Temporary or Special Probate Administrator Requirements in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Good cause supports an office tailored by the order

Under § 28-48-103(a), the circuit court may appoint a special administrator for good cause before an executor or general administrator is appointed. It may also appoint after the general fiduciary is serving, with or without removing that fiduciary. The section does not narrow good cause to one specified form of emergency, loss, waste, delay, contest, vacancy, or preservation need.

Section 28-48-103(c) makes the appointment order central. It may appoint for a specified time, for duties concerning specified property, or for particular acts stated in the order. The section states no applicant class, nomination priority, or special qualification list.

Notice is entirely court-directed

Under § 28-48-103(b), appointment may occur without notice or on whatever notice the court directs. The section does not prescribe recipients, service method, a minimum number of days, a mandatory hearing, or a later hearing after a no-notice appointment.

The absence of notice does not enlarge authority. Time, property, and act limits still come from the order under subsection (c), and otherwise-applicable personal-representative procedure still comes through subsection (e).

Ordinary law carries over, but not without limits

Under § 28-48-103(e), ordinary personal-representative law and procedure apply to a special administrator except where a provision by its terms applies only to general personal representatives or where the court orders otherwise. That import rule means § 28-48-103 itself does not need to restate every bond, acceptance, letters, inventory, claim, transaction, compensation, expense, or liability rule.

The order and the exact ordinary provision must therefore be read together. Section 28-48-103 does not itself create a universal automatic power to collect income, continue a business, control remains, sell or mortgage property, settle claims, pay debts, or distribute the estate.

Litigation authority can be a particular act

In Douglas v. Holbert, the Arkansas Supreme Court applied subsections (c) and (e) to an appointment limited to litigating wrongful-death and life- insurance actions. The example shows how an order can identify the particular acts rather than silently grant every ordinary administration power.

The current Supreme Court applied the same import rule in Marcum v. Hodge. It held that the ordinary probate statute of nonclaim applies to special administrators and personal representatives alike because that statute did not contain language limiting it to general representatives.

Reports and a termination account are express duties

Section 28-48-103(d) requires reports as the court directs and an account to the court when the special administrator's authority terminates. The core section states no separate inventory deadline, routine turnover interval, compensation schedule, expense standard, surcharge formula, or bond-release procedure for this office; those matters depend on the imported ordinary law and the appointment order.

An appointment may be tied to a specified time or particular acts. The statute does not say that later appointment of a general fiduciary automatically ends a special administrator who was already appointed, and subsection (a) expressly allows the offices to coexist. The appointment order itself is not appealable under § 28-48-103(f).

What trips people up

• The order is part of the legal answer. The statute deliberately does not give every special administrator one uniform package of powers.
• A general fiduciary does not necessarily displace the special office. The court may appoint after general appointment and may leave the general fiduciary in place.
• Ordinary law is imported selectively. A provision limited to a general personal representative does not carry over, and the court order may also change the default.

Common questions

Must the petitioner prove an emergency?

Section 28-48-103 uses good cause, not a separately defined emergency test. The facts needed to show good cause remain for the court to decide.

Is advance notice always required?

No. Subsection (b) permits appointment without notice or on notice the court directs, without a fixed statewide notice period in this section.

Can the appointment be appealed immediately?

No. Subsection (f) says the order appointing a special administrator is not appealable.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-103 — good cause, appointment stage, notice, order-defined term/property/acts, reports, termination account, imported ordinary procedure, and nonappealability; enacted as 1949 Act 140, section 79.
• Douglas v. Holbert, 335 Ark. 305, 983 S.W.2d 392 (1998) — official application of particular-act litigation authority and subsection (e).
• Marcum v. Hodge, 2023 Ark. 103 — current official application of ordinary probate procedure to a special administrator.