Determinations

• To determine the amount of property a husband or wife of the deceased person receives after the person's death, you must ask how many living children the deceased had and what kind of property the deceased owned.
  
  

Division of Property

• If children or other descendants of the deceased spouse are living, the surviving spouse takes 1/3 of real and personal property in a life estate. If no children or descendants are living, the survivor takes 1/2 of real property in fee simple and 1/2 of personal property until death. Creditors could reduce the surviving spouse's 1/2 to 1/3. The fee simple could be changed to a life estate if the land had been passed down to the decedent from an ancestor.
  
  

Example

• Imagine that a husband has died, leaving his wife with two small children. The wife takes 1/3 of the husband's property in a life estate. Next creditors' claims will be paid. If there is more property to be distributed afterward, the will beneficiaries take next. If more property is available then, the remainder of the property goes to the decedent's heirs.
  
  

Heritable Estate

• The remainder of the property after the surviving spouse has taken is called the heritable estate. Arkansas has its own priority of who will take the heritable estate. Surviving descendants, such as children and grandchildren, take first. If there are no descendants, then the surviving spouse takes all if marriage to the decedent lasted for at least three years. If the surviving spouse had been married to the decedent for less than three years, the surviving spouse only takes half.
  
  

Heritable Estate Inheritance Order

• The half of the heritable estate that doesn't pass to the spouse passes to the decedent's parents. If the decedent's parents are no longer living, then the decedent's brothers and sisters take by representation. If the brothers and sisters are no longer living, then the property passes to the deceased's living grandparents, aunts and uncles. If they are no longer living, then the property passes to the living great grandparents, great aunts and great uncles. If there are no great grandparents, great aunts or great uncles, then the spouse who was married to the decedent for less than three years takes the remaining half of the property. If the decedent has no living relatives, then the property would go to the relatives of the decedent's spouse in the order set forth above. If none of the people in this scenario are living, then the property escheats to the estate.