To make a valid will in Arkansas, you must be at least 18 and of sound mind, sign the document at its end after telling your witnesses it is your will, and have at least two witnesses sign it in your presence and at your request.1Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-103 – Execution Generally Miss any of those steps and the will can fail, sending your estate through intestacy instead.
Who Can Make a Will
Any person 18 or older and of sound mind can execute a will in Arkansas.2Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-101 – Who May Make Wills Sound mind means you understand what you own, know who your natural heirs are, and grasp the effect of signing the document. A prior court finding of incompetence will generally block a valid will. There is no exception for emancipated minors under 18.
The Three Execution Requirements
For any will that isn’t entirely handwritten, Arkansas law requires three things at signing: your signature, a verbal declaration to the witnesses that the document is your will, and the signatures of at least two attesting witnesses.1Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-103 – Execution Generally All three have to happen. Skip one and the entire document can be thrown out during probate.
How You Can Sign
Arkansas gives you several acceptable ways to sign:1Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-103 – Execution Generally
- Sign the document yourself.
- Acknowledge a signature you already made, pointing it out to the witnesses and confirming it as yours.
- Sign by mark, with your name written nearby and a separate person witnessing the mark.
- Direct another person to sign your name, but only while you are physically present and telling them to do so.
Whichever method you use, the signature must appear at the end of the document. Anything written below the signature line is treated as if it doesn’t exist, which is the rule’s whole purpose: nobody can tack provisions on after you’ve signed.
What the Witnesses Have To Do
Both witnesses have to sign at your request and while you are present.1Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-103 – Execution Generally This is where most execution problems start. Witnesses who sign later, in a different room, or without being asked can all create openings for a challenge. Their role is to confirm independently that you declared the document to be your will, appeared to understand what you were doing, and signed it voluntarily.
Using a Beneficiary as a Witness
Naming one of your beneficiaries as a witness does not void the will. It penalizes the witness. An interested witness forfeits any bequest that exceeds what they would have inherited under intestacy.3Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-102 – Witnesses If they wouldn’t have inherited anything without the will, they lose the entire bequest.
There is one way around this: if two other qualified, disinterested witnesses also signed the will, the interested witness keeps the full bequest.3Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-102 – Witnesses That means using at least three witnesses total, two of them with no stake. The cleaner approach is to pick witnesses who inherit nothing under the will.
Do You Need a Notary?
Arkansas does not require a will to be notarized. Once you and two proper witnesses have signed, the will is valid. A notary matters only if you add a self-proving affidavit, which is a separate optional step.
Self-Proving Affidavit
A self-proving affidavit is a sworn statement by the witnesses confirming what they would otherwise have to testify to in court. In an uncontested probate, it substitutes for their live testimony, so nobody has to hunt them down after your death.4Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-106 – Affidavit of Attesting Witness If a witness has moved, become hard to locate, or died, the affidavit can save your executor real time and money.
The affidavit must be signed before an officer authorized to administer oaths, such as a notary. It should be written on the will itself or securely attached to it. You can do this at the signing ceremony or later, and a witness can even execute one after your death at the request of the executor or another interested person.4Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-106 – Affidavit of Attesting Witness Adding one at signing takes a few extra minutes and can shave weeks off probate.
Handwritten (Holographic) Wills
Arkansas recognizes holographic wills, which are handwritten and signed by the testator without witnesses present at the writing. The entire body of the will and the signature must be in your own handwriting.5Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-104 – Holographic Wills Generally A printed form with blanks filled in by hand does not qualify, and neither does a typed page with a handwritten signature.
The trade-off comes at probate. Because no witnesses saw you sign, the will must be proved by at least three credible, disinterested witnesses who can identify your handwriting and signature.5Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-104 – Holographic Wills Generally Finding three people who can testify convincingly about your handwriting years later is harder than it sounds. Holographic wills work best as a stopgap; a properly witnessed will is far more reliable for long-term planning.
Changing or Revoking Your Will
Arkansas gives you two basic ways to revoke a will. You can execute a new will that either expressly revokes the old one or is inconsistent enough that the two can’t stand together. Or you can physically destroy the document by burning, tearing, or otherwise obliterating it with the clear intent to revoke.6Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-109 – Revocation of Wills If someone else destroys the will, they must do so in your presence and at your direction. Any new will should include an express statement revoking all prior wills; without that language, a court may try to read the documents together and reach a result nobody wanted.
Divorce Automatically Revokes Spousal Provisions
If you divorce or your marriage is annulled after signing, Arkansas automatically revokes every provision benefiting your former spouse.6Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-109 – Revocation of Wills The rest of the will stays in effect. No other life change works this way. Remarriage, the birth of a child, or a major shift in your assets does not update the will on its own, so you have to revise it yourself.
Codicils
A codicil is a formal amendment to an existing will. Rather than rewriting the whole document, you can change a specific provision, such as a beneficiary, a bequest amount, or the named executor. A codicil has to meet the same execution requirements as the will itself: your signature, your declaration to the witnesses, and at least two attesting witnesses.1Justia. Arkansas Code 28-25-103 – Execution Generally A handwritten note in the margin of your existing will is not a valid codicil.
What Happens If the Will Fails
When a will is thrown out for a defect in execution, your estate passes under Arkansas’s intestacy statute, and the distribution follows a fixed statutory order that may look nothing like what you wanted.7Justia. Arkansas Code 28-9-214 – Tables of Descents The result many families find hardest to accept: if you die married with children and no valid will, the children take the heritable estate and the surviving spouse takes nothing from it under that statute. Getting the execution steps right the first time is the way to keep the decision in your hands.