Updating Your Estate Plan After a Move to Huntsville
Moving to Alabama does not cancel your estate plan. If you moved to Huntsville with a will, trust or powers of attorney signed in another state, they usually still work here. The rules differ by document, so review each one before replacing it.
What a move changes is how well the plan fits. The people you named may live far away now, the house you bought here may sit outside your trust, and the plan may rest on another state's tax or marital property rules. Whether a job at Redstone Arsenal, a defense or aerospace employer or family brought you to Huntsville, Madison, Athens or Decatur, plan a review in your first months here.
Is my out-of-state will still valid in Alabama?
Usually, yes. A will is valid in Alabama if it was signed the way Alabama requires, or the way the law of the place where you signed it, or where you lived, required at the time (Ala. Code § 43-8-135). If your will, power of attorney or advance directive qualifies under the federal military-document rules, it receives the same legal effect here as a document prepared and executed under Alabama law (10 U.S.C. §§ 1044b, 1044c, 1044d). The review should check the signed document's eligibility and execution requirements.
A valid will can still cause problems. Check two things:
How the will gets proved. A self-proving affidavit, signed before a notary with the will, usually lets the probate court admit the will without testimony from the witnesses (§ 43-8-132). If the will is not accepted as self-proved, the court may need witness testimony or other proof under Alabama probate rules (§ 43-8-167). We review the existing affidavit, including any applicable military-document rules, before recommending a replacement.
Terms written for your old state. A will built around another state's taxes, court procedures or marital property rules may not work the way you expect here.
When you sign a new will with us, the self-proving affidavit is part of the same signing. We provide the witnesses and the notary, usually at our Huntsville office. More on how to sign a valid will in Alabama and what a will does in Alabama.
Do I need new powers of attorney and an advance directive?
Your old ones are probably still valid, but new Alabama documents are usually worth signing.
Financial power of attorney. An out-of-state financial power of attorney generally works here if it met Alabama's execution rules or those of the law governing the document (Ala. Code § 26-1A-106(c)). The law named in the document controls its meaning and effect; if it names none, the law of the place where it was signed controls (§ 26-1A-107).
Advance directive. Alabama honors a living will or health care proxy validly signed in another state, within the limits of Alabama law (§ 22-8A-12). A financial power of attorney covers medical decisions only if it expressly grants that authority (§ 26-1A-404); the usual place for them is an advance directive naming a health care proxy.
Your family may need these documents on short notice. Alabama versions give a local hospital or bank a document it recognizes, and the move is a good time to name an agent who lives nearby. More on durable powers of attorney and advance directives in Alabama.
What about my living trust and the deeds to my home?
Your living trust generally stays valid after the move (Ala. Code § 19-3B-403). If it says which state's law governs it, that choice generally still controls how its terms are read (§ 19-3B-107).
The gap to watch is the house. A trust controls only property titled to it, or paid to it at your death, so a home you bought in your own name or names is outside the trust. A deed with a right of survivorship passes the house to the surviving owner without probate, but after the survivor's death it generally goes through probate (§ 35-4-7).
A deed may be part of the update. If funding the home into your trust fits the plan, that may mean a deed to you as trustee, recorded in the probate office of the county where the house sits (§§ 35-4-50, 35-4-62). We prepare and record deeds only as part of an estate plan, when your engagement includes that work. More on whether you need a living trust.
What if we moved from a community property state?
Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin are community property states: in general, what a married couple acquires while living in one belongs to both spouses equally. Alabama is not. Here, a surviving spouse can generally claim an elective share of up to one-third of the estate, even against the will, depending on how much the survivor already owns (Ala. Code § 43-8-70). See whether you can leave a spouse out of your will.
Property you acquired while domiciled in a community property state needs a separate review before you retitle it. Bring the deeds, account records and any marital property agreement so we and your tax adviser can assess its ownership and tax treatment after the move.
For qualifying community property, both halves generally receive a basis adjustment when the first spouse dies if at least half is includible in that spouse's gross estate. For property held solely by spouses as joint tenants with right of survivorship, the adjustment generally applies only to the deceased spouse's half. Whether an asset qualifies depends on its ownership and tax classification.
What about real estate I left behind in another state?
If you kept a house, a lake place or land in the state you left, it may need its own probate there after your death, on top of any probate here. A funded living trust can avoid that: property deeded to your trust passes under its terms, generally without a probate case in that state. See how to avoid probate in Alabama.
Property in another state may need a lawyer licensed there.
What else should I update after the move?
Your executor and trustee. Alabama lets a nonresident named in your will serve as executor on the same terms as a resident (Ala. Code § 43-2-191). A nonresident generally cannot serve as administrator unless already qualified as executor or administrator of the same estate in another jurisdiction (§ 43-2-22). Either way, ask whether your executor and successor trustee can do the job from where they live. See what an executor does.
A guardian for your children. If the guardian your will names lives far from your new home, make sure that choice still fits. See naming a guardian in your will.
Beneficiary designations. If the move came with a new employer, its retirement plan and life insurance have their own beneficiary designations. Those accounts usually go to the beneficiary on file, whatever your will says. See beneficiary designations and trusts.
Estate tax provisions. Alabama does not currently collect an estate tax (§ 40-15-2). If you moved from a state that taxes estates or inheritances, the tax-driven trusts in your old plan are worth a second look.
Irrevocable trusts. A move can change which states tax a trust's income. Alabama treats a trust as resident only when both parts of its test are met: the creator lived in Alabama when it became irrevocable, or the decedent lived here at death, and qualifying trustee or currently distributable beneficiary ties to Alabama lasted more than seven months of the tax year (§ 40-18-1(33)). Even a nonresident trust can owe Alabama tax on income from Alabama sources (§ 40-18-2). Ask us and your tax adviser to review the trust before considering a trustee change.
Your domicile. Updating your plan here helps show that Alabama is now your home, which can affect your state income tax (§ 40-18-2), especially if you kept a house in the state you left.
Do I need a new will after moving to Alabama?
Not always. If your will and trust still say what you want, the update may be limited: Alabama powers of attorney and an advance directive, a deed for your new home, and perhaps a new will with an Alabama self-proving affidavit. If your family, assets or tax picture changed with the move, a new plan is often cleaner than patching the old one. Sarah reviews what you brought and recommends the route that fits.
Talk with a Huntsville estate planning lawyer
Schedule a consultation with Sarah S. Shepard to review the will, trust, powers of attorney and advance directive you brought with you. Sarah prepares wills and trust-based estate plans for families in Huntsville and North Alabama. Because our firm also handles probate for executors and trust administration for trustees, she drafts with what happens after a death in mind.
We recommend a review after any move, marriage, death in the family or major change in assets.