Work it out on your own number

Alabama’s cap runs on two different things — what the representative receives and what the representative pays out — so a single estate value cannot produce a single answer. Here is the schedule and a worked example instead.

What each part costs

Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Alabama fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.

What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges

What changes YOUR number in Alabama

Two limbs, not one rate

This is the single most common way an Alabama estimate goes wrong. The cap is 2.5% of what the representative receives and controls, and separately 2.5% of what the representative disburses. Money that comes in and then goes out touches both limbs. Anyone quoting Alabama as “two and a half percent” is quoting half the provision.

It is a ceiling the judge works inside

The statute says the compensation shall be reasonable, as appears to the court to be fair, considering listed factors — and shall not exceed the two limbs. The cap is the outer bound, not the going rate. Extraordinary services can be paid on top of it.

A written agreement beats the statute

Where the person who died, or all affected beneficiaries, agreed in writing with the representative on the amount or the method of determining compensation, that agreement binds all parties, provided the appointment is accepted and the agreement is not unconscionable. Look for one before assuming the percentages apply.

The representative can renounce the will’s figure

Where the will provides for compensation, or provides for none, the representative may renounce that provision — but only where there was no contract with the person who died and no alternate or successor is willing to serve on the will’s terms.

The county can change the court fee, and the statute says so

Alabama’s fee section preserves local laws and general laws of local application prescribing fees for judges of probate, and names counties excluded from a past increase. Confirm the figure with the probate office in the county where the estate will be opened before budgeting from the statewide schedule.

The bond has a formula, and it includes a year’s income

Capital value in the representative’s control, plus one year’s estimated income, less securities held under court-order arrangements and land the fiduciary cannot sell without authorisation. That estimated-income limb catches estates with rental property or a portfolio, and it is why the Alabama bond can be larger than the cash on hand suggests.

The small-estate figure is published by the Treasurer, not by the Code

Alabama is the only state in this database whose short-route ceiling appears in no statute. It is defined as a sum of three indexed allowances, and the State Treasurer publishes the adjusted amounts every three years. We print the Treasurer’s published figures and never derive them from the index ourselves.

Three tools, in the order most people need them

Alabama probate cost questions

How much does an executor get paid in Alabama?

No more than two and a half percent of the value of all property received and under the representative’s control, plus no more than two and a half percent of all disbursements. Those are two limbs on two different bases, so an estate that takes in five hundred thousand dollars and pays out the same amount reaches a ceiling of twenty-five thousand dollars rather than twelve and a half. It is a ceiling and not an entitlement — the court allows what appears fair within it — and reasonable compensation for extraordinary services can be allowed on top. A written agreement with the person who died, or with all affected beneficiaries, displaces the whole section provided it is not unconscionable.

Does Alabama set probate attorney fees by statute?

There is a section, but it publishes no rate. At any annual, partial or final settlement the court may fix and allow an attorney fee to be paid from the estate to the attorneys representing the executor or administrator, for services rendered up to the time of that settlement. So the number is set by the judge case by case, and it covers only work already done when the settlement is made. That is different from a state where no section exists at all.

What does it cost to file for probate in Alabama?

Forty-five dollars is the base — for probating a will of five pages or fewer, or for granting letters of administration where there is no will, including three certified copies of the letters and the final settlement. But it is a base and not a price. Longer documents add three dollars a page, and a list of itemised charges sits on top: three dollars to file a paper, ten to docket the cause, three for the order of publication, three for each mailed notice, ten to approve bonds. The fee statute also preserves local fee laws and names counties excluded from a past increase, so the county can differ.

Does an executor need a bond in Alabama?

Yes, unless the will expressly exempts the representative. Alabama is one of very few states that publishes how big the bond must be: the aggregate capital value of the estate property in the representative’s control, plus one year’s estimated income, less securities held under arrangements requiring a court order to remove them and land the fiduciary cannot sell without court authorisation. The court can reduce it or require more at any time. Where a will does exempt the representative, the court cannot demand a bond unless someone swears their interest is endangered for want of security, or the court decides on its own motion that the estate is likely to be wasted.

Does Alabama have a small estate affidavit?

Alabama has a summary distribution route, and its limit is forty-seven thousand dollars today — but that figure appears nowhere in the statute. The law defines the small estate amount as the combined maximum of the homestead allowance, exempt property and the family allowance, all of which are adjusted for inflation every three years and republished by the State Treasurer. The current components are eighteen thousand eight hundred, nine thousand four hundred and eighteen thousand eight hundred dollars. From the first of April 2027 the figure becomes fifty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-five dollars. The route covers estates made up entirely of personal property, where the person owned no real estate at death, and it runs by verified petition to the probate judge rather than by private affidavit.

Sources & verification

Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. The Alabama Legislature publishes the Code through its ALISON portal with one address per section; the viewer is JavaScript-driven, so each section was read from a capture of the portal itself.