Arkansas

At a Glance

Who files the death certificate and when.

In Arkansas, the funeral director or a person acting as a funeral director must file a 'fact-of-death record' with the division of vital records within three days of death or discovery of a body. A complete death certificate must be registered with the local or state vital records office within 10 days of death or discovery of the body. The physician in charge of the patient's care completes and signs the medical certification and returns it to the funeral director within three business days after receiving the death certificate. If the cause of death can't be determined within three days, final disposition can't be made until authorized by the state medical examiner, attending physician, or county coroner.

Who can order copies.

The easiest way to get copies of a death certificate is to ask the person or organization that files the certificate (usually the funeral home) to order them for you at the time of death. If you need to order copies after the time of death has passed, contact the health department in the county where the death occurred or visit the Arkansas Department of Health online.

• -Arkansas Department of Health death certificate application: https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Application_DC_Vital_Records.pdf
• -Cost: $10.00 for the first certified copy and $8.00 for each additional copy of the same record. If no record is found, the $10.00 is kept as a search fee. Ordering online adds a $5.00 processing fee and a $1.85 identity verification fee.
• -Authorized individuals include the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin (or their authorized representative); someone who establishes a need for documentation to establish a legal right or claim; an organization providing benefits to survivors; and local, state, or federal agencies.

How do I get a death certificate in Arkansas?

Order certified copies from Arkansas's vital records office; this section's source link is the official process. The funeral home or cremation provider usually orders the first copies for you. Ask each bank, insurer, court, and agency whether it needs its own certified copy before you decide how many to order.

How much does a death certificate cost in Arkansas?

$10 per certified copy in Arkansas, as shown above. Additional-copy pricing varies; the official source linked in this section has the current fee schedule.

At a Glance

When probate is required.

Probate is a court-supervised process for transferring a deceased person's assets to their heirs. Arkansas has a small estate affidavit for estates where the value, less encumbrances, of all property the decedent owned at death doesn't exceed $100,000, not counting the homestead and the statutory allowances. Forty-five days have to pass after the death before a distributee can use it, and when the estate includes real property the distributee has to publish notice of the death and the affidavit within 30 days so creditors get three months to file claims. Above $100,000, formal probate is generally required. (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101)

If you die without a will.

If you die in Arkansas without a valid will, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-9-214 and 28-9-215 decide who inherits, and Arkansas is unusual on two counts: children come before the spouse, and how long you were married matters.

• -Surviving spouse and children: your children take the estate. Your spouse takes dower or curtesy, which is one-third of the personal property outright plus a life estate in one-third of the real estate.
• -Surviving spouse, no children: your spouse takes everything if the marriage lasted three continuous years or longer. Under three years, your spouse takes half and the rest goes to your parents, then to your siblings and their descendants.
• -Children, no surviving spouse: your children inherit all of your property, divided equally, and a dead child's descendants take that child's share.
• -No spouse or children: your property goes to your parents, then to your siblings and their descendants, then to grandparents, uncles, and aunts, and on out the line. If nobody qualifies, the estate escheats to the county where you lived at death, not to the state (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-9-215).

Avoiding probate.

To avoid probate in Arkansas, you can use several estate planning tools. These include creating a revocable living trust, which allows assets to be distributed outside of probate. Other options include designating beneficiaries on bank accounts (payable-on-death or POD) and retirement accounts (transfer-on-death or TOD), and holding property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.

What is the small-estate limit in Arkansas?

$100,000. Estates under that figure can use the simplified process or affidavit covered above instead of full probate.

Do I need a probate attorney in Arkansas?

Not always. If the estate qualifies for the simplified process covered above, many people handle it without a lawyer. Hire one for full probate, a contested will, or property in more than one state. Before you hire anyone, know the fee structures: hourly, flat, and (in a few states) statutory percentages. Our probate attorney cost guide covers what each should run you.

Does Arkansas allow transfer-on-death deeds?

Yes. Arkansas authorizes the beneficiary deed under Ark. Code Ann. § 18-12-608. Record it while you’re alive and the property passes to your named beneficiary at death, outside probate, revocable any time before then. Arkansas calls it a beneficiary deed; it only works if the deed is recorded before the owner dies.

