Ala. Code § 43-2-627

This is the official text of Ala. Code § 43-2-627, part of Alabama’s Code — part of the compiled statutory law of Alabama, published by the state as "Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Section 43-2-627 Setting Off Indebtedness of Distributee or Legatee

Official statutory text

(a) If, on final settlement, any distributee or legatee owes the estate any debt, contracted with the decedent in his or her lifetime or with the executor or administrator in his or her representative capacity, the court shall allow the same in favor of the executor or administrator, as a setoff against the distributive share of such distributee or legatee and shall decree satisfaction of his or her distributive share to the extent of such debt or demand; but the distributee or legatee may make any defense to the setoff that would be available to him or her in a direct proceeding for the recovery of the debt.

(b) In no case shall a decree be rendered in favor of the executor or administrator against such distributee or legatee for the excess, when the debt is greater in amount than the distributive share; nor shall the executor or administrator be prevented from prosecuting a civil action in the proper court for any excess that may be due him or her from such distributee or legatee.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.