Contesting a Will in Alabama: Valid Grounds and Deadlines

If you believe an Alabama will is unfair or invalid, you may have the right to challenge it. Alabama law allows certain people to contest a will, but there are specific legal grounds and deadlines that must be followed. Simply disagreeing with the terms of a will is not enough. The legal team at Southern Estate Lawyers can help determine whether there are valid grounds to contest the will and whether the challenge is still within the required time limit.

Who Can File a Contest

You can’t fight a will just because you’re upset about it. Under § 43-8-190, you need a real stake: you’re named in the will, or you’d have gotten a share if there’d been no will. That means a husband or wife, a child, or someone who was in the old will and left out of the new one.

A niece who was never in any will and isn’t an heir has no case, however close she was to her aunt. But a son who was cut out entirely does have standing, because he’d inherit under state law if the will failed. Standing gets you in the door, nothing more.

What Counts as a Valid Reason?

Being left out, or getting less than your brother, isn’t enough. Judges don’t rewrite unfair wills. You have to show the document itself is bad.

Improper signing – the will wasn’t signed in front of two witnesses who also signed, as § 43-8-131 requires. A will your dad typed and signed alone at the kitchen table fails this test.
Lack of capacity – your mother didn’t understand what she owned or who her family was when she signed. Dementia records and hospital notes from that week matter here.
Undue influence – someone pressured a weak, dependent person into a will that favors them. Think of the new beneficiary who found the lawyer, drove to the appointment, and paid the bill.
Fraud or forgery – the signature is fake, or your father was tricked about what he signed.
Revocation – a later will exists, or the person tore up the one being offered.

Two Deadlines Decide Everything

The clock depends on one thing: has the judge signed off on the will yet? If not, you file your objection with the probate court in the county handling the estate.

Once that happens, § 43-8-199 gives you six months to file in the circuit court of that county. Not the probate court. Families have filed on time in the wrong building and lost. Under § 43-8-201, a child, or an adult who can’t manage their own affairs, gets more time if they had no guardian. Everyone else is done when the window closes.

Expect Records, Depositions, and Maybe a Jury

A will contest is a lawsuit. It moves like one: paperwork, sworn testimony, waiting.

Discovery – Both sides swap documents, including five years of medical charts, bank statements, and the drafting attorney’s file.
Depositions – The witnesses, the notary, the home health aide, and the sibling who inherited all testify under oath.
A jury – Either side can demand one, so twelve Houston County neighbors may decide whether your mother knew what she was doing.
The result – Many cases settle once the records come out. If the will is thrown out, an earlier one controls, or the estate passes to heirs under § 43-8-42.

How a Lawyer Builds Your Case

An estate and trust lawyer starts with two questions: do you have standing, and is the will already through probate? Those answers decide whether there’s a case at all. So the first meeting is usually short.

After that, the job is proof: pharmacy records, phone logs, and the people who saw your dad in his last months. Undue influence cases have a special rule. Show the person who inherited was close to your dad, held power over him, and helped get the will written, and the other side must prove they didn’t pressure him. Lining up those three facts is often what turns a hunch into a case.

Get Your Case Checked Before Time Runs Out

To fight a will in Alabama, you need the right to file, a real legal reason, and a filing in the right court before the deadline. Unfair treatment alone won’t do it, but a bad signature, a dementia diagnosis, or a caregiver who ran the show might. If that sounds like your family, get the probate file and see an Alabama probate attorney before your time runs out.