Free Printable Will and Trust Forms: What Happens When You Use Them in Alabama

Execute it properly or it is not a will

1. Print itSection 43-8-131 requires a writing. Do not sign a screen.
2. Get two witnesses — three if you want a marginEach must witness either your signing or your acknowledgment of the signature or of the will.
3. Use witnesses who inherit nothingAlabama addresses who may witness at § 43-8-134. Using two disinterested witnesses removes the argument entirely and costs nothing.
4. Everyone signs together, in one roomSignatures gathered separately over a week are exactly the fact pattern a will contest is built on.
5. Add the self-proving affidavit and notarize itUnder § 43-8-132 a self-proved will is probated without further proof and compliance with the signature requirements is conclusively presumed. Without it, someone has to find your witnesses years later.
6. Store the original and tell your executor where it isA copy raises a presumption problem at probate.

The five things free forms usually leave out

• A bond waiver. Section 43-2-851(c) lets a testator exempt the personal representative from bond by express provision. Without it your estate pays a premium.
• A successor executor. People die, move and decline. No backup means a hearing.
• A guardian nomination for minor children. If you have young children this is arguably the most important clause in the document.
• Anything about incapacity. A will does nothing while you are alive. The durable power of attorney under § 26-1A-101 and following, and the advance directive under § 22-8A-4, are what matter then.
• Any check of your beneficiary designations or your deed. A form cannot know your 401(k) still names your first spouse — and that designation overrides your will.

Free trust forms are a different problem

A trust form has a harder job. A trust only avoids probate for property it actually owns, and no form can retitle your assets for you.

Funding means a new deed to the house, recorded with the probate judge of the county where the land sits (Ala. Code § 35-4-50), and accounts retitled into the trust’s name. Under § 35-4-90, a deed signed but never recorded is void as to later purchasers and mortgagees without notice.

A downloaded trust that was signed and filed away owns nothing and avoids nothing. It is the most expensive kind of free document.

Where a form is genuinely reasonable

One marriage. Adult children who get along. A house in Alabama and some accounts. No business, no property in another state, no beneficiary who needs protecting. Executed correctly with two witnesses and a self-proving affidavit, a form will in that situation is far better than nothing — and nothing is the alternative most people are actually choosing.

Where it is a bad idea

• A blended family. Section 43-8-41 gives a surviving spouse only one half where any child is not also the spouse’s child — and a generic form will not address that.
• Real property in more than one state.
• A business interest, where the operating agreement may control regardless of your will.
• A beneficiary who is a minor, or whose benefits could be affected by an outright gift.
• Anyone you intend to leave out. Disinheriting takes careful drafting, and it is the will most likely to be challenged.

If you do nothing at all

Alabama decides. Intestacy under §§ 43-8-41 and 43-8-42 determines who inherits, the probate court appoints an administrator under the priority in § 43-2-42, and the estate pays a bond premium because there is no will to waive it.

Questions about DIY wills in Alabama

Written and reviewed by

Daniel Shawn Pickens

Attorney at Daniel S. Pickens Law in Athens, Alabama. The firm handles estate planning, probate, real estate closings and title work, deeds, business formation and contracts for families and businesses across Limestone, Madison, Morgan, Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin and Lawrence Counties.