2019 Arkansas Code
Title 28 - Wills, Estates, and Fiduciary Relationships
Subtitle 2 - Descent and Distribution
Chapter 11 - Dower and Curtesy
Subchapter 3 - Extent of Interest
§ 28-11-307. Dower or Curtesy When No Children
(a)
(1) If a person dies leaving a surviving spouse and no children, the surviving spouse shall be endowed in fee simple of one-half (½) of the real estate of which the deceased person died seized when the estate is a new acquisition and not an ancestral estate and of one-half (½) of the personal estate, absolutely, and in his or her own right, as against collateral heirs.
(2) However, as against creditors, the surviving spouse shall be invested with one-third (⅓) of the real estate in fee simple if a new acquisition, and not ancestral, and of one-third (⅓) of the personal property absolutely.
(b) If the real estate of the deceased person is an ancestral estate, the surviving spouse shall be endowed in a life estate of one-half (½) of the estate as against collateral heirs and one-third (⅓) as against creditors.
