How Do I Get Appointed as Executor in Arkansas?

In Arkansas, the Circuit Court appoints the personal representative and the Circuit Court clerk issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration; every appointment goes through the court.

State

Document Type

Getting appointed in Arkansas

Personal Representative (executor/executrix if testate, administrator/administratrix if intestate)

The form that opens the estate

Form 3

Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Personal Representative · Print-only PDF (no fill-in fields) · View source

Where you file

Circuit Court (Probate Division)

What the court issues (with a will)

Letters Testamentary

issued by Circuit Court clerk

Letters are an output — the court issues them after granting the petition.

At a glance

UPC adoptedInformal trackE-filing (self-represented)Self-represented filingLocal/county forms

E-filing runs through eFlex under Administrative Order No. 21 and is rolled out court by court, not uniformly statewide. The two official statements of who may e-file differ in scope, and the narrower one is the binding agreement: the efile.arcourts.gov registration notice says "a litigant appearing pro se in a particular court," while the eFlex Filing Interface Terms of Use limits the non-attorney arm to "a self-represented litigant in a case where the court has mandated electronic filing." A self-represented filer who does qualify must also complete the one-hour training, submit a notarized Affidavit in Support of a Self-Represented Litigant, and pay the one-time $100 registration fee, so paper filing at the circuit clerk remains the ordinary pro se route.

Bond

Required before Letters: No
Waivable by will: No
Waivable by beneficiaries: No

Other official forms

Letters form: Form 11 (Letters Testamentary) / Form 10 (Letters of Administration)View source

What to file with the petition

Death certificate (customary, not required by statute or by any official Arkansas probate form)
Original will and any codicils (for testate estates) lodged with the court (filed with Form 3)
Proof of the will's execution (proof of will / self-proving affidavit) at presentation of the petition
Probate Cover Sheet (statewide AOC form required by Administrative Order No. 8)
Acceptance of Appointment as Personal Representative (Form 8), where no bond is required
Bond of Personal Representative (Form 6), only if the court requires a bond (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-201(a))
Notice of Appointment (Form 13 for executor / Form 12 for administrator) for publication to creditors
Proposed order admitting the will and/or appointing the personal representative

Small-estate alternative

Bypasses full Letters: Yes
Form: Form 23View source
Form name: Affidavit for Collection of Small Estate by Distributee

State-specific notes

Arkansas merged probate into the Circuit Court (Probate Division) under Constitutional Amendment 80 (five subject-matter divisions: criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, juvenile). There are separate appointment petitions for testate vs. intestate estates (Form 3 vs. Form 2) and separate Letters (Form 11 Letters Testamentary vs. Form 10 Letters of Administration). The small-estate affidavit (Form 23, Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(a)(1)) requires that 45 days have elapsed since death, that no PR petition is pending or has been granted, and that the value less encumbrances of all property owned by the decedent — excluding the homestead and any statutory allowances — does not exceed $100,000. Act 326 of 2023 made bond discretionary (§ 28-48-201), reduced § 28-48-206 to a single good-cause sentence, and repealed § 28-48-203 (sureties), so the ordinary route to Letters is now the written Acceptance of Appointment (Form 8) under § 28-48-102(a) rather than a bond.

General information about how a personal representative is appointed, not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions. Data verified Aug 24, 2026

Arkansas uses Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Personal Representative (Form 3); Petition for Appointment of Administrator/Administratrix (Form 2) (Form 3), filed with the Circuit Court. Circuit Court clerk issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration after the court grants the petition.

Along with the petition, Arkansas generally requires: Death certificate (customary, not required by statute or by any official Arkansas probate form); Original will and any codicils (for testate estates) lodged with the court (filed with Form 3); Proof of the will's execution (proof of will / self-proving affidavit) at presentation of the petition; Probate Cover Sheet (statewide AOC form required by Administrative Order No. 8); Acceptance of Appointment as Personal Representative (Form 8), where no bond is required; Bond of Personal Representative (Form 6), only if the court requires a bond (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-201(a)). The court's own checklist runs longer for particular cases.

Arkansas does not require a bond by default before Letters issue, though the court can order one.

Arkansas permits a self-represented person to open an estate, using Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Personal Representative (Form 3); Petition for Appointment of Administrator/Administratrix (Form 2) (Form 3). E-filing is open to self-represented filers. The Arkansas self-file probate assessment sets self-filing against attorney costs.

Yes. A revocable living trust passes its assets to the beneficiaries without a court appointment in Arkansas: no petition, no Letters, no bond. A revocable trust built with SimplyTrust takes about fifteen minutes.

Getting Appointed in Arkansas

In Arkansas, a personal representative is appointed by the Circuit Court. Circuit Court clerk issues the Letters that prove authority over the estate — Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (no will). Arkansas has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code.

The estate is opened by filing Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Personal Representative (Form 3); Petition for Appointment of Administrator/Administratrix (Form 2) (Form 3) with the court. The court filing fee runs $165, and Arkansas has no informal (registrar) appointment track, so every appointment goes through the court.

Arkansas does not require a bond by default before Letters issue, though the court can order one where it is needed to protect creditors or heirs.

Estates under $100,000 in Arkansas may qualify for a simplified procedure that avoids a full appointment entirely (Form 23). The self-file probate assessment carries an Arkansas cost comparison.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 8, 2026

Legal Sources

Data sourced from Arkansas statutes and official state code. How we research.

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