Source: Ark. Code Ann. § 18-12-608 ↗

Time off work after a death in Arkansas

Arkansas doesn't require a private employer to give bereavement leave, paid or unpaid. Whatever you get is your employer's policy, and it can be changed or refused.

Who it covers. Nobody in the private sector. Act 885 of 2025 covers state agency employees (with at least a year of state service) through the catastrophic leave bank, and only if the program administrator elects to grant the leave.

How much. 0 required for private employees. State employees: up to 40 paid hours per calendar year, usable only within the first 4 weeks after the death of an immediate family member.

Paid or unpaid. Not applicable for private employees. The state-employee catastrophic leave is paid; unused hours do not carry over and are not paid out at separation.

Pregnancy loss note for the state-employee provision: Act 885 defines 'child' to include 'an unborn child,' so a state worker's pregnancy loss qualifies as the death of an immediate family member. Immediate family also covers parents, siblings, spouse, grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, and anyone acting as the employee's parent or guardian. None of this reaches private employers.

Source: No statute for private employers. Ark. Code § 21-4-214 (catastrophic leave program, as amended by Act 885 of 2025, SB241) covers public employees only and is discretionary. ↗

Can I leave money to care for my pet in Arkansas?

Yes. Arkansas enforces pet trusts under Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-408, so money you set aside for an animal is legally binding on whoever you put in charge of it. The trust ends when your animal dies, or when the last of them dies if you covered more than one, and Arkansas sets no year limit on it. Whoever you name in the trust enforces it, and if you name nobody a court appoints someone. Anyone who cares about your animal can ask a court to appoint an enforcer or to remove one who isn't doing the job. A judge can cut the amount back if it holds more than your animal could plausibly need. Unless your trust says where the extra should go, it comes back to you if you're living, and otherwise to whoever inherits from you. Arkansas covers only an animal that was alive at some point while you were, so describe the animals you own as a group rather than naming one pet, and a cat your family adopts after your death still needs its own plan. Name a caretaker and a backup in the trust itself; the statute won't pick one for you.

Source: Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-408 ↗

How to set one up, and what it costs →

Die without a will in Arkansas and this law picks your heirs.

If you die intestate (without a valid will) in Arkansas, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-9-203 to 28-9-215 (descent) and §§ 28-11-301 to 28-11-405 (dower and curtesy) decides who inherits everything a will would have covered. The shares depend on exactly who survives you: spouse, children, parents, siblings. What you told people you wanted doesn't matter. Only a signed will changes these defaults.

What your spouse gets.

What your spouse inherits depends on who else survives you. The four common family shapes:

• -Spouse only (no descendants or parents): entire estate if married 3+ continuous years; 50% if married under 3 years
• -Spouse + parents (no descendants): married 3+ years, spouse takes all and parents get nothing; under 3 years, spouse takes 50% and parents take 50%
• -Spouse + joint descendants: children inherit; spouse gets 1/3 of personal property outright plus a life estate in 1/3 of the real estate (dower/curtesy)
• -Spouse + blended family: identical, children inherit subject to the same 1/3 dower/curtesy
• -Source: Ark. Code Ann. §§ 28-9-214, 28-9-215, 28-11-301, 28-11-305

Children's shares.

The children take the whole estate in equal shares, and a deceased child's descendants take that child's share.

No spouse, no children: the line of succession.

After descendants and spouse come the parents, then siblings and their descendants, then grandparents, uncles, and aunts sharing equally with no paternal/maternal split, then great-grandparents and great-uncles and great-aunts, then a spouse of under three years takes the rest, then the heirs of a predeceased spouse; only then does the estate escheat: to the county where the decedent lived, not the state (§ 28-9-215).

At a Glance

What Arkansas requires.

Arkansas advance directives run under the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 20-6-101 et seq. Section 20-6-103 says a directive has to be either notarized or witnessed by two witnesses. The notary is an alternative to the witnesses, not an extra step. If you use witnesses, each has to be a competent adult, neither can be the agent you named, and at least one can't be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption or entitled to any part of your estate under a will then in existence or by operation of law. A witnessed directive also has to carry an attestation clause saying the witnesses meet those rules.

Healthcare power of attorney.

