Arkansas: Transfer-on-Death Deed Requirements

Arkansas is one of the roughly two-thirds of states that let you keep your home out of
probate with a transfer-on-death deed. Arkansas calls its version a "beneficiary deed,"
and it lives in a single statute, Ark. Code § 18-12-608. You can name who inherits the
property, record that choice now, and keep full control of the home for life. When you die,
the property passes to the person you named — the "grantee" — without a probate case, but
only if you recorded the deed before your death.

How to sign it

Under Ark. Code § 18-12-608(a)(1)(A), a beneficiary deed "conveys upon the death of the
owner an ownership interest in real property ... to a grantee designated by the owner and
... expressly states that the deed is not to take effect until the death of the owner."
Making a valid one takes two things:

• You (the "owner" or "grantor") sign the deed. The grantee does not sign and need not
  know about the deed.
• A notary acknowledges your signature. No witnesses are required. The statute itself
  sets no witness rule; it requires only that the deed be "recorded ... as provided by law"
  (§ 18-12-608(c)(1)). To be recordable, an Arkansas deed must be acknowledged before a
  notary (or its execution otherwise proved) — Arkansas records deeds on a "certificate of
  acknowledgment or proof of execution" (§ 18-12-208). In practice you sign before a
  notary and record.

The statute does not impose a special capacity standard for a beneficiary deed.

Recording requirement

Signing and notarizing the deed does nothing by itself. Under Ark. Code § 18-12-608(c)(1),
a beneficiary deed "is valid only if [it] is recorded before the death of the owner or the
last surviving owner ... in the office of the county recorder of the county in which the real
property is located." Two things follow:

• Record it while you are alive. An unrecorded beneficiary deed — one found in a drawer
  after you die, or recorded only after your death — is not valid, and the home passes by
  your will or by intestacy instead. This is the single most common way one of these deeds
  fails.
• There is no fixed deadline between signing and recording. Unlike California (60 days)
  or Nebraska (30 days), Arkansas sets no outer clock measured from signing; the only hard
  rule is "before death." Record it promptly — no one can record it for you once you are gone.

Revoking it

The deed is fully revocable for the rest of your life. Under Ark. Code § 18-12-608(d),
you may revoke it "at any time," but the revocation is effective only if it is executed and
recorded before your death. There are three ways to undo a beneficiary deed:

• Record a revocation.
• Record a later beneficiary deed. Under § 18-12-608(e), if you sign more than one
  beneficiary deed for the same property, "the recorded beneficiary deed that is last signed
  before the owner's death is the effective beneficiary deed, regardless of the sequence of
  recording." Note the trap: Arkansas looks at which deed you signed last, not which you
  recorded last.
• Convey the property away during life.

And § 18-12-608(d)(4) is explicit: a beneficiary deed "may not be revoked, altered, or
amended by the provisions of the owner's will." A will cannot touch it.

Eligible property and owner

A beneficiary deed can cover any ownership interest in Arkansas real property — but not "a
leasehold or lien interest" (§ 18-12-608(a)(1)(A)). Arkansas gives you unusually broad
control over who receives it and how:

• Multiple grantees, and you pick their tenancy. Under § 18-12-608(a)(2), you may
  name several grantees who take "as joint tenants with right of survivorship, tenants in
  common, holders of a tenancy by the entirety, or any other tenancy that is otherwise valid
  under the laws of this state." Most states default your co-grantees to tenants in common;
  Arkansas lets you choose.
• Successor grantees. Under § 18-12-608(a)(3), you may name "one (1) or more successor
  grantees," even "unnamed heirs of the original grantee."
• A trust as grantee. Under § 18-12-608(c)(2), the deed may name "a trustee of a trust
  estate even if the trust is revocable."

Beneficiary survival and what passes

Arkansas has no automatic backup rule if your grantee dies before you. Under
§ 18-12-608(a)(3)(B), if you want a successor to take when "the failure of the original
grantee to survive the grantor" occurs, that condition "shall be included in the beneficiary
deed." Put plainly: name a successor grantee in the deed itself, or a grantee who dies before
you leaves the gift to fall into your estate.

Co-ownership is the other place the deed can surprise you. Under § 18-12-608(b), if you
hold the home as joint tenants with survivorship or as tenancy by the entirety, a beneficiary
deed signed by all the owners takes effect on the last owner's death — but a deed you sign
alone "is valid if the last surviving owner is a person who executed the beneficiary deed,"
and "[i]f the last surviving owner did not execute the beneficiary deed, the beneficiary deed
is invalid." A co-owner's survivorship beats your solo deed unless you outlive them.

