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Arkansas ties your spouse’s inheritance to how long you were married. A surviving spouse married less than three years takes only fifty percent of what they would otherwise receive. Arkansas is also one of the last states still running on dower and curtesy, and it still divides property into “new acquisitions” and “ancestral estate” — a distinction nearly extinct everywhere else, and one that decides whether a widow or widower owns the family land outright or merely for life. Handwritten wills are valid here, but proving one takes three disinterested witnesses. Online services prepare an Arkansas-specific will for $199–$299.
Most Arkansas adults can finish a legally valid will in under an hour.
Two witnesses, a signature, and clear wishes — that’s the whole requirement. An online service like Trust & Will prepares an Arkansas-specific will with the witness pages ready to sign.
Disclosure: we earn a commission if you buy through the Trust & Will links here, at no extra cost to you. Complex situations belong with an attorney and we say so below.
Arkansas Will Requirements (2026)
Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-103 sets the execution rules, and Arkansas asks for more steps than most states:
| Requirement | Arkansas rule | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Signed | You sign, acknowledge a signature already made, sign by mark, or have someone sign your name in your presence at your direction | § 28-25-103(b)(1) |
| Declared | You must declare to the attesting witnesses that the instrument is your will | § 28-25-103(b)(1) |
| Signature at the end | “The signature must be at the end of the instrument” | § 28-25-103(b)(2)(A) |
| Witnessed | Two or more attesting witnesses, present when you sign or acknowledge, who then sign at your request and in your presence | § 28-25-103(b)(2)(B), (c) |
| Notarized | Not required for validity | § 28-25-103 |
The declaration is a real requirement, not a formality. Arkansas keeps the old rule of publication: you have to tell the witnesses that the document is your will. Handing two people a stack of paper and asking them to sign is not enough. They do not need to read it — they need to have been told what it is. Oklahoma and Iowa keep the same requirement; Texas next door does not.
If someone signs your name for you, § 28-25-103(b)(1)(D)(ii) requires that person to write their own name and state that they signed at your request — a step easily missed when a family member helps.
Who can make a will: “Any person of sound mind eighteen (18) years of age or older may make a will” (§ 28-25-101).
Handwritten Wills Are Valid in Arkansas — But Proving One Takes Three Witnesses
Arkansas recognizes holographic wills, and the statute is unusual enough to quote in full:
“When the entire body of the will and the signature shall be written in the proper handwriting of the testator, the will may be established by the evidence of at least three (3) credible disinterested witnesses to the handwriting and signature of the testator, notwithstanding there may be no attesting witnesses to the will.” — Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-104
Read that carefully, because it splits into two very different moments.
At signing: you need nobody. Write the entire body of the will and your signature in your own hand and it is a valid Arkansas will with no witnesses at all.
At probate: your family needs three credible disinterested witnesses who can testify to your handwriting and your signature. Most holographic states require one or two. Arkansas requires three — and “disinterested” rules out everyone who inherits under the will, which is to say the people most motivated to come forward and the people most likely to know your handwriting.
That is a hard standard to meet years after the fact, and it gets harder the longer you live. Three people who can swear to your handwriting, who are not in your will, and who are still findable and alive when you die is not a trivial list. Arkansas’s holographic will is genuinely valid and genuinely difficult to prove — treat it as an emergency measure, not a plan.
Electronic Wills Are Not Valid in Arkansas
Arkansas has not adopted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act. The execution chapter runs from § 28-25-101 to § 28-25-111 and contains no electronic-will provision. An Arkansas will has to be a physical document, signed at the end, declared to two witnesses who sign at your request and in your presence.
Arkansas is now in a shrinking minority on this. Its neighbors Missouri (2025), Oklahoma (2024) and Tennessee have moved at different speeds, and the Uniform Act keeps picking up states each session.
Dying Without a Will in Arkansas: Two Rules Nobody Expects
1. Children come before the spouse
Arkansas’s table of descent at § 28-9-214 puts children and their descendants first. The surviving spouse appears at the second tier. Where there are descendants, the intestate estate passes to them — and the spouse’s protection comes from dower or curtesy instead, described below. That ordering is unusual and it is the source of most confusion about Arkansas intestacy.
2. The three-year marriage rule
When the spouse does reach the table, § 28-9-214(2) adds a condition found in very few states:
“…unless the intestate and the surviving spouse had been continuously married less than three (3) years next preceding the death of the intestate, in which event the surviving spouse will take merely fifty percent (50%).” — Ark. Code Ann. § 28-9-214(2)
Married two years and eleven months, your spouse takes half. The balance goes to your parents under § 28-9-214(4). There is no proportionality and no discretion — it is a bright line at three years of continuous marriage immediately preceding death. For a late-in-life marriage, a second marriage, or anyone who married recently, this single subsection is the reason to write a will.
After the spouse and parents, the order runs to siblings and their descendants; then grandparents, uncles and aunts; then great-grandparents, great-uncles and great-aunts; and finally escheat under § 28-9-215.
Arkansas Still Has Dower and Curtesy
Most states abolished dower and curtesy decades ago. Arkansas kept them, and for a surviving spouse they often matter more than the descent table does.
If the decedent left children (§ 28-11-301): the surviving spouse is “endowed of the third part of all the lands for life whereof his or her spouse was seized” — a life estate in one-third of the real estate. The right extends to land sold during the marriage without the spouse’s consent, which is why Arkansas real estate closings ask a non-owning spouse to sign.
