Probate Notice to Creditors and Claim Deadlines in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Publication begins promptly after letters

The personal representative must publish notice promptly after letters are granted. The notice identifies the estate, appointment date, representative's mailing address, date of first publication, and the six-month verified-claim warning. If a will is probated without administration, the will proponents publish instead.

The ordinary publication method is once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper published and generally circulated in the county. For an estate worth no more than $1,000 excluding homestead, the statute permits three weeks of posting near a courthouse entrance instead.

Known and reasonably ascertainable creditors receive direct notice

Within one month after first publication, the representative must serve every unpaid creditor whose name, creditor status, and address are known or reasonably ascertainable. A creditor identified later must be served promptly. The creditor bears the burden of proving entitlement to actual notice under that standard.

Section 28-40-111 incorporates the personal, abode, or addressee-only registered-mail methods in § 28-1-112(b)(1)-(3). It also has a specific route for the Department of Human Services when its service to the decedent is known or reasonably ascertainable.

A claim may be presented or filed directly

A claimant may present a properly verified claim to the personal representative for approval. An approved claim then must be filed with the court within 30 days after the six-month period ends. A disapproved or unacted claim must be court-filed by the later of the nonclaim deadline or 30 days after presentation.

Alternatively, the claimant may file directly with the court, after which the clerk notifies the representative by ordinary mail. The writing states the nature and ascertainable amount, due date, payments, offsets, and contingency, and includes the required affidavit. A written instrument or copy with endorsements is attached when the claim rests on one.

Three clocks can matter

The ordinary nonclaim deadline is six months after first publication. If the representative serves a creditor within the final 30 days before that period expires, the creditor gets an additional 30 days after the ordinary period.

A known or reasonably ascertainable creditor who was not served is not left open indefinitely: the statute bars that claim two years after first publication. Separately, if letters are not issued and notice is not published, barrable claims close five years after death.

An ordinary limitation already expired at death still defeats the claim. Timely presentation or filing protects an otherwise live claim from expiring during administration under the statute's stated rule.

Liens, insurance, actions, and contingent claims have special routes

Mortgage, pledge, and other contractual or statutory lien enforcement remains unaffected. A tort claim may proceed within its ordinary limitation to the extent recovery is confined to liability or uninsured-motorist insurance and does not deplete estate assets.

A separate action may replace or continue alongside the probate route if it is commenced or revived within the nonclaim period and the claimant timely files the required complaint, revivor petition, or signed action description in the estate court.

A contingent claim can be filed and proved before it becomes absolute. A late contingent claim may still reach estate assets or proceeds remaining in a distributee's hands within the applicable action period, even though it is barred against the estate itself.

What trips people up

Direct notice does not replace publication. The six-month clock ordinarily runs from first publication, while late direct service can add 30 days and failure to serve an ascertainable creditor invokes the separate two-year cap.

Presentment to the representative is not always the last step. An approved claim still must be filed with the court within the post-period 30-day window.

The five-year period is the no-letters/no-publication backstop. It is not the ordinary deadline once the estate publishes notice.

Common questions

Is the claim deadline six months after mailed notice?

Generally no. It runs six months after first publication. Service during the last 30 days of that period creates an additional 30-day window after the ordinary deadline.

Can a creditor file directly with the court?

Yes. Section 28-50-104 permits direct court filing, and the clerk then sends ordinary-mail notice to the personal representative.

Does an unserved known creditor have five years?

No. When notice was published, § 28-50-101 bars known or reasonably ascertainable creditors after two years from first publication even without actual notice. The five-year rule applies when letters and publication do not occur.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code §§ 28-40-111 and 28-1-112 — publication, contents, direct-notice class, timing, methods, and small-estate posting. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ar/master/transforms/ar/ocar/r78/gov.ar.code.title.28.html (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Ark. Code § 28-50-101; Acts 231 of 2007, 929 of 1989, and 217 of 2009 — nonclaim, direct-notice extension, two-year and five-year bars, liens, and insurance. https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2009%2FPublic%2F&file=217.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2009%2FR (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Ark. Code §§ 28-50-103 and 28-50-104 — verification, contents, presentment, approval, court filing, and direct-filing alternative. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ar/master/transforms/ar/ocar/r78/gov.ar.code.title.28.html (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Ark. Code §§ 28-50-102 and 28-50-110 — actions and contingent claims. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ar/master/transforms/ar/ocar/r78/gov.ar.code.title.28.html (accessed 2026-08-12)