How to Make a Will in Alabama (2026): Requirements, Witnesses, Self-Proving Affidavit

Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Alabama: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise Alabama number is estimating. What is genuinely Alabama-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: what is genuinely Alabama-specific is how a will has to be executed, and that is what decides whether the document works at all.

The honest position on Alabama pricing

We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Alabama and present the result as a Alabama figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.

What Alabama law actually requires

This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:

• Witnesses: 2. Ala. Code § 43-8-131
• If a beneficiary witnesses it: the witness is competent and the gift is unaffected — unusual, and worth knowing. Ala. Code § 43-8-134(b)
• Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. Ala. Code § 43-8-131
• Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. Ala. Code § 43-8-132
• Handwritten (holographic) wills: not recognised. Ala. Code § 43-8-131
• Electronic wills: not recognised. No electronic-will provision in Ala. Code tit. 43 ch. 8 art. 7

The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.

Does Alabama give you a free form?

No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Alabama code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Alabama your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.

What skipping it costs in Alabama

Alabama sets probate compensation on a mixed basis rather than a single percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.

Fee basis: PR compensation is ‘reasonable’ based on enumerated factors but capped at 2.5% of the value of all property received plus 2.5% of disbursements (Ala. Code §43-2-848); written fee agreements with beneficiaries can override. Attorney fees: reasonable compensation (no percentage schedule).

Small-estate threshold: $47,000, and it is a sum rather than a figure the small-estate statute states on its own: the threshold is the combined maximum of the homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance, which the State Treasurer adjusts for inflation every three years, and on the Treasurer’s published table the amounts in force are $18,800 + $9,400 + $18,800 = $47,000. The July 1, 2026 adjustment ($20,475 + $10,225 + $20,475 = $51,175) applies to exemptions claimed on or after April 1, 2027 — Ala. Code §§ 43-2-691(2), 43-2-691(7), 43-2-696.02 (as amended by Act 2025-431); allowance amounts §§ 43-8-110, -111, -113, adjusted per § 43-8-116.

A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Alabama’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Alabama.

What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.

Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.