Code of Alabama

Ala. Code § 35-11-4 (2026)

Order of Resort to Different Things.

✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026

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Where one has a lien upon different things, and other persons have subordinate liens upon, or interests in, some but not all of the same things, the person having the prior lien, if he can do so without risk of loss to himself, or of injustice to other persons, must resort to the property in the following order, on the written demand of any party interested:

(1) To the things upon which he has an exclusive lien;

(2) To the things which are subject to the fewest subordinate liens;

(3) In like manner inversely to the number of subordinate liens upon the same thing; and

(4) When several things are within one of the foregoing classes, and subject to the same number of liens, resort must be had:

a. To the things which have not been transferred since the prior lien was created;

b. To the things which have been so transferred without a valuable consideration; and

c. To the things which have been so transferred for a valuable consideration in the inverse order of the transfer.

(Code 1923, §8938; Code 1940, T. 33, §4.)

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1982–1998 · leading case: Peoples Bank of Tuscaloosa v. Comput. Room, Inc. (In Re Comput. Room, Inc.), 24 B.R. 732 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 1982).

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Peoples Bank of Tuscaloosa v. Comput. Room, Inc. (In Re Comput. Room, Inc.), 24 B.R. 732 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 1982). · cites it 3× “Further, in 1923 Alabama codified the doctrine of marshaling of assets by a specific marshaling of liens statute — Ala. Code § 35-11-4 (1975), as follows: § 35-11-4.”

Bay Minette Prod. Credit Ass'n v. Fed. Land Bank of New Orleans, 442 So. 2d 47 (Ala. 1983). · cites it 3× “PCA points out that Code 1975, § 35-11-4, provides that when one has liens on several things, some of which are also subject to subordinate liens, the subordinate lienholders may require him to resort first to the things upon which he has exclusive liens, if he can do so without…”

Dionne v. First Alabama Bank (In Re XYZ Options, Inc.), 217 B.R. 912 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 1998). · cites it 36× “It is set forth in Ala.Code § 35-11-4 (1991). 1 The Trustee’s demand involves sundry transactions associated with (i) two parcels of real property, (a) lots 5 and 5A located on the Ono Island Harbor Peninsula in Baldwin County, Alabama (“Ono Island Property”) and (b) 5201…”

Peterson v. Brent Banking Co., 514 So. 2d 888 (Ala. 1987). “The plaintiff argued that the foreclosure of the real estate was improper and should be set aside. The trial court disagreed, and it granted the defendant bank’s motion for summary judgment, from which the plaintiff appeals.”

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