Alabama Probate Process: In 7 Simple Steps
Credits Available
| Credit | Status | Total | Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama CLE |
|
6 Total | 12-31-2026 |
| Mississippi CLE |
|
6 Total | 07-31-2026 |
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Overview
Learn How to Handle Assets, Taxes, Personal Representatives, and More!
This step-by-step practical instruction offers essential knowledge of probate processes and best practices for handling each unique case effectively. Learn how to tackle crucial first steps; handle the personal executive; gather, value, and distribute all assets; and successfully complete the final accounting and tax returns. Arm yourself with the foundational knowledge and best practices you need to ensure a smooth administration from start to finish. Register today!
- Don't overlook anything important: confidently navigate critical first steps.
- Understand executor powers, duties, responsibilities, and compensation guidelines.
- Learn how to effectively marshal and inventory all assets.
- Pick up tips for validating, prioritizing, and satisfying creditor claims.
- Get practical guidance for post-mortem planning, trust administration, and tax hurdles.
- Put the decedent's affairs to rest by making distributions, filing the final tax return, and completing the final accounting.
- Discover how to litigate deed contests, lost or contested wills, fiduciary misconduct, and more.
Abbreviated Agenda
- Opening the Estate
- Preparing the Personal Representatives for the Job
- Maintaining an Ethical Practice
- Managing the Estate: Valuations, Spousal Share, and More
- Addressing Creditor Claims
- Handling Estate Closing, Final Accounting, and Tax Returns
- Resolving Disputes and Navigating Probate Litigation
Credit Details
Credits Available
| Credit | Status | Total | Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama CLE |
|
6 Total | 12-31-2026 |
| Mississippi CLE |
|
6 Total | 07-31-2026 |
Select Jurisdiction
CLE
Agenda
-
Opening the Estate
- What to Do in the First 48 Hours
- Obtaining the Will and Getting it Admitted
- Locating and Notifying the Beneficiaries
- Determining if the Estate Qualifies for a Small Estate Administration
- The Estate Timeline - What Must be Done When
- Filing the Initial Petition With the Probate Court: Forms and Procedures
- Sending Initial Notices to the Public and to State Agencies
- Closing the Decedent's Accounts
- Obtaining the Estate Tax ID
- Laws of Intestacy
-
Preparing the Personal Representatives for the Job
- Educating PRs on Their Duties, Powers, and Responsibilities
- Compiling Personal Representative Guide/Instructions
- Clarifying Executor Compensation
- Advising PRs on Potential Problems and Liability
-
Maintaining an Ethical Practice
- Whom do You Represent? Conflicts of Interest
- Protecting Client Confidentiality
- Attorney Fees
- Practicing Law in More Than One State
-
Managing the Estate: Valuations, Spousal Share, and More
- Marshalling and Valuing Decedent's Assets
- Initial Inventory
- Maintenance and Management
- Determining Elective Share and Homestead Allowance
- Spousal Rights: Electing vs. Disclaiming the Share
- Claiming Homestead Allowance
- Portability Rules; Claiming Unused Lifetime Exclusion
- Estate Expenses: Payment and Record-Keeping
- What to Do With the Income the Estate is Producing
-
Addressing Creditor Claims
- Issuing Notices to Creditors: What Works Best
- Validating Claims
- Determining the Priority of Creditor Rights
- Selling Property to Satisfy Claims: What to Sell, How to Do it, and How to Properly Record it
- Satisfying Tax Claims and Liens
-
Handling Estate Closing, Final Accounting, and Tax Returns
- Tax Returns and Deadlines - Estate and Income, State and Federal, Decedent's and the Estate's
- Informal Closing by Statement of Personal Representative
- Compiling and Balancing the Final Account
- Final Distributions to Beneficiaries and Liability of Distributees
- Closing the Estate and Discharging the Fiduciary
-
Resolving Disputes and Navigating Probate Litigation
- Will Contests, Deed Contests, Allegations of Undue Influence and Other Causes of Action
- Obtaining Court Guidance for Proposed Actions Regarding the Estate Administration
- Probate Litigation Rules, Procedures, and Evidentiary Provisions
- Fiduciary Misconduct, Liability, Disputes with Beneficiaries
- Effective Approaches to Resolving Disputes Without Going to Court
Who Should Attend
This basic level online seminar is designed for attorneys, accountants, tax professionals, trust officers, executors and other fiduciaries and paralegals.
Speakers
Speaker bio
M. Hampton Baxley
is a partner in the law firm of Ramsey, Baxley & McDougle in Dothan, and is a fourth-generation Dothan attorney having followed his great-grandfather, grandfather and father in the legal profession. His practice consists of real estate transactions, wills and estates, probate litigation (estates, conservatorship/guardianship), civil litigation, business/corporate transactions, and family law/domestic relations. Mr. Baxley is admitted to practice in Alabama and before the U.S. District Court for the Middle, Northern and Southern districts of Alabama. He has served as a bar commissioner for the 20th Judicial Circuit and president of the Houston County Bar Association. Mr. Baxley has also served as a member of the Alabama State Bar MCLE Commission and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. He earned his B.S. degree from Birmingham-Southern College and his J.D. degree from the University of Alabama School of Law.
Speaker bio
Jennifer M. McInerney
is an attorney with McInerney Law, where her practice is focused in estate planning, primarily for families with special needs children. She is licensed to practice in Alabama and Mississippi. Ms. McInerney is the founding member and co-president of the Board of Directors of Special Siblings, which provides support for children with special needs siblings. She currently serves as the president of the Board of Directors of the Jefferson County Intellectual and Developmental Disability Authority. Ms. McInerney is a member of the Board of Directors for Down Syndrome Alabama, Shelby Humane Society and 25:35. She earned her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, as well as her M.A. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ms. McInerney earned her J.D. degree from Indiana University School of Law and her LL.M. degree in taxation from Washington University in St. Louis.
Speaker bio
Thad A. Davis
is a member with Davis, Mullins & Davis, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He focuses his practice on trusts and estates, with an emphasis on litigation. Mr. Davis represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in trust and estate cases and related controversies, including will contests, spousal elective share proceedings, common law spouse claims, fiduciary accounting cases, post-death disputes over prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and intra-family business and real estate litigation. He also advises clients on the administration of estates and trusts as well as their estate planning. Mr. Davis earned his A.B. degree, cum laude, from Duke University; his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law; and his LL.M. degree in taxation from the University of Florida where he was a graduate editor of the Florida Tax Review.
Speaker bio
Diane L. Dunning
is the assistant attorney general for the State of Alabama Department of Human Resources. Her areas of expertise include, but are not limited to civil, criminal, and administrative litigation, elder law, family law, probate, and government law. Ms. Dunning earned her B.A. degree from the University of Alabama Birmingham and her J.D. degree, with honors, from Birmingham School of Law. She is admitted to practice law in Alabama.
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