A Healthcare Power of Attorney (HCPOA) in Arkansas allows you to appoint an agent to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so. This can be a standalone document or incorporated into a comprehensive Advance Care Plan. The appointed agent's authority typically begins when your physician determines you lack the capacity to make your own healthcare decisions.

POLST / MOLST forms.

Arkansas recognizes Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms. A POLST form is a medical order that complements an advance directive and is completed by a healthcare professional based on a patient's wishes. It provides clear instructions for medical treatment in various situations and is intended for individuals with serious illnesses or frailty. It differs from an advance directive in that it's a physician's order that travels with the patient across care settings.

Where do I get Arkansas's advance directive form?

Start with Ark. Code Ann. § 20-6-101 et seq. (Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act); § 20-6-103 (execution), linked as this section's source. Use the current form or sample that the official source provides or identifies. Form authority and execution requirements vary by state, so confirm the source before signing and get legal help if your situation or the instructions are unclear.

Does Arkansas require a notary or witnesses for an advance directive?

Arkansas requires 2 adult witnesses; notarization isn’t required. Anyone 18 or older of sound mind can make one.

At a Glance

Cremation rules in Arkansas.

In Arkansas, a body must be either embalmed or refrigerated if it isn't buried or cremated within 48 hours of death. Cremation requires written authorization, typically from the next-of-kin, and a properly completed death certificate. The crematory authority must hold human remains before cremation, and the cremation container must be cremated with the human remains. Arkansas imposes no waiting period before cremation; the 48-hour rule is about preservation, not timing of cremation.

Green burial and alternatives.

Green burial is legal in Arkansas. The state's regulations focus on the timing and preservation of the body. If burial won't occur within 48 hours, the body must be embalmed or refrigerated. However, for green burials, embalming isn't required if the body is buried within this timeframe. Burial on your own land is harder than most sites claim: the Department of Health's cemetery rules make it unlawful to bury a body outside a registered cemetery, so burying on family land means establishing a cemetery first, by written application to the county judge or the mayor, with the Department of Health investigating the site and receiving a copy of the permit. Human composting and alkaline hydrolysis aren't explicitly addressed in Arkansas statutes, so their legality may be subject to interpretation or future legislation.

• -Green burial: Legal, with embalming not required if burial occurs within 48 hours.
• -Home burial: Only by establishing and registering a cemetery on the land first, through the county judge or mayor with Department of Health review.
• -Human composting and alkaline hydrolysis: Not explicitly addressed in current Arkansas law.

Funeral home regulations.

Funeral homes and funeral directors in Arkansas are regulated by the Arkansas State Board of Embalmers, Funeral Directors, Cemeteries, and Burial Services, which operates under the Arkansas Insurance Department. This board sets licensing requirements for funeral directors and embalmers and oversees funeral establishments. Federal law, specifically the FTC Funeral Rule, also applies, requiring funeral homes to disclose prices and offer itemized services.

Who decides what happens to the body in Arkansas

Arkansas sets this order by statute. The first person on the list who is available and willing decides, and a funeral home takes its instructions from them.

1. designated agent on the DD Form 93, if the decedent died while serving in any branch of the armed forces of the United States, the National Guard, or a reserve component of the armed forces
2. person appointed by the decedent in the decedent's declaration of final disposition
3. surviving spouse
4. sole surviving child, or a majority of the surviving children
5. surviving parent or parents (the remaining parent alone if reasonable efforts to locate the absent parent fail)
6. surviving brother or sister, or a majority of the surviving siblings
7. surviving grandparent, or a majority of the grandparents
8. surviving grandchild, or a majority of the grandchildren
9. guardian of the person of the decedent at the time of death, if one had been appointed
10. next degree of kinship in descending order under the laws of descent and distribution (if more than one person shares that degree, any one of them may exercise the right)
11. any representative of state government or a political subdivision of state government with a statutory obligation to provide for disposition, including any entity authorized to take possession under § 20-17-701 et seq.
12. if the decedent is a veteran, a representative of the Arkansas Department of Veterans' Affairs, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or a veterans service organization as defined in the Missing in America Project Act, § 20-17-1401 et seq., with statutory authority to direct or provide for disposition or to take possession under § 20-17-1404 et seq. (tier added at (d)(1)(L) by Act 723 of 2013)
13. in the absence of anyone above, any other willing person, including the personal representative of the estate or the funeral director with custody, after attesting in writing that a good faith effort to contact those people failed (now § 20-17-102(d)(2), moved out of the lettered list by Act 723 of 2013)

