When Is Probate Required in Arkansas?

Real estate in Arkansas generally requires probate to transfer ownership unless it was held in a trust, owned jointly with right of survivorship, or had a transfer-on-death deed recorded (if available in the state). A revocable living trust outlines alternatives to probate for real estate.

In Arkansas, assets that typically avoid probate include: property in a living trust, accounts with named beneficiaries (retirement accounts, life insurance, POD bank accounts), jointly owned property with right of survivorship, and vehicles with transfer-on-death registration if available. The trust vs. will comparison outlines how a trust helps bypass probate.

In Arkansas, simple estates typically take 6-9 months. Average estates take 9-12 months. Complex estates with disputes or unusual assets can take 12-24 months or longer.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by Act 326 of 2023 (HB1448, 94th GA): § 28-48-201 "shall take" stricken and "may require" added, § 28-48-203 (sureties) repealed, and § 28-48-206's will-direction / FDIC-fiduciary / distributee-waiver dispensations stricken.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 Estimate total costs with the Arkansas probate calculator.

Probate costs in Arkansas typically include attorney fees, executor fees, court filing fees, and publication costs. On a $500,000 estate, total costs run about $26,865 depending on complexity. Use the Arkansas probate cost calculator for a detailed estimate.

The most common ways to avoid probate in Arkansas include creating a revocable living trust, adding beneficiary designations to accounts, titling property as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and using transfer-on-death deeds where available. The trust vs. will comparison compares the two approaches side by side.