Alabama Intestate Succession: Who Inherits When There Is No Will?

When someone dies without a valid will in Alabama, the state makes the inheritance decisions for them. Alabama's intestate succession laws, found in Title 43 of the Alabama Code, establish a fixed hierarchy of who inherits, in what order, and in what proportions. The results often surprise families. A surviving spouse does not necessarily inherit everything. An unmarried partner inherits nothing. Stepchildren are left out unless legally adopted.

At Colvin & Sawyer Law Offices, we help families across Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, and throughout Alabama understand what the law says, and why a proper estate plan is the only reliable way to ensure your wishes are honored.

One clarification worth making up front: intestate succession is not the probate process. It is the set of Alabama laws that decides who inherits probate property. Under Alabama Code Section 43-8-40, any property not effectively disposed of by a valid will passes to the decedent's heirs under these statutes. That means intestacy can apply even when there is a will, if the will fails to dispose of everything.

The Surviving Spouse's Share (Alabama Code Section 43-8-41)

Alabama sets the spouse's share precisely, and it turns on two questions only: are there surviving children or descendants, and are those children also the spouse's children? The number of children never changes the spouse's share.

Situation at death	Spouse receives	Remainder goes to
No children or descendants, no surviving parent	The entire intestate estate	Nobody else
No children, but a parent or parents survive	First $100,000 plus half the balance	The surviving parent or parents
Children, all of whom are also the spouse's children	First $50,000 plus half the balance	The children, equally
Children, one or more of whom is not the spouse's child	Half the intestate estate	All of the deceased person's children, equally
No surviving spouse, but children survive	No spouse	Children and their descendants take the whole estate
No spouse and no children, parents survive	No spouse	Parents, equally
No spouse, children, or parents	No spouse	Siblings and the descendants of deceased siblings
No qualifying heir under the statute	No spouse	The estate escheats to the State of Alabama

Worked Examples

All children shared with the spouse. On a $300,000 intestate estate, the spouse receives the first $50,000 plus half of the remaining $250,000, so $175,000. The children split the remaining $125,000.

A child from a prior relationship. Same $300,000 estate, but one child is not the surviving spouse's child. The spouse now receives $150,000, half the estate, with no $50,000 cushion. All of the deceased person's children split the other $150,000.

No children, one surviving parent. Same $300,000 estate. The spouse receives the first $100,000 plus half of the remaining $200,000, so $200,000. The surviving parent receives $100,000.

No children, no surviving parents. Same $300,000 estate. The spouse receives the entire $300,000.

That third example is why blended families are hit hardest by intestacy in Alabama. A single detail, whether a child belongs to the marriage, changes the outcome by tens of thousands of dollars.

What If One of the Children Died Before the Parent?

Alabama uses the concept of representation. If all surviving descendants are the same degree of kinship, they take equally. If they are at different degrees, the more remote descendants take by representation, stepping into the share their parent would have received.

Example. A parent has three children and no surviving spouse. One child died before the parent, leaving two children of their own. The estate divides into three shares. The two surviving children each take a full share. The deceased child's share does not disappear or get redistributed to the siblings, it passes to that child's two children, who split it between them.

Who Inherits When There Is No Surviving Spouse (Section 43-8-42)

Whatever does not pass to a spouse, or the entire estate if there is no spouse, passes in this fixed order:

1. Children and their descendants. If they are all the same degree of kinship they take equally; if not, more remote descendants take by representation.
2. Parents, equally, if no children or descendants survive.
3. Siblings and their descendants (the issue of the parents), if no children or parents survive.
4. Grandparents and their descendants. Half passes to the paternal side and half to the maternal side; if one side has no survivors, the whole estate goes to the other.

In practice that means the estate can reach fairly distant relatives before the state ever sees it:

• Nieces and nephews inherit through their parent's branch when a sibling died before the decedent.
• Grandparents take if no closer relative survives, half to the paternal side and half to the maternal side.
• Aunts, uncles, and cousins can inherit as descendants of the grandparents when no grandparent survives.

Only if no taker exists under the statute does the intestate estate escheat to the State of Alabama. That outcome is rare, because the statutory net reaches quite far.

Rules That Surprise Families

• Half-siblings inherit the same as full siblings. Under Alabama Code Section 43-8-46, a relative of the half blood generally inherits the same share as a relative of the whole blood.
• Adopted children inherit exactly as biological children. Adoption creates a full legal parent-child relationship for inheritance.
• Estrangement changes nothing. A relative in the statutory order inherits whether or not you were speaking.
• Descendants of a deceased child step into their share, so grandchildren can inherit in place of a parent who died first.
• Intestacy governs probate assets only. Life insurance, retirement accounts, payable-on-death accounts, and property held with survivorship rights pass by their own terms regardless of these rules. See what passes outside probate.

Who Does NOT Inherit Under Alabama Intestate Law

• Unmarried partners, regardless of the length or nature of the relationship
• Stepchildren, unless legally adopted
• Close friends, no matter how important to you
• Charities or organizations
• Estranged relatives you don't want to inherit, may inherit anyway if next in the statutory line

The Only Fix: A Proper Alabama Estate Plan

If Alabama's intestate succession rules do not match your wishes, and for most people they do not, the solution is a valid will or a revocable living trust. Either way, you decide who inherits. See: What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Alabama? and Alabama Estate Planning Attorney.