian is appointed or, if none is appointed, six months after the disability is removed.

Under § 43-2-353, revival of an action pending at death and legally surviving against the representative counts as presentation when notice is served on the executor or administrator within six months after letters.

Keep the named exclusions narrow

Section 43-2-350 permits the representative to pay an unfiled claim that is a lien against decedent property when payment protects estate assets. The text also excludes representative compensation and proper administration disbursements from subsection (a), and excludes heirs or devisees claiming in those capacities from subsection (b). The researched sections state no general insurance-only or tax-claim exception.

What trips people up

The main claim deadline is not simply six months after letters. Section 43-2-350 uses the later of that date and five months after first publication.

Publication does not replace the separate actual-notice duty for creditors who are known or reasonably ascertainable within the statutory period.

Mailing a claim to the representative is not the stated presentation method. The ordinary route is a verified filing in the probate judge's office.

Common questions

Does the statute require certified mail for actual notice?

No. Section 43-2-61 states first-class mail to the last known address or another mechanism reasonably calculated to provide actual notice.

Can a creditor fix a defective verification?

Yes. Section 43-2-352 permits an affidavit defect or insufficiency to be supplied by amendment at any time, although that does not itself extend the claim-filing deadline.

Does a lawsuit pending when the debtor died replace a probate claim?

It can count as presentation under § 43-2-353 if the action survives and is revived by notice served on the executor or administrator within six months after letters.

Statutes and sources

• Ala. Code §§ 43-2-60 and 43-2-61 — notice timing, contents, recipients, method, and publication. Current official sections: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=43-2-60 and https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=43-2-61 (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Ala. Code §§ 43-2-350 to 43-2-353 — presentation, deadlines, verification, disability route, liens, exclusions, and pending actions. Current official sections begin at: https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=43-2-350 (accessed 2026-08-12).