Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Alabama, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 5 months to file a claim; and a creditor who is personally mailed notice gets 30 days.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in Alabama?
| Once notice to creditors is published | 5 months |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | No independent death-based bar; see note below |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | 30 days |
“All claims against the estate of a decedent…must be 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… Any creditor entitled to actual notice as prescribed in section 43-2-61 must be allowed thirty days after notice within which to present the claim.”
Source: Ala. Code § 43-2-350
What makes Alabama different
Alabama’s baseline period is the LATER of two clocks (6 months from grant of letters vs. 5 months from first publication of notice), so publication alone does not shorten the deadline unless it happens well after letters issue.
Does this deadline apply the same way if the estate never opens probate?
These deadlines are creatures of the probate process itself; they run once an estate is opened (by publication, mailing, appointment, or the grant of letters, depending on Alabama’s own rule above). A creditor of a decedent whose estate never enters probate at all is not cut off by this particular statute, though the underlying debt’s own ordinary statute of limitations still applies.
Sources
| Statute | Ala. Code § 43-2-350 |
| Alabama courts (general reference) | Alabama judicial branch |
| Confidence | High |
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; the exact deadline in a given estate can turn on facts (whether a personal representative was appointed, whether notice was ever published or mailed) that only your own probate court file can confirm.