Arkansas revocable living trust: avoid probate, name beneficiaries, set distribution rules, appoint a successor trustee. State-specific execution.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Arkansas Revocable Living Trusts
Yes. Assets held in a revocable living trust bypass Arkansas probate entirely — no court supervision, no public record, no statutory fees.Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-101 et seq.Verified Jul 15, 2026 Full probate in Arkansas typically takes 9-12 months. Use the Arkansas probate cost calculator to see what probate would cost without a trust.
Arkansas accepts a certificate of trust in lieu of the full trust instrument.Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-1013Verified Jul 15, 2026 The certificate confirms the trust exists, identifies the trustee, and states the trustee's powers — without disclosing beneficiaries or distribution terms. Third parties who rely on the certificate in good faith are protected by statute.Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-1013(f)Verified Jul 15, 2026
Many families with a trust also use a pour-over will — one way to direct assets not transferred into the trust during your lifetime. Pour-over assets go through probate before reaching the trust. Create a Arkansas pour-over will if needed.
The successor trustee takes over and the trust becomes irrevocable, then distributes assets according to the trust terms without probate court involvement. Arkansas has no separate trust creditor-notice step — the settlor's debts stay subject to the general claims and limitations period (up to 6 months), which the trustee settles before distributing.Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-505(a) (lifetime claims only; no post-death trust creditor procedure), § 28-50-101 (probate PR publication, 6-month bar). Verified 2026-06-19.Verified Jul 15, 2026 Arkansas requires beneficiary notification within 60 days of death. Use the Trust EIN application tool to get the tax ID.
Most assets can be transferred: Arkansas real estate (via a Warranty Deed), bank accounts, investment accounts, vehicles, and personal property.Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-101 et seq.Verified Jul 15, 2026 Retirement accounts (401k, IRA) use beneficiary designations rather than being retitled. Life insurance policies can name the trust as beneficiary. The key is funding — only assets actually transferred into the trust bypass probate.
It depends on your estate size and goals. Arkansas allows simplified probate for estates under $100,000,Ark. Code §§ 28-48-108(a) (executor compensation — just and reasonable, capped at 10% first $1K / 5% next $4K / 3% balance of personal property fully administered), 28-48-108(d)(2)-(3) (attorney fee schedule — 6-tier, 5% to 2%, on total market value reportable in circuit court; court adjusts if excessive or insufficient), 28-41-101 (small estate affidavit — $100K / 45 days / real property counts toward the cap / homestead and statutory allowances excluded), 28-50-101 (creditor claims — 6 months from first publication; (h) 2 years from first publication for known or reasonably ascertainable creditors; (d) 5-year absolute bar), 28-48-201 (bond — court "may require"; mandatory on written demand under (b)(1)), 28-48-206 (court may increase, decrease, or dispense with bond for good cause), 28-40-111(a)(1)(A) (mandatory publication of notice of appointment), 28-1-112 (notice requirements), 28-40-119 (court admits will and grants letters), 28-1-106 (probate referee and clerk), 28-52-103(a) (PR must file verified accounts with the court), 28-49-110 (PR-prepared inventory). Bond sections rewritten by Act 326 of 2023 (HB1448, 94th GA): § 28-48-201 "shall take" stricken and "may require" added, § 28-48-203 (sureties) repealed, and § 28-48-206's will-direction / FDIC-fiduciary / distributee-waiver dispensations stricken. Verified 2026-07-14. The official Arkansas Code (lexisnexis.com/hottopics/arcode/) is JS/Lexis-walled, so every section above was read from the codified "Arkansas Code of 1987 (2024)" edition on law.justia.com (e.g. law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-28/subtitle-4/chapter-48/subchapter-2/section-28-48-206/), cross-checked against the enacted Act 326 of 2023 PDF from the official source (arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FACT326.pdf). Because act PDFs render stricken text identically to enacted text, every Act 326 change above was confirmed against the codified section, not the act alone. CURRENCY (2026-07-14): no act of any session enacted after the codified edition's currency date amends any cited section. Confirmed two ways against the Legislature's own site: (1) arkleg's official "Code Sections Amended" index for Title 28 (arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/CodeSectionsAmended) for the 2024 Fiscal, 2024 Second Extraordinary, 2025 Regular, 2026 Fiscal, and 2026 First Extraordinary sessions — the only 2025 Title 28 amendments are ch. 65 guardianship (Acts 713, 518, 315), § 28-8-102 / §§ 28-40-110(c), -112, -121 (Act 692, missing-person legal-death procedure), §§ 28-69-802/-803 (Act 308), and new ch. 78 Uniform Trust Decanting Act (Act 680); (2) a full-text scan of every enacted public act of all five of those sessions (1,026 acts in 2025R plus 177 + 6 + 175 + 3) downloaded from arkleg and converted with pdftotext — the strings 28-48-108, 28-48-201, 28-48-206, 28-50-101, 28-40-111, 28-40-119, 28-1-106, 28-52-103, and 28-41-101 appear in exactly one act (Act 713 of 2025), and there only as a cross-reference to § 28-48-201 et seq. inside the guardian-bond section § 28-65-215(d), not as an amendment.Verified Jul 14, 2026 so smaller estates may not need a trust for cost savings alone. Use the Arkansas trust vs. will comparison to see which fits your situation.
Arkansas offers transfer-on-death deeds for real estate,Ark. Code Ann. 18-12-608Verified Jul 13, 2026 which transfer property at death without probate. A TOD deed is simpler for a single property, but a trust covers all asset types, provides incapacity protection, and keeps distributions private. Check eligibility with the TOD deed checker.
Arkansas allows remote online notarization (RON), so a notarization can be completed by video call.Ark. Code § 21-14-301 et seq. Whether an electronically signed trust instrument is valid in Arkansas is not settled by statute, so this trust is built to be printed and signed on paper. See all Arkansas signing requirements.
While you're alive, a revocable trust uses your Social Security number. After the grantor dies, the trust needs its own EIN from the IRS. Use the Trust EIN application to prepare the paperwork.
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