Trustee Notice to Beneficiaries Requirements in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Arkansas starts two separate 60-day clocks

Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-813(a)-(e), particularly subsection (b)(2), requires the acceptance notice within 60 days after the trustee accepts office. Paragraph (b)(3) starts a separate 60-day period when the trustee acquires knowledge that an irrevocable trust was created or that a formerly revocable trust became irrevocable by death or otherwise.

Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-73-103(14) and 28-73-104 define the recipient class and knowledge. Knowledge means actual knowledge, received notice, or reason to know from the known facts and circumstances. For an organization, the employee-responsibility and reasonable-communication-routine rules determine when trust knowledge is attributed to it.

Qualified beneficiaries occupy three living distribution horizons

Section 28-73-103(14) includes a living beneficiary eligible to receive income or principal now, one who would become eligible if the current interests ended without ending the trust, and one who would receive if the trust terminated on the determination date.

Section 28-73-110 adds any other beneficiary who has asked for notice. A named charitable organization within the same distribution horizons, a statutory purpose-trust enforcer, and the Attorney General for an Arkansas-administered charitable trust also receive qualified-beneficiary rights. Conflict-free fiduciary, parent, and substantially-identical-interest representation can give service binding effect under §§ 28-73-301 through -304.

The two notices require different information

The acceptance notice says that the trustee accepted and supplies the trustee's name, address, and telephone number. The irrevocability notice states the trust's existence, identifies the settlor or settlors, and describes the rights to request the trust instrument and a trustee's report.

Section 28-73-813(b)(3)(E) separately requires advance notice of any change in the trustee's compensation method or rate. The initial notice does not itself require a trust date, settlor death date, tax number, amendment history, trust summary, signature, oath, or proof-of-service declaration.

Delivery is functional and includes electronic messages

Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-73-109 and 28-73-110 govern delivery and additional recipients. Section 28-73-109 requires a reasonably suitable method likely to result in receipt. It lists first-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the person's last-known residence or business, and a properly directed electronic message.

No initial-notice publication fallback is stated. Notice is excused when the person's identity or location is unknown to the trustee and not reasonably ascertainable.

Every Section 813 duty is a default rule in Arkansas

Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-105(a)-(b) generally lets trust terms prevail. Unlike Uniform Trust Code versions that protect a core beneficiary-information floor, Arkansas's mandatory list does not preserve any part of § 28-73-813 from modification.

A recipient may waive notice under § 28-73-109(c). Section 28-73-813(d) separately lets a beneficiary waive reports or other required information and withdraw that waiver for future reports and information. Neither provision says the waiver must be signed or written.

What trips people up

• Knowledge starts the irrevocability clock. The date a formerly revocable trust became irrevocable is not automatically the statutory start date.
• The current definition is subsection (14). The 2019 amendment moved “qualified beneficiary” from the older subsection (13) numbering.
• Automatic reports use a narrower class. Annual and termination reports go automatically to distributees and permissible distributees; other qualified or nonqualified beneficiaries receive them on request.
• Representation sections are distinct. Section 28-73-303 covers fiduciaries and parents; § 28-73-304 is the substantially-identical-interest rule.
• The trust terms may change the notices. Arkansas did not place § 28-73-813 on its mandatory-rule list.

Common questions

Must the trust instrument accompany the irrevocability notice?

No. The notice states the right to request it. Upon a beneficiary's request, § 28-73-813(b)(1) requires the trustee to furnish the trust instrument promptly, subject to any controlling modification in the trust terms.

What happens while the trust remains revocable?

While the settlor has capacity and the trust is revocable, Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-603(a)-(b) makes beneficiary rights subject to the settlor's control and makes the trustee's duties exclusive to the settlor.

Which older trusts are outside these duties?

Section 28-73-813(e) limits subsections (a) through (c) to an irrevocable trust created on or after September 1, 2005, and a revocable trust that becomes irrevocable on or after that date.

Statutes and sources

• Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-73-103 through -110 — qualified-beneficiary definition, knowledge, trust-term control, delivery, waiver, and additional recipients. Official Code of Arkansas Rules public-domain transformation (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-73-301 through -305 — representation and binding service. Official Code of Arkansas Rules public-domain transformation (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-73-603 and 28-73-813 — revocable-settlor rule, both 60-day notices, contents, reporting, waiver, and legacy cutoff. Official Code of Arkansas Rules public-domain transformation (accessed 2026-07-31).