Alabama timeline
Alabama probate timeline: when creditor claims close
The simplified route’s statutory wait is 30 days after the notice of the petition is published and after the Alabama Medicaid Agency receives notice of it. Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-692.
Creditor-claim deadline in a full Alabama administration: Claims must be presented within six months after the grant of letters, or within five months from the date of first publication of notice, whichever is the later to occur; claims not so presented and filed are forever barred (Ala. Code § 43-2-350). A creditor entitled to actual notice must be allowed thirty days after it. The six months are counted on the calendar from the date the letters issued, and the five months from the first publication. Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-350.
The 30-day wait is the earliest the simplified route can be used; the creditor deadline is when claims not yet presented are barred. They belong to different proceedings, so they are not added together. No overall duration is published here: court scheduling, accountings and disputes add time these clocks do not measure.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 28, 2026. This page last revised .
The one date this page can source
The summary distribution of small estate (ala. code §§ 43-2-690 to 43-2-692) route waits 30 days after the notice of the petition is published and after the Alabama Medicaid Agency receives notice of it. This is a precondition: the petition is filed and the notice published first, and the court cannot order summary distribution before the period runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.
Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-692, Petition for Summary Distribution(Alabama Legislature (Code of Alabama 1975); (Acts 1975, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 145, §3; Act 2009-399, p. 724, §1; Act 2025-431,).
The section’s own words
At least 30 days have elapsed since the notice of the filing of the petition was published as provided in subsection
Creditor deadlines
- From publication of notice to creditors
- Five months from the date of the first publication of notice, where that ends later than six months after the grant of letters (Ala. Code § 43-2-350(b)).
- From actual notice to a known creditor
- A creditor entitled to actual notice under Ala. Code § 43-2-61 must be allowed thirty days after that notice to present the claim, even when the general period has run (§ 43-2-350(b)).
- From appointment of the representative
- Six months after the grant of letters (Ala. Code § 43-2-350(b)), by filing the claim, verified by affidavit, with the judge of probate of the county where the letters were granted.
How these combine. Ala. Code § 43-2-350(b) bars a claim not filed within six months after the grant of letters or five months from the first publication of notice, whichever is the later to occur. A creditor owed actual notice under § 43-2-61 keeps thirty days from that notice. The six-month and five-month periods are counted in calendar months from their own events, so this page gives them as the statute does rather than as a count of days.
Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-350, Time and Manner of Filing Claims(Alabama Legislature (Code of Alabama 1975); Acts 1989, No. 89-811, p. 1618, §3.)).
The section’s own words
within six months after the grant of letters, or within five months from the date of the first publication of notice, whichever is the later to occur
Alabama claims are filed with the probate judge, on the later of two clocks
Ala. Code § 43-2-350(b) bars a claim against the estate unless it is presented “within six months after the grant of letters, or within five months from the date of the first publication of notice, whichever is the later to occur.” An estate whose notice is published a month or more after letters issue therefore runs on the publication clock, not the six-month one.
A creditor entitled to actual notice under § 43-2-61 gets a separate floor: it “must be allowed thirty days after notice within which to present the claim.” A known creditor who is mailed notice late in the period keeps thirty days from that notice even if the general window has closed.
Presentation in Alabama means filing, not writing to the representative. The claim, or a statement of it, is filed verified by affidavit “in the office of the judge of probate of the county in which the letters are granted.” Subsection (a) applies the same deadline to claims held by the personal representative personally, so a representative who is also a creditor files like anyone else; that subsection does not reach the representative’s own compensation or sums properly paid out in administration. Claims not filed in time “are forever barred,” although liens against the decedent’s property may still be paid to protect the estate’s assets.
The small-estate route keeps its own clock. Under § 43-2-692(d), the probate court cannot order summary distribution until at least 30 days after the notice of the petition is published and at least 30 days after the Alabama Medicaid Agency received notice of it, so that wait starts when the petition is filed, not at the death.
Source: Ala. Code §§ 43-2-350, 43-2-692, read from the enacting state’s own official publication on 2026-10-13. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Sources rechecked October 28, 2026: Alabama source list · how sources are checked · report a correction