Whoever inherits takes the home subject to what is already on it: § 18-12-608(a)(1)(B)(i)
passes the property "subject to all ... mortgages, deeds of trust, liens ... and other
encumbrances" of record at your death. A beneficiary deed does not wipe out the mortgage —
your grantee inherits the house and the loan against it.

Creditor and Medicaid reach

A beneficiary deed avoids probate; it does not put the home beyond your debts. Under
§ 18-12-608(a)(1)(B)(ii), "[n]o legal or equitable interest shall vest in the grantee
until the death of the owner" — so during your life the property is entirely yours and stays
reachable by your creditors, and after your death your grantee takes it subject to your liens.

Medicaid is the point Arkansas readers most often get wrong. A beneficiary deed does not
shield the home from Medicaid estate recovery. In 2021, Act 570 amended both this statute
and the Medicaid-recovery statute, § 20-76-436, to say expressly that the Department of
Human Services "may make a claim against the estate of a deceased recipient or the interest
acquired from the deceased recipient by a grantee of a beneficiary deed ... for the amount
of any benefits" the state paid. The statute gives the grantee a way to clear title — a
written request for a release, to which DHS must respond within 30 days — and it bars
recovery only where it "is not cost effective" or "causes an undue hardship." Widely-circulated
Arkansas guides claim the opposite (that Act 570 "protects" the home from Medicaid); that
reading is wrong, and a family relying on it can be surprised by a state claim after the owner's
death.

What trips people up

• Recording before death is the whole ballgame. The deed is not valid until recorded, and
  it cannot be recorded after you die. Record it right after notarizing.
• Last signed wins, not last recorded. If you make more than one beneficiary deed,
  § 18-12-608(e) gives effect to the one you signed last before death — even if an earlier deed
  was recorded later. Date and record carefully.
• A will cannot revoke a beneficiary deed. Revoke it only by a recorded revocation, a later
  deed, or a lifetime transfer (§ 18-12-608(d)). Language in your will does nothing.
• Name a backup. Arkansas has no default anti-lapse rule; if your grantee dies before you
  and you named no successor, the gift fails (§ 18-12-608(a)(3)(B)).
• Medicaid can still reach the home. Since 2021, the property passes subject to the state's
  Medicaid estate-recovery claim (§§ 18-12-608(a)(1)(B), 20-76-436).

Common questions

Does my grantee have to agree, or even know? No. The deed conveys nothing until your death,
and the grantee does not sign it. It is still smart to tell them, so they can record a death
certificate and claim the property afterward.

Do I need witnesses or a lawyer? No witnesses — Arkansas requires only that you sign before
a notary and record the deed. A lawyer is not legally required, but the co-ownership and Medicaid
rules are easy to get wrong, and mistakes surface only after death.

Can I name more than one person, and control how they own it together? Yes. Under
§ 18-12-608(a)(2) you may name several grantees and specify whether they take as joint tenants
with survivorship, tenants in common, or tenancy by the entirety — a choice many states' statutes
do not offer.

Will a beneficiary deed keep my house safe from a nursing-home Medicaid claim? No. Since
2021 Act 570, Arkansas law expressly lets the Department of Human Services recover Medicaid costs
from property passed by a beneficiary deed (§ 20-76-436). If you may need Medicaid, talk to an
elder-law attorney before relying on the deed for that purpose.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(a)(1)(A) (what a beneficiary deed is) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(a)(1)(B) (takes subject to liens; no interest vests until death) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(a)(1)(B)(i)(b) (subject to DHS Medicaid claim; 2021 Act 570) — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2021R%2FPublic%2F&file=570.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2021%2F2021R (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(a)(2) (multiple grantees; choose the tenancy) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(a)(3) (successor grantees; survival condition in the deed) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(b) (joint tenancy / tenancy by the entirety rule) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(c) (record before death; trust as grantee) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(d) (revocation; a will cannot revoke) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-608(e) (last-signed deed controls) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-608/ (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 20-76-436 (Medicaid recovery reaches beneficiary-deed interests; 2021 Act 570) — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2021R%2FPublic%2F&file=570.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2021%2F2021R (accessed 2026-07-11)
• Ark. Code § 18-12-208 (recording on acknowledgment or proof of execution) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ar/title-18-property/ar-code-sect-18-12-208/ (accessed 2026-07-11)