When someone dies owning property in Lauderdale County, the estate is opened in the Probate Court of Lauderdale County, in Florence. That is true whether there is a will or not, and it is true even when the family lives somewhere else.
Probate is the single largest part of our practice. We handle Lauderdale County estates out of our Florence office. Our Florence office is in the county seat itself, so you are not driving out of the Shoals to handle a Shoals estate.
Call 256-434-1678 and tell us what happened. Most first calls take ten minutes and end with you knowing whether you need to open an estate at all.
Where a Lauderdale County estate is handled
Alabama probate is a county-level process. Each county has its own elected Probate Judge and its own filing office, and an estate is opened where the decedent lived — so a Lauderdale County resident’s estate is opened in Florence, not in Birmingham, Huntsville, or wherever the family happens to be now.
This catches people out constantly. If your mother lived in Florence and you live in Nashville or Atlanta, you are dealing with the Lauderdale County Probate Court. Being out of state does not disqualify you from serving, but it does change the practicalities, and it is worth a conversation before you file anything.
If there is a will
The person named as executor petitions the court for letters testamentary — the document that actually gives them authority to act. Until those letters issue, an executor named in a will has no power to sell property, close accounts, or pay debts. A bank will not talk to you on the strength of the will alone.
Alabama sets deadlines around this. Ala. Code § 43-2-27 governs the window for a named executor to act before the right can pass to someone else, and § 43-2-851 governs when a bond is required. There are also qualification requirements: under § 43-2-22(a), a person may not serve who is under nineteen years of age or who has been convicted of an infamous crime.
If there is no will
Someone still has to be appointed — an administrator rather than an executor — and Alabama law sets an order of priority for who has the right to ask. § 43-2-43(b) governs the timing.
This is the most common call we get: a parent died without a will, there is a house and a bank account, and nobody can touch either. It is fixable. It is just a court process, and it needs to be started correctly the first time.
Small estates
Not every estate needs full administration, and a surviving spouse or dependent children may be entitled to allowances that come off the top before anything else is distributed. Ala. Code § 43-8-110 gives a surviving spouse a homestead allowance; § 43-8-111 adds exempt property and § 43-8-112 a family allowance.
Those figures are not fixed. Under § 43-8-116, the State Treasurer adjusts every dollar amount in that article every three years against the consumer price index, rounded to the nearest $25, with each new figure applying to exemptions claimed on or after the following April 1. The number printed on a website written three years ago is not the number that applies today.
As published by the Office of the Alabama State Treasurer, the figures in force now are a homestead allowance of $18,800, exempt property of $9,400 and a family allowance of $18,800. Under § 43-2-691(7) the sum of those three is the small estate amount — currently $47,000 — which is the ceiling for summary distribution without appointing a personal representative. On 1 April 2027 those figures rise to $20,475, $10,225 and $20,475, taking the small estate amount to $51,175. Full breakdown here.
We will also tell you plainly when an estate is small enough that hiring us does not make financial sense. That happens, and we would rather say so.
Where we work in Lauderdale County
We handle estates for families in Florence, Killen, Rogersville, St. Florian, Lexington, Anderson and Waterloo, and throughout Lauderdale County.
More on Alabama probate
How probate works in Alabama, start to finish · Being appointed when there is no will · What probate should cost · Contested estates · Wills, trusts and estate planning
Nearby counties: Limestone County · Morgan County · Colbert County · Lawrence County
Talk to us about a Lauderdale County estate
Call 256-434-1678. Daniel S. Pickens handles these matters personally.
Daniel S. Pickens Law — Florence office
849 Florence Boulevard, Florence, Alabama 35630
Serving Limestone, Madison, Morgan, Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin and Lawrence Counties.