Naming someone in advance. A "declaration of final disposition" under § 20-17-102(b)(1). Any individual of sound mind who is 18 or older may execute one at any time, provided the disposition is in accordance with existing laws, rules, and practices for disposing of human remains. It has to be signed by the declarant or by another at the declarant's direction and witnessed by two individuals. The section requires no notary and prescribes no form. Additional consent from anyone else isn't required if the declaration contains a disposition authorized under the section and is otherwise valid under it. Under (c), a person having possession, charge, or control of the remains can't knowingly dispose of the body in a manner inconsistent with the declaration. For service members the DD Form 93 overrides the declaration outright. Act 29 of 2011 added § 20-17-102(b)(2): "Notwithstanding any other declaration made under this section or any other law, if the decedent died while serving in any branch of the armed forces of the United States, the National Guard, or a reserve component of the armed forces, the decisions regarding the final disposition for the decedent shall be made by the person authorized to direct disposition on the DD Form 93 completed by the decedent prior to death." That's why the DD Form 93 designee also sits above the declaration in the (d)(1) order. No session since 2013 has amended any part of § 20-17-102.

When the same tier disagrees. § 20-17-102(e)(2): where there's a dispute between those sharing the right of disposition as to decisions about the remains, the circuit court for the county where the decedent resided may award the right to the person it determines to be the most fit and appropriate to carry it out. Under (e)(2)(A), if the people holding the right are two or more persons with the same relationship to the decedent and they can't make a decision by majority vote, any of them or the funeral director with custody of the remains may petition the circuit court for a determination. Short of court, § 20-17-102(d)(3)(A), renumbered from (d)(2) by Act 723 of 2013, lets less than a majority of a class act if they've used reasonable efforts to notify all other members of the class of their instructions and aren't aware of opposition to those instructions on the part of more than one-half of all surviving children. (d)(3)(B) defines "class" as surviving children, siblings, grandparents, or grandchildren, where applicable.

Act 723 of 2013 (HB1298), the act that created the Missing in America Project Act, is what separates the current (d) from the 2011 text this record used to carry. SECTION 2 of that act did four things to § 20-17-102(d). It added a twelfth tier at (d)(1)(L) for a veteran's remains: a representative of the Arkansas Department of Veterans' Affairs, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or a veterans service organization as defined in the Missing in America Project Act, § 20-17-1401 et seq., that has statutory authority to direct or provide for disposition or to take possession under § 20-17-1404 et seq. It pulled the willing-person catch-all out of the lettered list and renumbered it (d)(2), which pushed the less-than-majority rule from (d)(2) to (d)(3). It changed the opener from "provided such person is eighteen (18) years of age or older" to "if the person is," striking the comma along with "provided such." And it rewrote (K) to read "a political subdivision of state government" in place of "a political subdivision thereof," added the commas around "but not limited to," and struck the trailing "and." All four are visible as strike-and-underline on pages 6 through 8 of the act PDF, which I rendered to images at 130 dpi and read, rather than trusting text extraction. Extraction drops the strike marks and silently merges deleted and added words into one line, which is how the previous version of this record ended up treating a real amendment as a typographical variant. Forfeiture and disputes come from Act 402 of 2009 and are unchanged. Under (e)(1) a person loses the right if they're charged with murder under § 5-10-101, § 5-10-102, or § 5-10-103, or manslaughter under § 5-10-104, in connection with the death and the funeral director knows of the charges (the right returns on acquittal, dismissal, or nolle prosequi); if they don't exercise the right within two days of notification of the death or five days of the death, whichever is earlier; if they're unwilling to assume liability for costs the estate can't cover when they come due; if they and the decedent were estranged at the time of death; or where the Department of Human Services has custody of the decedent and no one authorized under (d)(1) has claimed the remains within forty-eight hours of death. "Estranged" means a physical and emotional separation existing long enough to clearly demonstrate an absence of due affection, trust, and regard, and the statute says it also includes a complaint for divorce filed by either party that remains pending at death, or spouses living apart for more than ninety days before the death. Sourcing, stated plainly. Arkansas contracts its official code to LexisNexis. I fetched http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/arcode/ and the advance.lexis.com container it redirects to: both return 3,696 bytes and one character of readable text to a plain client, so no official page serves the codified section. The act PDFs on arkleg are the official text a plain client can actually read, so statuteUrl points at Act 723 of 2013 (HTTP 200, application/pdf, 161,704 bytes, "20-17-102" present twice in the PDF text layer, "Missing in America Project Act" three times). Two consequences: the PDF shows the amendment in strike-and-underline form rather than clean codified text, and the codified punctuation at the end of (K) can't be verified, because the act strikes the "and" that closed (K) and doesn't put one back before (L). The quote above reproduces it as enacted, without the "and." On whether anything has changed since 2013. The evidence the previous record leaned on was void, but not for the reason the auditor gave. arkleg's /Acts/CodeSection endpoint takes a Title number, not a code cite: queried as section=20-17-102 it returns "No amended code for this section," and so does section=0 and section=5-4-104, which is why the endpoint looks broken. Queried correctly as section=20 it returns every Title 20 section a given session amended. I ran that for every session from 2013 regular through 2025/2026F, matching on 20-17-102 with a digit boundary so 20-17-1021 through 20-17-1029 don't create false hits. The 2013 regular session returns exactly two rows for this section, 20-17-102(d) by Act 723 (HB1298) and 20-17-102(k)(1) by Act 1132 (SB189), which is the positive control proving the query works. Every session after that returns none for this section while still returning hundreds of other Title 20 rows (2015R: 257, 2017R: 402, 2019R: 1,287, 2021R: 254, 2023R: 209, 2025R: 263). Act 1132 of 2013 § 16 is a technical correction to (k)(1) about a funeral director disposing of unclaimed cremated remains ninety days after cremation. It doesn't touch the priority order.

