Arkansas: Trustee Notice to Beneficiaries Requirements

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).