If the decedent left no children (§ 28-11-307): the answer depends on two things — who the spouse is competing against, and what kind of property it is.
| Property type | Against collateral heirs | Against creditors |
|---|---|---|
| New acquisition | One-half of the real estate in fee simple, plus one-half of the personal estate absolutely | One-third of the real estate in fee simple, plus one-third of the personalty absolutely |
| Ancestral estate | One-half — life estate only | One-third — life estate only |
“New acquisition” versus “ancestral estate” is a distinction almost no other American jurisdiction still uses. Property the decedent bought is a new acquisition. Property that came down through the decedent’s own bloodline — inherited family land, most commonly — is ancestral. On a childless Arkansas marriage, that single classification decides whether the surviving spouse owns the farm or merely gets to use it for life, with the decedent’s cousins owning the remainder.
For farm and timber families in particular, this is not academic. Land that has been in one family for generations is ancestral, and a surviving spouse who assumed they owned it may hold nothing but a life estate.
Arkansas Death Taxes: the Statute Survives, the Tax Does Not
You will find sources saying Arkansas has an estate tax and sources saying it does not. Both are misleading, so here is the mechanism.
Arkansas has no inheritance tax. It does still have an estate tax statute — § 26-59-106 — but that statute is a “pick-up” tax: it measures the Arkansas tax as “a sum equal to the federal credit allowable under the federal estate tax laws… as in effect on January 1, 2002,” and provides that “if no federal estate tax is imposed upon the transfer of property, no Arkansas estate tax shall be imposed.”
Congress replaced that federal credit with a deduction for deaths after 2004. The credit the Arkansas statute measures itself against no longer exists, and the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration has published no estate tax return since the AR321 for the 2004 tax year. The statute is on the books; the tax is not collected. Compare the states in our state-by-state comparison.
What a Will Costs in Arkansas
| Route | Typical cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Handwritten | $0 | Valid if the entire body and signature are in your hand — but proving it takes three disinterested witnesses to your handwriting |
| Online service | $199 individual / $299 couple | Arkansas-specific will with witness pages, done in about an hour |
| Arkansas attorney | Flat fees vary — Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas run above rural counties | Custom drafting and counsel, including dower, curtesy and ancestral-property questions |
Online pricing verified against Trust & Will’s published rates (August 2026). The Arkansas Bar Association publishes no fee survey, so we quote no attorney figures we can’t source. See how Arkansas compares with the rest of the country for national cost ranges and a state-by-state table of will requirements.
What an Arkansas Will Does Not Do
1. A will does not avoid probate. Arkansas probate is a circuit court process on the public record. For the comparison, see what a living trust costs in Arkansas and our guide to avoiding probate.
2. A will does not defeat dower or curtesy. A surviving spouse may claim against the will, and the dower or curtesy interest reaches land sold during the marriage without their consent. Disinheriting a spouse in Arkansas is not something a will accomplishes on its own.
3. A will does not cover incapacity, and does not override beneficiary designations. Pair it with a durable power of attorney and a health care directive — see the five documents every family needs — and keep your beneficiary forms current.
Will vs. Trust for Arkansas Families
Every Arkansas adult needs a will, and two groups need one urgently: anyone married less than three years, and anyone whose family owns ancestral land. The first is exposed to the fifty-percent rule; the second to the life-estate outcome under § 28-11-307. There is no state death tax pushing Arkansans toward a trust, so the trust question here is about probate avoidance, privacy, and above all keeping farm or timber land intact across generations rather than fractured among heirs. Start with Trust vs. Will: Which Does Your Family Need? and the numbers in our Arkansas living trust cost guide.
If the will is what you need today, Trust & Will’s Arkansas package includes the witness pages, guardianship nominations, and healthcare documents — build your Arkansas will here.
FAQ
Does a will have to be notarized in Arkansas?
No. Validity takes your signature at the end of the instrument, a declaration to your witnesses that the document is your will, and two attesting witnesses who sign at your request and in your presence (§ 28-25-103). A notary is not required.
Are handwritten wills legal in Arkansas?
Yes, with no witnesses needed at signing, if the entire body of the will and your signature are in your own handwriting. But § 28-25-104 requires three credible disinterested witnesses to your handwriting and signature to establish it in probate — a much higher bar than most states, and one that excludes anyone who inherits under the will.
Can I make an electronic will in Arkansas?
No. Arkansas has not adopted the Uniform Electronic Wills Act, and the execution chapter (§§ 28-25-101 to 28-25-111) contains no electronic-will provision.
What happens if I die without a will in Arkansas?
Your children and their descendants inherit first (§ 28-9-214(1)); your spouse’s protection comes primarily from dower or curtesy — a life estate in one-third of the real estate where there are children (§ 28-11-301). If there are no descendants and your spouse reaches the descent table, they take the estate unless you had been continuously married less than three years, in which case they take only fifty percent (§ 28-9-214(2)).
Does Arkansas have an estate or inheritance tax?
Arkansas has no inheritance tax. Its estate tax statute (§ 26-59-106) still exists but measures the tax by a federal credit that Congress eliminated for deaths after 2004, and expressly imposes no Arkansas tax where no federal estate tax is imposed. No Arkansas estate tax return has been published since the 2004 tax year.
Does a will avoid probate in Arkansas?
No — a will goes through probate. Living trusts, beneficiary deeds, joint ownership, and beneficiary designations are the tools that pass property outside the court process.
Arkansas Law Cited on This Page
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-101 — who may make wills
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-103 — execution generally
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-104 — holographic wills generally
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-9-214 — table of descent
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-11-301 — dower and curtesy where children survive
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-11-307 — dower and curtesy where no children survive
- Ark. Code Ann. § 26-59-106 — estate tax imposition
Update log — August 2026: page created. A note on sourcing: unlike most states, Arkansas publishes no free official online code — the Arkansas Code is produced under contract by a commercial publisher. The statutory text above was read from a published reproduction of the Arkansas Code rather than from a state-run site, and section numbers and language were cross-checked across sources. Reviewed when Arkansas law changes.