Source: Ark. Code Ann. § 20-17-102(d) (Arkansas Final Disposition Rights Act of 2009), as enacted by Act 402 of 2009 (HB1409), amended by Act 29 of 2011 (HB1141) § 2, and last amended by Act 723 of 2013 (HB1298) § 2; § 20-17-102(k)(1) separately amended by Act 1132 of 2013 (SB189) § 16 ↗

If you can't afford the funeral in Arkansas

Three separate pots of money, on three different agencies' websites, collected nowhere. A family that qualifies for all three usually claims none of them.

1. When nobody can pay. County help through the county judge's office. Arkansas has no statewide funeral fund, and county burial help is optional, not required. The county judge's office in the county where the person died.

What it pays. Not published. No amount is set in state law and counties don't publish one. Under Ark. Code § 14-14-1105(b)(2) the county court has exclusive original jurisdiction over paupers, covering "all county administrative actions affecting the conduct of public human services programs serving indigent residents of the county where such services are financed, in total or in part, by county funds." Ark. Code § 14-14-802 lists "cemetery, burial, and memorial services" among the services a county may provide, not among the ones it must, so what's available depends on the county.

What disqualifies you. Set county by county. No statewide eligibility rule is published. Expect the county to ask for proof that there's no insurance, no estate, and no other source before it pays anything.

The official page ↗

2. If the death was caused by a crime. $7,500 maximum for funeral expenses. 16 CAR § 60-205(b)(1): "Compensation for funeral expenses of deceased victims may not exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500)." That sits inside an overall $10,000 cap per victim, or $25,000 where injuries are catastrophic and result in total and permanent disability. Burial policies and similar collateral sources come off the total. Life insurance may not be treated as a collateral source when dependents of the person who died survive; it is applied against funeral expenses when there are no surviving dependents.

Arkansas crime victim compensation ↗

3. Money the person was already owed. Search Arkansas's unclaimed property before you borrow anything. Searching and claiming are free.

