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Arkansas Intestate Succession: Who Inherits Without a Will
Support GuideArkansas10 min read

Arkansas Intestate Succession: Who Inherits Without a Will

Who inherits under Arkansas intestate succession: children take everything first under §28-9-214, while a spouse relies on dower, curtesy, and homestead rights.

By Settled Editorial

When an Arkansas resident dies without a will, the state's table of descents decides who inherits. This guide answers one question: who gets what. It maps the distribution rules under Ark. Code 28-9-214 and the sections around it. The short version surprises most families. The decedent's children take the whole estate first, and a surviving spouse inherits under the table only when there are no descendants at all. Arkansas then protects the spouse a different way, through dower, curtesy, and homestead rights that run on top of the table.

This is the distribution side of intestacy. For the process of opening the estate, qualifying as administrator, and meeting the court deadlines, start with the Arkansas probate guide. That guide covers how to administer an estate; this one covers who inherits from it.

What Intestate Succession Covers

Dying without a will is called dying "intestate." When that happens, no will names the heirs, so Arkansas statute does. The rules are the table of descents in Ark. Code 28-9-214, and they run in a fixed order of family classes.

Intestate succession reaches only probate property, meaning assets that pass through the estate. Assets with a named beneficiary, a payable-on-death tag, survivorship rights, or trust ownership pass outside intestacy and do not follow these rules. So a life insurance policy with a named beneficiary, or a joint account with survivorship, goes to that person no matter what the table of descents says. To see which assets skip probate, read how to avoid probate in Arkansas.

Two sets of protections also come off the top before the table divides anything. The next section walks through them, because in Arkansas they do most of the work for a surviving spouse.

Spouse Protections Come Off the Top First

Here is the part of Arkansas law that trips people up. The table of descents puts children ahead of the spouse. Left alone, that would leave a husband or wife with nothing when there are kids. Arkansas fixes this with three older rights that sit on top of the table:

  • Dower or curtesy. A surviving spouse takes a protected share of the deceased spouse's property. When the decedent left children, the spouse takes a one-third life estate in the real estate the decedent owned during the marriage under Ark. Code 28-11-301, plus one-third of the personal property under Ark. Code 28-11-305.
  • Larger share when there are no children. With no descendants, the spouse takes one-half of the real estate (in fee simple if it is a new acquisition, not ancestral land) and one-half of the personal property against collateral heirs under Ark. Code 28-11-307.
  • Homestead and statutory allowances. These come in addition to dower or curtesy, so they stack rather than cancel out.

What this means: a surviving spouse rarely walks away empty-handed, even though the table of descents names the children first. The spouse's dower, curtesy, and homestead carve out a protected minimum, and the children inherit what is left. Read the table below with that floor in mind.

The Surviving Spouse Share Under the Table

The table of descents itself, in Ark. Code 28-9-214, gives the spouse a share only when the decedent left no descendants. Even then, the length of the marriage matters.

Family situationSurviving spouse under the tableDecedent's descendants
Decedent left children or grandchildrenNo share under the table (spouse still takes dower, curtesy, and homestead)The whole estate, subject to the spouse's protected rights
No descendants, married three years or moreEntire heritable estateNone
No descendants, married less than three yearsOne-half of the heritable estateNone; the other half passes to the decedent's parents

So the three-year rule cuts the spouse's table share in half. If the couple married less than three years before death and there are no children, the spouse takes 50 percent and the decedent's parents take the other 50 percent under Ark. Code 28-9-214(4). Past three years of marriage, that reduction disappears and the spouse takes everything when no descendants survive. (Source: Ark. Code 28-9-214.)

The Order of Heirs When There Are No Descendants

With no children or grandchildren, the heritable estate descends through a fixed order of classes under Ark. Code 28-9-214. Each class must be empty before the next inherits.

  1. Children and their descendants. They take the whole estate. A deceased child's share passes down that child's line by representation.
  2. Surviving spouse. With no descendants, the spouse takes the estate, cut to one-half if the marriage lasted less than three years.
  3. Parents. With no descendants and no spouse, the estate passes to the decedent's surviving parents, sharing equally.
  4. Brothers and sisters and their descendants. With no descendants, spouse, or parent, the estate passes to siblings and the descendants of any deceased sibling.
  5. Grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Next in line if no closer class survives.
  6. Great-grandparents, great-uncles, and great-aunts. The next class after that.

