Whether you live in Decatur, Hartselle, or anywhere between, your estate plan should reflect the life you’ve built. Valley Estate Planning crafts customized wills, trusts, healthcare directives, and probate strategies that protect Morgan County families and keep your loved ones supported through every chapter ahead.
Most people in Morgan County don’t think about estate planning until something forces them to.
A friend’s funeral. A line on a refinance application. A line item in the long-term care brochure your spouse handed you. A January 1st you can’t quite shake.
You probably already have a rough idea of what you want to happen to your house, your retirement accounts, and the things you’ve spent decades building. What you don’t have is the legal framework that makes any of it actually happen the way you’d want it to.
Here’s what tends to be on people’s minds when they finally pick up the phone:
These questions have answers. The hard part is sitting down with someone who’ll give them to you straight, in plain English, without trying to sell you something you don’t need.
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We are the largest law firm in North Alabama dedicated entirely to estate planning, probate, and elder law. It is everything we do.
The full set — wills, revocable living trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives — designed around your family, not pulled out of a template. Read about our estate planning services.
If you’ve been named executor on a Morgan County estate, we handle the court filings, the creditor notices, the asset inventory, and the distributions. See how we work through probate administration.
Long-term care planning, Medicaid asset protection, VA benefits, and the nursing home decisions that hit faster than anyone expects. Our board-certified elder law attorneys work in this area every day.
Trusts and structures that shield what you’ve earned from lawsuits, creditors, and avoidable taxes. More on asset protection.
Plans that provide for a child or family member with disabilities without disqualifying them from the benefits they depend on. See our special needs planning approach.
Decatur is built on businesses that have been in families for generations. We help you decide what happens to yours when you step back — voluntarily or otherwise. Read about our business succession planning work.
When a loved one can’t make decisions and there’s no plan in place, the courts decide for them. We help families through guardianship and conservatorship and, ideally, prevent it before it gets to that point.
Morgan County has a different rhythm than the cities to the north. Manufacturing roots, river towns, established neighborhoods, and a growing belt of suburbs along the I-65 corridor. We work with families everywhere in it:
Our office is in Huntsville, about 30 minutes from downtown Decatur. We offer in-person meetings at our office, virtual consultations from your kitchen table, and home visits when getting to us isn’t practical. Whatever fits your week.
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If you’ve been named executor on a Morgan County estate, here is what you need to know about the court.
⚠️ Important — Temporary Location: The Morgan County Courthouse is currently undergoing renovation. As of February 9, 2026, the Probate Office moved to a temporary location at:
Morgan County Probate Office (Temporary) 401 2nd Avenue SE Decatur, AL 35601
The court’s permanent home is at 302 Lee Street NE in Decatur, but you should not show up there during the renovation. Confirm the current location at morgancountyprobate.com before you make the trip.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM Phone: (256) 351-4675 Mailing address: P.O. Box 848, Decatur, AL 35602 Probate Judge: The Honorable Greg Cain
What you’ll need to file:
A few things people are often surprised to learn:
The probate clerks cannot give you legal advice. They will accept your filings, but they can’t tell you whether the small estate process applies to you, whether you should accept your appointment as executor, or whether the will is valid. That’s not them being unhelpful — it’s the law.
If the estate is small, you may not need full probate at all. Alabama has a small estate affidavit process for estates under a certain dollar threshold. Worth checking before you commit to the full process.
And one of the most common questions we get from new executors: does the estate pay the probate attorney, or do I have to? The answer in nearly every case is the estate. You don’t write the check.
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There are good general practice attorneys in Decatur. We’re not one of them — and that’s the point.
This is all we do. While a general firm might draft a few wills a month between divorces and real estate closings, we work on hundreds of estate plans, probate matters, and elder law cases every year. The depth shows up in the work.
A complete team. Other firms hand your file to a paralegal after the first meeting. Our entire team — attorneys, paralegals, intake — works your plan together. You get the right person at every step.
Board-certified elder law attorneys. A credential issued through the National Elder Law Foundation that requires continuing education, peer review, and a track record of cases. Most firms in North Alabama don’t have it. Read more on what CELA certification actually means.
More five-star reviews than any other estate planning firm in North Alabama. Over 200, on Google. Read what families have to say.
Book a discovery call. Tell us what’s going on. We’ll tell you whether you actually need legal help and, if so, what kind. No pressure. No jargon. No charge. Here’s what becoming a client looks like start to finish.
We meet — at our Huntsville office, virtually, or at your home in Decatur, Hartselle, Priceville, or wherever in Morgan County works for you. We review your situation, walk through your options in plain English, and design a plan around your actual life.
We finalize your documents, walk you through what each one does, and help you brief the people who need to know.
Estate plans aren’t “set it and forget it.” Laws change. Families change. Assets change. We schedule annual reviews and we’re a phone call away when crisis hits.
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The Probate Office is currently at a temporary location at 401 2nd Avenue SE, Decatur, AL 35601, while the courthouse undergoes renovation. The permanent address is 302 Lee Street NE. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Always confirm at morgancountyprobate.com or by calling (256) 351-4675 before you go.
Most uncontested Morgan County estates take six to twelve months from filing to final distribution. Alabama law sets a six-month creditor notice period that establishes the floor. Estates with disputes, real property in multiple counties, or out-of-state heirs typically take longer. For more on the timing, see our overview of how long you have to file probate in Alabama.
Not legally. But realistically, yes for most estates. The court staff cannot give legal advice — only accept filings — and probate mistakes are expensive to fix. Because the estate pays the attorney in nearly every case, the cost of getting it right is far lower than people expect.
Yes. We work with out-of-state executors regularly. We’ve covered both the residency requirements and the bond rules in Can I Be an Executor If I Live in Another State? and Will I Have to Pay a Probate Bond as an Out-of-State Executor?. Most of the day-to-day work happens by email, video, and overnight signing.
No. We offer virtual consultations and home visits across Morgan County. If you’d rather meet in your kitchen in Hartselle than drive up to our Huntsville office, that’s fine. The work is the same.
We focus on Alabama, but if the estate has property in another state, we’ll coordinate with a colleague there and walk you through how ancillary probate works in Alabama if a relative outside the state owned property here.
Comprehensive plans typically run $3,000 to $7,500 depending on complexity. Payment plans are available. The free 15-minute discovery call gives you a clear quote before you commit to anything.
It depends entirely on how each account is titled — joint accounts, payable-on-death designations, and accounts held only in the deceased’s name all behave differently. We covered the rules in detail in What Happens to Bank Accounts When Someone Dies in Alabama.
Every week we work with someone in Morgan County who waited too long. The stroke. The diagnosis. The unexpected loss. None of it sends advance notice.
The best time to plan was last year. The next best time is now.
Here’s what happens when you book a discovery call:
Call us or request your free 15-minute discovery call online.
4960 Corporate Drive NW Suite 100-A Huntsville, AL 35805
Call Us At: (256) 273-5109 
