AR risk areas
Arkansas estate risk areas
These pages explain how default state rules in Arkansas shape inheritance, probate, guardianship, taxes, and complexity. Start with the risk area that matches your biggest concern.
How to use this guide
- Read the risk summaries to understand default outcomes.
- Open a risk guide for state-specific details and sources.
- Use this as education, not legal advice.
Intestacy risk
Arkansas uses a descent table that gives priority to descendants and provides a spouse share if there are no descendants, with a reduced share for short marriages.
- Descendants inherit first; shares are distributed per stirpes under Arkansas law.
- If no descendants, the spouse inherits all unless the marriage was under three years, in which case the spouse receives 50 percent.
- If the spouse share is reduced due to a short marriage, the remaining portion passes to the parents.
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Probate risk
Arkansas allows collection of small estates by affidavit after a waiting period when the estate value stays under a statutory cap.
- No personal representative can be pending, and 45 days must pass after death.
- Estate value must be $100,000 or less, excluding the homestead and statutory allowances.
- An affidavit is filed with the probate clerk of the circuit court in the proper venue.
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Tax exposure
Arkansas does not impose a state estate or inheritance tax for deaths after 2004.
- Estate tax provisions became inoperative after the federal credit for state death taxes was repealed.
- Federal estate tax may apply based on estate size.
- With no state death tax, tax exposure is primarily federal when the estate exceeds the federal exemption.
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Guardianship risk
In Arkansas, courts appoint guardians for minor children when no legal parent can act. State statutes outline eligibility, notice, and court oversight.
- Court appointment is required to grant a non-parent legal authority.
- Statutes define who may petition, notice requirements, and hearing steps.
- Temporary or emergency guardianships may be available in urgent cases.
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Complexity triggers
Arkansas retains dower/curtesy and homestead rights that can reshape how real property is handled for surviving spouses and children.
- A surviving spouse has dower or curtesy rights in land unless those rights are relinquished.
- Homestead rights can vest in a surviving spouse and minor children, creating protected interests in the primary residence.
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