Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Alabama, bond is required by default for every personal representative or special administrator; the probate court ‘must require’ a bond conditioned on faithful discharge of the trust, sized to the estate’s value plus a year’s estimated income. Alabama’s code does not use the informal/supervised distinction; it is a single mandatory-bond regime unless waived.
Does Alabama require an executor to post a bond?
Bond is required by default for every personal representative or special administrator; the probate court ‘must require’ a bond conditioned on faithful discharge of the trust, sized to the estate’s value plus a year’s estimated income. Alabama’s code does not use the informal/supervised distinction; it is a single mandatory-bond regime unless waived.
“(a) The court must require a personal representative or special administrator to furnish bond payable to the judge of probate conditioned upon faithful discharge of”
Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-851
Can the will waive it in Alabama?
Yes. Any testator authorized to nominate a personal representative may, by express provision in the will, exempt that person from giving bond.
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Can the heirs or beneficiaries waive it in Alabama?
No. Heirs have no independent power to waive bond; they can only force a bond despite a will’s waiver, by affidavit showing their interest is endangered, or the court can do so sua sponte if it believes the estate is likely to be wasted.
If a bond is required, how much?
When a bond is required, Alabama sizes it at 100% of the estimated value of the personal estate plus expected annual income, per its own bond-amount statute.
“the bond must be in the amount of the aggregate capital value of the property of the estate in the personal representative’s control, plus one year’s estimated income”
Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-851
What makes Alabama different
Alabama inverts the common UPC default: bond is mandatory unless the decedent’s own will opts out, and even that opt-out can be overridden if an interested party shows the estate is at risk. There is no separate ‘informal vs. supervised’ bond track like UPC states.
A note on sourcing: Alabama’s official legislature domain (alisondb/alison.legislature.state.al.us) could not be resolved/fetched this session, and Justia, Casetext, and FindLaw all blocked or lacked full text for this section, so the verbatim quote comes from the onecle.com statutory mirror; the exemption and override language is corroborated by multiple Justia year-version listings and a secondary summary but was not independently re-fetched verbatim.
| Bond-requirement source | Ala. Code § 43-2-851 |
| Alabama courts (general reference) | Alabama judicial branch |
| Alabama Secretary of State / legislature | Alabama state government |
| Confidence | Medium |
Every statute quoted on this page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; a probate court has final discretion over bond in every state; confirm your own case with the court or a local attorney before relying on the default described here.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Alabama.