Should You Get a Trust or a Will in Arkansas?

Arkansas probate fees follow a statutory schedule calculated as a percentage of the gross estate.Ark. Code § 28-48-108(d)(2) (6-tier statutory schedule on total market value of real + personal property; court may adjust if excessive or insufficient)Verified Jul 14, 2026 On a $500,000 estate, combined attorney, executor, and court fees total about $26,865. A revocable trust has a one-time setup cost and no probate fees. See a detailed breakdown with the Arkansas probate calculator.

No. A will must go through probate in Arkansas. However, estates with personal property under $100,000 may qualify for Affidavit for Collection of Small Estate by Distributee, which is faster and less expensive than full probate.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by Act 326 of 2023 (HB1448, 94th GA): § 28-48-201 "shall take" stricken and "may require" added, § 28-48-203 (sureties) repealed, and § 28-48-206's will-direction / FDIC-fiduciary / distributee-waiver dispensations stricken.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

Simple estates in Arkansas typically take 6-9 months through probate. Complex or contested estates 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 A revocable trust avoids probate entirely; distributions follow the trustee’s administration rather than a court timeline.

Yes. A will becomes a public court record once it enters probate in Arkansas. A revocable trust is a private document that does not go through probate, so the terms, beneficiaries, and asset details remain confidential.

Use the Arkansas probate calculator to estimate attorney fees, executor fees, court costs, and the probate timeline.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

Whether a trust is cost-effective depends on estate size, property types, and Arkansas's probate costs. The Arkansas trust need assessment evaluates these factors against your specific situation.