If a class has living members, the search stops there. The estate does not skip a living parent to reach a sibling, and it does not skip a living sibling to reach a cousin.

Representation: How a Deceased Heir's Share Passes Down

When an heir who would have inherited dies before the decedent but leaves descendants, those descendants step into that heir's place. Arkansas calls this representation, and it runs per stirpes, meaning by branch of the family.

Under Ark. Code 28-9-204 and Ark. Code 28-9-205, heirs who all stand in the same degree of kinship take in equal shares, called taking per capita. When heirs stand in unequal degrees, the closer heirs take per capita and the more remote ones take per stirpes. Each living heir in the nearest degree takes one share. The descendants of each deceased person in that same degree collectively take the one share their ancestor would have received, then divide it among themselves.

Quick example. Say a decedent with no spouse had three children, and one child died first leaving two children of their own. The estate divides into three equal shares. The two living children each take one-third. The deceased child's one-third passes to that child's two children, who split it, so each grandchild takes one-sixth. The two grandchildren do not each take a full child's share. They divide the single share their parent would have received.

Afterborn and Posthumous Heirs

A relative conceived before the decedent's death but born after still inherits. Under Ark. Code 28-9-210, posthumous descendants conceived before death but born afterward inherit as if they had been born during the decedent's lifetime. So a child in utero at the decedent's death counts as an heir. The statute limits this to lineal descendants, though. A more distant relative must already be born at the time of death to inherit.

How Co-Heirs Hold the Property

When two or more people inherit the same property, they take it together as tenants in common under Ark. Code 28-9-207. Each co-heir owns an undivided fractional interest. No single heir owns a specific room or acre until the heirs agree to divide the property or a court partitions it. That tenancy-in-common default matters most with inherited land, because every co-owner has a say before the property is sold or transferred.

What Happens If No Heir Exists

Arkansas reaches a wide circle of relatives, so an estate rarely has no heir. If no heir can be found under the classes in Ark. Code 28-9-214, the leftover portion passes under Ark. Code 28-9-215. That section runs three steps. First, it passes to the surviving spouse, even one married less than three years. Second, with no surviving spouse, it passes to the heirs of the decedent's deceased spouse, determined as of the decedent's death. Third, only if no one qualifies under those steps does the estate escheat to the county where the decedent lived at death. Escheat is the last resort, not the default. Dying without a will sends the estate down the family tree first.

How the Pieces Fit Together

Use this sequence to read an Arkansas intestate distribution:

  1. Separate probate property from assets that pass by beneficiary, survivorship, or trust. Only probate property follows the table of descents.
  2. Carve out the spouse's dower or curtesy plus homestead and allowances under Chapter 11. These come off the top and give the spouse a protected minimum.
  3. Apply the table of descents under 28-9-214: children and their descendants first, then the spouse (cut to one-half if married under three years and no descendants), then parents, siblings, and more remote kin.
  4. Apply representation per stirpes for any deceased heir who left descendants.
  5. Adjust for posthumous heirs if a child was conceived before death.
  6. Remember that co-heirs hold their shares as tenants in common.

If the estate is small, the family may settle it through the Arkansas small estate affidavit process rather than full administration, though the same shares decide who collects. Whoever serves still follows the executor and administrator duties that govern gathering assets, paying debts, and distributing the shares. Watch the debt side too, since creditor claims in Arkansas come ahead of what heirs receive.

When to Get Help

Some intestate distributions are simple to map from the statute. Others need a licensed Arkansas attorney, especially when:

  • a surviving spouse must elect dower or curtesy against the table share
  • the marriage lasted close to three years and the spouse's share is in question
  • a deceased heir's branch raises a representation question
  • ancestral land changes the spouse's one-half versus life-estate result
  • an heir cannot be located or the family tree is unclear
  • real estate held in common must be sold to pay debts

This guide helps you organize the source-backed shares and the right questions to ask. A lawyer can advise on rights, disputes, and signing decisions for a specific estate. You can also start with your local Arkansas circuit court for filing questions.

This guide is general information about Arkansas estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with the Circuit Clerk, the Circuit Court (Probate Division), or a licensed Arkansas attorney.

Sources

Information current as of June 14, 2026

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Arkansas can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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