In Arkansas, estates valued at $100,000Ark. Code § 28-41-101Verified Sep 8, 2026View source or less use the Affidavit for Collection of Small Estate by DistributeeArk. Code § 28-41-101Verified Sep 8, 2026View source, 45 daysArk. Code § 28-41-101Verified Sep 8, 2026View source after death, a court filing short of full probate. Real property counts toward the limitArk. Code § 28-41-101Verified Sep 8, 2026View source. An estate over the limit does not qualify, and no affidavit is prepared for it.

It depends on what the person owned and how it was titled. Property with a named beneficiary, joint property with survivorship, and property in a trust pass outside probate. What remains goes through probate unless it is under the state's small estate limit, in which case a small estate affidavit collects it. The Probate Decision Tool applies your state's rules.

When the estate's value is under the state's limit and the state's waiting period after the death has passed. The limit and the period differ by state, and several states run the small estate as a court process rather than an affidavit. The builder checks the estate against your state's limit before it produces the document.

It records who the heirs are when no estate was administered, so that real property can be dealt with in the county land records. It is a sworn statement of the decedent's family history, laid out to the state's recording rules. It does not itself transfer title.