Not every estate has to go through full probate
Arkansas has a simpler route for smaller estates, collected by affidavit rather than by opening an administration. It is available where no petition for a personal representative is pending or has been granted, where at least forty five days have passed since the death, and where the value of the property, less what is owed on it, does not exceed one hundred thousand dollars.
Two things make that reach further than people expect. The homestead is excluded from the calculation, and so are the statutory allowances for a spouse or minor children. It is worth checking properly before assuming a full probate is necessary.
If there is a will
The will is filed and, broadly, the person it names is appointed and carries out what it says under the court’s supervision.
If there is no will
The law supplies the answer the will would have given, and it may not match what the family expected. Children and other descendants take first. Where there is no descendant, a surviving spouse takes the estate only if the couple had been continuously married for at least three years; under three years the spouse takes half, and the rest passes to parents, then to brothers and sisters, and onward.
That three year rule is widely misreported, so it is worth being precise: it belongs to the situation where there is no descendant. Where someone leaves children, a surviving spouse’s protection comes from other parts of Arkansas law rather than from that table. It is one of the more common places a family is given a confident answer that does not fit their facts.
Debts come before inheritance
This is the part families find hardest. Once notice to creditors is published, claims must be brought within six months or they are barred, and the personal representative generally cannot pay allowed claims until that period has run. It is also why a probate cannot close as quickly as most families would like.
What the personal representative is taking on
It is a real responsibility rather than a formality. A personal representative can be held accountable for neglect or unreasonable delay, for mixing estate money with their own, and for self-dealing, and payments made without the court’s order are made at their own peril. It is fair to add the other side of that: Arkansas law also provides that they are not personally liable simply because a judgment is entered against them in their representative capacity. Most people serving in the role do fine. They do better with someone telling them what the obligations actually are.