Arkansas transfer on death deed

What a transfer on death deed does in Arkansas

A transfer-on-death deed (a beneficiary deed in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado and Missouri) names the person who should receive your real estate when you die. You record it now, but it transfers nothing until death: you keep full ownership, you can sell or mortgage the property, and you can revoke the deed at any time without your beneficiary's consent. When you die, the property passes outside probate. Your beneficiaries then record the documents your state requires to show them as the owners; in a few states that filing has a deadline, or is what completes the transfer.

In Arkansas the governing statute is Ark. Code Ann. § 18-12-608.

The Arkansas law behind this deed

Start with Ark. Code Ann. § 18-12-608 if you want to read the statute's own language. The table below lists the main statutes behind the rules on this page.

When Arkansas property owners use a transfer on death deed

• Leave a house to your children without probate
• Keep real estate out of a will contest
• Get probate avoidance without paying for a full living trust
• Name a backup beneficiary in case your first choice dies first
• Revoke or change an earlier beneficiary designation

What Arkansas requires on the deed

These are the execution and formatting rules county recorders enforce. Getting any of them wrong is the usual reason a deed comes back in the mail.

How to complete and record it in Arkansas

1. 1Find your current deedYou need the legal description from it, word for word. If you can't find your copy, the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties) can provide one, usually for a few dollars.
2. 2Identify everyone by full legal nameNames must match the current deed and government ID exactly, middle names included. A mismatch creates a gap in the chain of title that shows up years later at closing.
3. 3Complete the deedDeedly builds it with the wording, notary certificate, and 3-inch first-page margin used for Arkansas deeds.
4. 4Sign in front of a notaryBring photo ID. Wait to sign until you are in front of the notary: you have to appear before the notary anyway, and signing there leaves no question about who signed.
5. 5Record it with the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties)File in the county where the property is located and pay the recording fee. The owner must present the deed with a valid photo ID card or driver's license, or mail it with a photocopy of that ID, unless an attorney, real estate agent, title agent or lender presents it (Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-403(f)). Many offices in this state also accept e-recording, but usually only from approved submitters such as title companies. Keep the stamped receipt. It fixes your priority date.
6. 6Tell your beneficiaries where it isAfter your death they record proof of it, such as a certified death certificate or an affidavit of death, with the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties) so the land records show them as the owners.

What it costs in Arkansas

No real property transfer tax is due on a beneficiary deed (Ark. Code Ann. § 26-60-102(12)), and Deedly prints that exemption on the deed. If the recorder still asks for the DFA Real Property Transfer Tax Affidavit of Compliance, mark its box for a beneficiary deed.

Where to record it in Arkansas

Arkansas deeds are recorded with the County Recorder (the Circuit Clerk in most counties) in the county where the property sits, not where you live. There are 75 counties in Arkansas.

Many Arkansas recording offices accept e-recording through vendors such as Simplifile, CSC, or ePN. E-recording is generally open only to approved submitters such as title companies, attorneys, and lenders, so if you prepared the deed yourself, plan to record in person or by mail. Some offices accept filings from the public through those vendors; your county's website will say.

Recording offices we cover in Arkansas: Pulaski, Benton, Washington, Saline, Sebastian, Faulkner, Craighead. See all Arkansas recording offices.

What a transfer on death deed does NOT do

Being honest about the limits is more useful than a sales pitch. Every one of these catches somebody out.

• Only 34 states plus DC recognize it. Recording one in a state that does not accept it accomplishes nothing.
• It does not clear the mortgage. Your beneficiary takes the property subject to any loan, lien, or judgment against it.
• It does not settle Medicaid estate recovery. Since 2021 Arkansas's estate recovery statute reaches a Medicaid recipient's estate and no longer names property received through a beneficiary deed (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-76-436). Ask an elder law attorney how that applies to you.
• The beneficiary receives no ownership interest until you die. They cannot be added as a co-owner this way.
• If a beneficiary dies before you, what happens to their share depends on state law: in some states it passes to the other beneficiaries or to the beneficiary's descendants, in others it fails. Naming an alternate, where your state's form allows one, avoids the question.

Quirks of Arkansas law that catch people out

• Arkansas still recognizes dower and curtesy. A married owner's spouse must sign, even when the spouse is not on the title. Without that signature a deed of the family home is void, and a deed of other land passes subject to the spouse's dower or curtesy.
• Arkansas calls a transfer-on-death deed a beneficiary deed (Ark. Code Ann. § 18-12-608).
• An Arkansas deed must show on its face, signed by the grantee, that the correct transfer tax stamps are attached or that no tax is due, with the grantee's address. The recorder will not record it otherwise (Ark. Code Ann. § 26-60-110).
• Since August 5, 2025, the grantor has to present an Arkansas deed at the recorder's office with photo ID, or mail it with a photocopy of the grantor's ID. The recorder rejects a deed that arrives without it (Ark. Code Ann. § 14-15-403(f)).