Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered interests

Arkansas Code §§ 28-2-201 through 28-2-221 contain the Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act (1999). Section 28-2-221 repealed the older §§ 28-2-101 through 28-2-109. The current act reaches any interest in or power over property whenever created, including interests passing by will, intestacy, trust, beneficiary designation, survivorship arrangement, or power of appointment.

Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer

Arkansas Code § 28-2-205 permits a whole or partial disclaimer. A partial disclaimer may be written as a fraction, percentage, monetary amount, term of years, limitation of a power, or another interest or estate. The act does not separately state whether a disclaimer may be conditional.

Jointly held property follows § 28-2-207. The surviving holder may disclaim the greater of a fraction based on the holders alive immediately before death or all value above the contribution furnished by the survivor.

Writing or record and required contents

Under § 28-2-205(c), the disclaimer may be a paper writing or another tangible, electronic, or retrievable record. It must declare the disclaimer, describe the interest or power, be signed, and be delivered or filed under § 28-2-212. The act does not require an original, legal description, tax recital, or supporting document as part of the general state-law minimum.

Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary

Arkansas defines a signature to include either a tangible symbol or an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached or logically associated with the record with present intent to authenticate or adopt it. The act states no witness, acknowledgment, notarization, attestation, oath, or sworn-verification rule.

State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay

The act states no fixed deadline for an ordinary Arkansas disclaimer. The beneficiary must act before a bar in § 28-2-213 applies, and another law may impose an additional bar or limitation. Under § 28-2-205(e), the disclaimer becomes irrevocable at the later of delivery or filing under § 28-2-212 and statutory effectiveness under §§ 28-2-206 through 28-2-211.

Tax qualification is separate but expressly addressed by state law. Section 28-2-214 says an Arkansas disclaimer intended to be tax-qualified must meet the time periods in 26 U.S.C. § 2518, generally nine months. The federal statute measures receipt within nine months after the later of the transfer or the disclaimant reaching age 21 and adds no-acceptance and no-direction conditions.

Delivery, filing, and recipient

Section 28-2-212 permits personal delivery, first-class mail, or another method likely to result in receipt. The route depends on the asset:

• For a will or intestacy interest, deliver to the personal representative; file with the appointing court if none is serving.
• For a testamentary trust, deliver to the trustee, then the personal representative if no trustee serves, with a court fallback if neither serves.
• For an inter vivos trust, deliver to the trustee or use the court fallback; while the trust is revocable, deliver to the settlor or transferor.
• For a beneficiary designation, deliver to its creator before it becomes irrevocable and to the person obligated to distribute afterward.
• For jointly held property, deliver to the person who takes because of the disclaimer.
• For an object, default taker, or appointee under a power of appointment, deliver to the holder or named fiduciary, with a court fallback if none serves.

Real-property recording and notice

Arkansas Code § 28-2-215(a) requires a copy of every disclaimer involving real property or a real-property interest to be recorded with the circuit clerk in the county where the property lies. Failure to record does not affect validity between the disclaimant and the people who take because of the disclaimer. The section states no legal-description requirement or broader purchaser or lienholder consequence.

The spouse's signature serves a different purpose. If the spouse consents in writing to a recorded real-property disclaimer, § 28-2-215(b) automatically debars the spouse from the dower or curtesy interest described there. Spousal consent is not stated as a condition for the disclaimant's own disclaimer.

Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars

Section 28-2-213 bars a disclaimer after a written waiver. Before effectiveness, acceptance, voluntary assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, transfer or a contract to do so, and a judicial sale also bar it. Another law may supply an additional bar or limitation. A barred power disclaimer is ineffective; a barred interest disclaimer operates as a transfer to the people who otherwise would have taken under the act.

The act states no separate insolvency or ordinary creditor-claim bar.

Effective date and destination

Under § 28-2-206, a disclaimer of an instrument-created interest takes effect when the instrument becomes irrevocable; an intestacy interest takes effect at death. The instrument's own disclaimer-disposition clause controls first. Without one, an individual is generally treated as dying immediately before distribution, and descendants who would take by representation must survive the distribution time.

Arkansas adds a special estate-destination rule. If deemed death would send the interest to the disclaimant's estate, the interest instead passes first to the disclaimant's surviving descendants by representation and, if none survive, to the transferor's intestate successors while excluding the disclaimant. The disclaimant's own future interest is not accelerated.

For jointly held property, § 28-2-207 makes the disclaimer effective at the other holder's death and passes the disclaimed portion as though the survivor had predeceased that holder. The disclaimant does not choose the successor.

What trips people up

• Using the repealed 1981 act. Sections 28-2-101 through 28-2-109 were repealed; the current scheme begins at § 28-2-201.
• Turning the tax clock into a universal deadline. Section 28-2-214 imports federal timing for a tax-qualified disclaimer, not every state-law disclaimer.
• Using one recipient for every asset. The statute changes the recipient for probate, trust, beneficiary-designation, survivorship, and power interests.
• Confusing spousal consent with disclaimer execution. Written consent controls the spouse's dower or curtesy consequence; the disclaimant's own execution rule remains the signature requirement in § 28-2-205.

Common questions

Does an Arkansas disclaimer need a notary or witnesses? The current act requires a signature but states no witness, acknowledgment, oath, or notarization rule.

Can I electronically sign it? Yes. Section 28-2-205 expressly recognizes an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached or logically associated with the record with present intent to authenticate or adopt it.

Must an Arkansas real-property disclaimer be recorded? Yes. A copy must be recorded with the circuit clerk in the county where the property or interest is located, although nonrecording does not defeat validity between the immediate parties identified by the statute.

What happens if I already assigned the interest? A voluntary assignment or contract to transfer before effectiveness is an express bar. The barred interest disclaimer then operates as a transfer to the people who otherwise would take.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-2-201, 28-2-203, and 28-2-205 — current act, scope, whole/partial authority, record and signature definitions, required contents, and irrevocability. OCAR release 78, accessed 2026-08-01.
• Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-2-206 and 28-2-207 — effectiveness and destination for ordinary and jointly held interests. OCAR release 78, accessed 2026-08-01.
• Ark. Code Ann. § 28-2-212 — delivery methods, asset-specific recipients, and court fallbacks. OCAR release 78, accessed 2026-08-01.
• Ark. Code Ann. § 28-2-213 — waiver, acceptance, transfer, judicial-sale, and other-law bars, plus the failed-disclaimer consequence. OCAR release 78, accessed 2026-08-01.
• Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-2-214 and 28-2-215 — tax-qualified timing, mandatory realty recording, nonrecording effect, and spousal dower/curtesy consequence. OCAR release 78, accessed 2026-08-01.
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer conditions. GovInfo, accessed 2026-08-01.