Alabama: Trustee Notice to Beneficiaries Requirements

Requirements one by one

Alabama uses two 60-day notices with different triggers

Ala. Code § 19-3B-813(b)(2) starts the first clock when the trustee accepts a
trusteeship. The acceptance notice is due within 60 days.

Paragraph (b)(3) starts another 60-day clock when the trustee accepts the trusteeship
of an already-irrevocable trust or acquires knowledge that a formerly revocable trust
became irrevocable, whether by the settlor's death or otherwise. Under § 19-3B-104(a),
knowledge includes actual knowledge, notice, and reason to know; subsection (b)
supplies the employee-responsibility rule for an organization.

The recipient class includes three living distribution horizons

Ala. Code § 19-3B-103(14) includes living current distributees, those who would take
if current interests ended without ending the trust, and those who would take if the
trust ended on the determination date. Ala. Code § 19-3B-110(a) adds any other
beneficiary who has asked the trustee for notice.

The irrevocability notice has a narrow charitable exception. A beneficiary of a split
interest charitable trust whose interest is not irrevocable need not receive that
notice until the interest becomes that of a current permissible distributee.

The notices require different information

The acceptance notice states the acceptance and gives the trustee's name, address, and
telephone number. The second notice states the trust's existence, identifies the
settlor or settlors, and explains the rights to request the trust instrument and the
trustee's most recent report.

The statute separately requires the trustee, upon any beneficiary's request, to
provide the trust instrument promptly. Ala. Code § 19-3B-813(b)(1) does not require
that request to be written.

General delivery is functional rather than ceremonial

Ala. Code § 19-3B-109(a) requires a method reasonably suitable under the circumstances
and likely to result in receipt. It lists first-class mail, personal delivery,
last-known residence or business delivery, a properly directed electronic message,
and methods otherwise provided by the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.

Subsection (b) excuses a person whose identity or location is unknown and not
reasonably ascertainable. The statute states no newspaper-publication route for the
initial notices.

Trust terms can change the initial notices

Ala. Code § 19-3B-105(a) makes trust terms the general control. Its mandatory list
protects § 19-3B-813(a)(2)'s qualified-beneficiary request-response duty, but does not
list the two initial notices in subsection (b)(2)–(3).

The recipient may waive notice under § 19-3B-109(c). A beneficiary may separately
waive reports or other information under § 19-3B-813(d) and withdraw the waiver for
future reports and information.

What trips people up

• A new irrevocable trust uses an acceptance trigger. Alabama does not start
  paragraph (b)(3) when the trustee merely learns that such a trust was created.
• One acceptance can make both notices relevant. Accepting the trusteeship of an
  irrevocable trust fits the general acceptance paragraph and the irrevocable-
  trusteeship paragraph.
• The initial notices are not mandatory against the trust terms. The protected
  mandatory rule is the qualified beneficiary's request-response right.
• The ongoing recipient groups are narrower than every qualified beneficiary. The
  reasonably-informed duty names current permissible distributees, and annual reports
  go automatically to distributees/permissible distributees while others request them.
• No sworn service package is prescribed. Certified mail, a perjury declaration,
  trustee signature, adult server, notarization, and proof of service are not stated
  initial-notice requirements.

Common questions

Must the trustee automatically attach the trust instrument?

No. The second notice states the right to request it. Once a beneficiary requests the
instrument, § 19-3B-813(b)(1) requires the trustee to provide it promptly.

Who receives trustee duties while the trust is revocable?

Ala. Code § 19-3B-603(a) places beneficiary rights under the settlor's control and
makes the trustee's duties exclusive to the settlor while the trust is revocable.

Which older events are outside the initial-notice paragraphs?

Section 19-3B-813(e) limits paragraphs (b)(2) and (b)(3) to a trustee acceptance,
irrevocable trust creation, and formerly revocable trust's irrevocability occurring on
or after January 1, 2007.

Statutes and sources

• Ala. Code §§ 19-3B-103(14), 19-3B-104, 19-3B-105, 19-3B-109, and
  19-3B-110 — recipient definition, knowledge, trust-term control, delivery, waiver,
  and additional recipients. Official Alabama
  Code (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Ala. Code §§ 19-3B-603 and 19-3B-813(a)–(e) — revocable-settlor rule, the two
  60-day notices, contents, charitable exception, request rights, reporting, waiver,
  and 2007 boundary. Official Alabama
  Code (accessed 2026-07-31).