Arkansas unclaimed property ↗

Arkansas doesn't run a state program that pays for a funeral. What exists is county money, and it's discretionary. State law lists burial services as something a county may provide, not something it has to, and it gives the county court jurisdiction over pauper matters funded with county money. So the amount, and whether there's any amount at all, depends on the county. Call the county judge's office in the county where the person died. Ask directly whether the county has money for an indigent burial or cremation, what the maximum is, and what they need from you. Have ready: proof there's no life insurance or burial policy, proof of the person's income and assets, and the funeral home's written price list. Counties usually want to see that every other source has been checked first, including family, insurance, property, and churches. If nobody claims the body, that's handled separately under Ark. Code § 20-17-701 and following, where the coroner in the county where the body is located can take control and the county court can grant the county authority over disposition. If the person had an estate, the estate has to reimburse whoever paid. If the person died because of a crime, apply to the Arkansas Crime Victims Reparations Board. This one has real published numbers. Funeral expenses are capped at $7,500 under 16 CAR § 60-205(b)(1). The whole claim is capped at $10,000 per victim, or $25,000 where injuries are catastrophic and result in total and permanent disability. Burial policies and similar collateral sources get subtracted. Life insurance is treated differently depending on your situation: it can't be counted against you when dependents of the person who died are still living and could benefit from the policy, and it is applied against funeral expenses only when there are no surviving dependents. Two deadlines. The crime should have been reported to the proper authorities within 72 hours, and the application should be filed within one year of the incident. Both have a good cause exception written into the rules, so if you're late, apply anyway and explain why. The board decides whether good cause exists. If you can't get the burial done without money now, ask about an emergency award. The rules specifically name the situation where a claimant "cannot receive emergency service (i.e. burial) without the emergency payment." Any advance comes off the final award. Apply online at crimevictims.dps.arkansas.gov or call the Crime Victims Reparations office at 501-682-1020. Any of Arkansas's 28 elected prosecutors can also give you an application. Then check claimitar.gov for money already owed to the person. Searching and claiming are free.

At a Glance

Arkansas doesn't have a state estate tax.

Arkansas is one of many states that doesn't impose a state-level estate tax. This means that your estate won't be subject to an additional tax at the state level upon your death, regardless of its value. Act 645 of 2003 repealed the Arkansas estate tax for the estates of people who died on or after January 1, 2005.

Arkansas doesn't have an inheritance tax.

In addition to not having an estate tax, Arkansas also doesn't levy an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is paid by the beneficiaries who inherit assets, rather than by the estate itself. Therefore, heirs in Arkansas won't pay state inheritance taxes on assets they receive.

Federal estate tax.

The federal estate tax applies to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for married couples. This is separate from any state estate or inheritance tax. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent, so the drop to roughly $7 million once scheduled under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act never took effect.

Does Arkansas have an estate tax?

No. Arkansas has no state estate tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for a married couple.

Does Arkansas have an inheritance tax?

No. Arkansas doesn’t tax inheritances. Heirs owe no state tax on what they receive.

What is the federal estate tax exemption for 2026?

$15 million per person, $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent. Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax.

At a Glance

Registering as a donor in Arkansas.

You can register to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor in Arkansas through Donate Life Arkansas. This can be done online or when you obtain or renew your driver's license or state ID at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Registering adds your name to the official donor registry, making your decision legally recognized.

• -Donate Life Arkansas online registry: https://donatelifearkansas.org/
• -Register at the DMV when applying for or renewing your driver's license or state ID.
• -You can also indicate your wishes on your Advance Care Plan, though direct registration is the most legally binding method.

Your registration is binding right now, and that's being litigated.

Under the Revised Arkansas Anatomical Gift Act, a registered donor's decision is first-person authorization. Nobody else can make, amend, or revoke the gift after your death (Ark. Code Ann. § 20-17-1208(a)). One exception: if the donor is an unemancipated minor, a parent who is reasonably available can revoke or amend the gift (§ 20-17-1208(g)). Act 861 of 2025 (formerly HB1679) would go much further, letting a health care power of attorney, spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, or a guardian amend or revoke the gift after the donor dies. A federal judge blocked Act 861 before it took effect in August 2025, and as of August 2026 that injunction is still in place while the case is litigated. So the pre-Act 861 rule governs today: register, and your decision stands. Organ procurement organizations still consult families in practice, so tell yours what you decided, and check the current status before relying on this.

Source: Act 839 of 2007 (Revised Arkansas Anatomical Gift Act, § 20-17-1208), arkleg.state.ar.us ↗