Arkansas

Arkansas estates are heard in the probate division of the Circuit Court in the county where
the deceased lived. The court issues letters testamentary where there is a will, or letters
of administration where there is not.

Dower and curtesy still exist here

Arkansas is one of only a handful of states that has kept dower and curtesy — a surviving
spouse's statutory interest in the deceased's real and personal property, which exists
independently of the will and can be elected against it.

That matters to an executor, because it means the will does not necessarily control the whole
estate. A surviving spouse who is left thinly provided for can take their dower or curtesy
interest instead, and the entitlement varies with whether there are surviving children. Establish
the position before distributing anything.

Small estates

Arkansas offers an affidavit procedure for small estates, available a set period after death
where the estate falls under the statutory value and there are no unpaid debts beyond the
exemptions. It avoids administration entirely. Confirm the current threshold with the clerk before
opening a full estate.

What the executor must do

Publish the notice to creditors, file an inventory, pay the debts and the final income tax
returns, and file an accounting for the court to approve before distribution.

No state death tax

Arkansas levies neither an estate nor an inheritance tax. Only the federal return can arise.

Before distributing

Let the creditor period run, resolve any dower or curtesy election, settle the taxes, and obtain
the court's approval of the accounting.

An attested Arkansas will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by another at
their direction and in their presence), and attested by two witnesses who sign in the
testator's presence. The testator must be 18 or older and of sound mind.

Holographic wills are valid — but hard to prove

Arkansas accepts a will written entirely in the testator's own handwriting and signed by them,
with no witnesses.

The difficulty comes at probate. A holographic will must be established by the testimony of
three credible disinterested witnesses to the testator's handwriting and signature. Three, not
two — Arkansas sits with North Carolina here, and it is a demanding standard when the death was
years ago and the people who knew the handwriting have themselves died or moved away.

Arkansas will honour a handwritten will. It just makes you work for it, and the work falls on the
family at the worst possible time.

Self-prove an attested will

Attach a self-proving affidavit signed before a notary. It converts "find three people who
recognise the handwriting" into a document already on file.

Remember dower and curtesy

A surviving spouse has a dower or curtesy interest in the deceased's property regardless of
what the will says, and may elect to take it. Drafting as though the will controls everything is a
mistake in Arkansas. If you intend to provide for a spouse differently, take advice about how the
election interacts with your plan.

Also

• Name an alternate executor and consider waiving bond.
• Review after a marriage, divorce, birth or a move to Arkansas.

Yes, and Arkansas caps it with the steepest opening rate of any state covered here.

The statutory ceiling

Under Ark. Code § 28-48-108 the personal representative is allowed such compensation as the court
deems just and reasonable, not exceeding:

Confirm the current figures against the statute.

It is a ceiling on a reasonableness test

The percentages are a maximum, and the operative words are "just and reasonable". The court
decides what is appropriate within the cap, weighing the work actually done. A straightforward
estate settled in months will not attract the ceiling.

The base is personal property

The schedule runs on personal property. Real property that simply passes to the beneficiaries
is not in the base — so an estate whose main asset is a house or farmland generates far less
commission than its headline value suggests. Where the executor has had to sell or manage real
property, that is an argument for additional compensation rather than an automatic entitlement.

Additional compensation

The court may allow more for services beyond the ordinary — litigation, an operating business, or
real property that took years to deal with — on application.

How it is approved

Compensation is claimed on the accounting and allowed by the Circuit Court, or agreed in writing
by all the beneficiaries. Settle it before taking it.

If the will fixes the figure

A will provision governs where the executor accepts the appointment on those terms.

Tax

Compensation is taxable income; an inheritance is not. With no Arkansas death tax to deduct it
against, a family executor who is also a beneficiary often does better declining.

An Arkansas executor is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses of
administration, separately from the statutory commission. They appear on the accounting the
Circuit Court approves, so document as you go.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable reception.
• Circuit Court filing fees, certified letters, certified death certificates, and publication of
  the notice to creditors.
• Attorney's fees, and accountant's fees for the final Form 1040 and any Form 1041.
• Appraisals of real property, farmland, timberland, poultry houses and equipment, vehicles,
  firearms and collections.
• The cost of locating and preparing the three handwriting witnesses where the will is
  holographic — travel, depositions and the attorney time involved. In Arkansas that is a real and
  claimable cost.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: insurance, property tax, utilities, security,
  maintenance, lawn care and pest control — termite bonds in particular are worth keeping
  current on an empty house.
• Storm and tornado damage mitigation: tarping, board-up, tree removal.
• On a farm, the genuine costs of keeping the operation running through a season where that serves
  the estate.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping contents.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate.
• Bond premiums where the will did not waive bond.

Normally not claimable

• The executor's lost wages, meals near home, or personal spending.
• Costs run up for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements beyond preparing a property for sale as it stands.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account and run every payment through it. The court approves the accounting
before distribution, so it will be read.

Most Arkansas estates are administered by a family member with a lawyer retained for the court
steps. A bank trust department or an attorney serving as executor earns its cost in specific
cases.

Consider a professional when

• The will is holographic and the three disinterested handwriting witnesses have to be
  found, prepared and produced. This is a genuine Arkansas burden and it falls hardest where the
  death was years ago.
• A dower or curtesy election by a surviving spouse cuts across the will, particularly in a
  second marriage where the spouse and the children of a first marriage are pulling in opposite
  directions. The executor is caught in the middle of that by definition.
• The estate holds farmland, timberland, a poultry operation or an operating business. Timber
  and poultry-contract valuation are both specialist, and a growing operation cannot pause.
• Heirs' property is involved — land held undivided by many descendants without clear title.
  It is a serious problem across the rural South, and inaction risks a forced partition sale of
  family land.
• There is conflict among the beneficiaries, or a will contest looks likely.
• A beneficiary is a minor or incapacitated, so a trust runs for years.

What it costs

Corporate fiduciaries charge a negotiated percentage, referenced to the § 28-48-108 ceiling,
usually with a minimum annual fee that makes small estates uneconomic. Attorneys generally bill
hourly. Ask for either in writing.

Middle ground

Appoint a family member, waive bond in the will, and let them retain an Arkansas probate
attorney at the estate's expense to handle the notice, the inventory and the accounting.

A named executor who does not want the job can decline before letters issue.