§ 28-9-201. Title

This subchapter may be cited as the “Arkansas Inheritance Code of 1969”.

§ 28-9-202. Definitions

As used in this subchapter: (1) (A) “Descendants” means a person’s children, grandchildren, and all others, however remotely related to such a person, who are in a direct line of descent from him or her. In other words, the term “descendants” refers to lineal descendants and excludes an intestate’s ascendants or collateral relatives. (B) The […]

§ 28-9-203. Intestate succession generally

(a) Any part of the estate of a decedent not effectively disposed of by his or her will shall pass to his or her heirs as prescribed in the following sections. (b) In this connection, the terms “heir” and “heirs”, as used in this subchapter, are intended to designate the person or persons who succeed […]

§ 28-9-204. Per capita distribution

Heirs will take per capita in the following circumstances: (1) (A) If all members of the class who inherit real or personal property from an intestate are related to the intestate in equal degree, they will inherit the intestate’s estate in equal shares and will be said to take per capita. (B) For illustration: (i) […]

§ 28-9-205. Per stirpes distribution

(a) (1) Heirs will take “per stirpes” if the intestate is predeceased by one (1) or more persons who would have been entitled to inherit from the intestate had such a person survived the intestate. (2) The intestate’s estate shall be divided into as many equal shares as there are: (A) Surviving heirs in the […]

§ 28-9-206. Interests transmissible by inheritance

(a) Heirs may inherit every right, title, and interest not terminated by the intestate’s death in real or personal property owned by an intestate at the time of the intestate’s death and not disposed of by will. (b) The rights of heirs will be subject to: (1) The dower or curtesy of the intestate’s surviving […]

§ 28-9-207. Heirs as tenants in common

When real or personal property is transmitted by inheritance to two (2) or more persons, they will take the same as tenants in common. However, when personal property is distributed in separate units by a personal representative, each distributee will hold his or her distributed part in severalty.

§ 28-9-208. Male not preferred over female

The common law principle that in the matter of inheritance the male will be preferred over the female shall constitute no part of the Arkansas law of inheritance.

§ 28-9-209. Legitimacy of child — Effect

(a) (1) If the parents of a child have lived together as man and wife and, before the birth of their child, have participated in a marriage ceremony in apparent compliance with the law of the state where the marriage ceremony was performed, though the attempted marriage is void, their child is deemed to be […]

§ 28-9-210. Posthumous heirs

(a) Posthumous descendants of the intestate conceived before his or her death but born thereafter shall inherit in the same manner as if born in the lifetime of the intestate. (b) However, no right of inheritance shall accrue to any person other than a lineal descendant of the intestate, unless such a person has been […]

§ 28-9-211. Alienage

(a) No person is disqualified to inherit, or transmit by inheritance, real or personal property because he or she is or has been an alien. (b) An alien may inherit, or transmit by inheritance, as freely as a citizen of this state, subject to the same laws of intestate succession which are applicable to citizens […]

§ 28-9-212. Computing degrees of consanguinity

(a) (1) In computing the degrees of relationship between any two (2) kinsmen who are not related in a direct line of ascent or descent, it is proper to start with the common ancestor of the kinsmen and count downwards. In whatever degree the kinsmen or the more remote of them is distant from the […]

§ 28-9-213. Kinsmen of the half blood

An intestate’s kinsmen of the half blood will inherit the intestate’s real or personal property to the same extent as if they were the intestate’s kinsmen of the whole blood.

§ 28-9-214. Tables of descents

The heritable estate of an intestate as defined in § 28-9-206 shall pass as follows upon the intestate’s death: (1) First, to the children of the intestate and the descendants of each child of the intestate who may have predeceased the intestate. The children and descendants will take per capita or per stirpes according to […]

§ 28-9-215. Devolution where no heir under § 28-9-214

If an heir to the heritable estate, or some portion thereof, cannot be found under § 28-9-214, then the portion of the heritable estate as does not pass under § 28-9-214 will pass as follows: (1) First, to the surviving spouse of the intestate even though they had been married less than three (3) years; […]

§ 28-9-216. Advancements

(a) If a person dies intestate as to all his or her estate, property which he or she gave in his or her lifetime to an heir shall be treated as an advancement against the heir’s share of the estate if declared in writing by the decedent or acknowledged in writing by the heir to […]

§ 28-9-217. Debts to decedent

A debt owed to the decedent shall not be charged against the intestate share of any person except the debtor. If the debtor fails to survive the decedent, the debt shall not be taken into account in computing the share of the debtor’s descendants.

§ 28-9-218. Doctrine of first purchaser abolished

This subchapter is intended to abolish the common law rule of the blood of the first purchaser under which in the case of successive inheritances of land the intestate’s property would descend only to such of his or her heirs as were of the blood of the next preceding ancestor in the line of successive […]

§ 28-9-219. Distinction between ancestral estates and new acquisitions abolished

(a) Only for the purposes of intestate succession, the distinction between “ancestral estate” and “new acquisitions” in respect to real estate owned by an intestate is abolished. (b) The devolution of real estate and personal property which the intestate acquired by gift, devise, or descent from some ancestor shall be controlled by the same rules […]

§ 28-9-220. Conveyance to heirs or next of kin — Doctrine of worthier title abolished

(a) When any property is limited, mediately or immediately, in an otherwise effective testamentary conveyance, in form or in effect, to the heirs or next of kin of the conveyor, or to a person or persons who on the death of the conveyor are some or all of his or her heirs or next of […]