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(a) Upon written application to the clerk by any party interested in the estate of a deceased person, setting forth that the homestead so claimed by the surviving spouse or children, if a lot in any city, town, or village, exceeds the value of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), it shall be the duty of the clerk to appoint forthwith three (3) trustworthy and disinterested citizens of the county as commissioners.
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(b) After having been duly summoned and sworn by the clerk for that purpose, the commissioners shall proceed without delay to make a fair appraisal of the value of the lot, with the dwellings and appurtenances thereon. Within ten (10) days thereafter, they shall return the appraisal to the office of the clerk, to be by him or her immediately filed.
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(c) If a majority of the commissioners decides that the lot so claimed as a homestead is within the valuation prescribed by the Arkansas Constitution, then it shall be the duty of the clerk to make an entry upon the records of the court, reciting the proceedings had and the return of the commissioners, and vesting the homestead in the party or parties claimant, and, also, to tax the costs of the proceedings against the party at whose instance the appraisal was made.
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(d) However, if the decision is that the lot exceeds in value the amount exempted by the Arkansas Constitution, it shall be the duty of the clerk to note the excess upon the record and tax the costs of the proceedings to the claimants.
