Transferring a vehicle in Arkansas after someone dies

The paths this state offers

Every route Sahvelo has verified for transferring a vehicle after a death in this state, side by side. The guided questions identify which one applies to you.

What to do, step by step

The order of operations for each path. Only one of these applies to you — the guided questions will say which.

Documents and forms

Each name below links to the official form or the agency page that issues it.

Needed on every path

• The Arkansas certificate of title (opens in a new tab)

  A beneficiary, if one was designated, is reflected on it. The Department's checklist names a current title signed by seller and buyer for an ordinary transfer.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• A death certificate (opens in a new tab)

  Named on the Department's list of other forms a transaction may need, alongside the Affidavit of Inheritance and Letters of Testamentary.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• A current year personal property assessment (opens in a new tab)

  With the vehicle listed on it. This is a county act and it is separate from paying the tax — contact the county assessor or collector where you reside.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• Personal property tax paid up to date (opens in a new tab)

  Required to register a vehicle in Arkansas, both on a renewal and on a newly acquired vehicle.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• Current insurance on the VIN (opens in a new tab)

  Meeting Arkansas liability requirements, for the specific vehicle identification number.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• An odometer statement (opens in a new tab)

  Also on the Department's list of other forms that may be needed depending on the circumstances.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

Needed on some paths

• Affidavit of Inheritance of a Motor Vehicle (form 10-306) (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notary

  Signed by the sole heirs at law, stating that the estate has not been administered and that any will has not and probably will not be admitted to probate, and directing who takes the vehicle.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• Form 23 — Affidavit for Collection of Small Estate by Distributee (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

  The Arkansas Judiciary's own form, sworn for the purpose of dispensing with administration. What a holder is shown is a copy certified by the clerk.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• Letters of Testamentary (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

  Named by the Department as the alternative to the Affidavit of Inheritance where an estate is being administered. No further procedure is published.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• A release of lien (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notaryThe court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

  On the Department's list of other forms a transaction may need. What Arkansas requires to discharge a lien specifically on a death transfer is not established.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

• Notice of Transfer of Ownership of a Motor Vehicle (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notaryThe court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

  Optional, and filed by the transferor. It records a bona fide transfer with delivery of possession, after which the transferor is not liable for damages from another's negligent operation.

  Link checked 2026-08-18

Where and how to file

• In person

  An Arkansas state revenue office

  Bring the certificate of title, a death certificate, and either the Affidavit of Inheritance or Letters of Testamentary — the Department names those two together on the same line.Be current on a personal property assessment for the current year with the vehicle listed, on personal property tax, and on insurance meeting Arkansas liability requirements for the VIN.Other forms may be needed depending on the circumstances — the Department names a release of lien, an odometer statement, a power of attorney and a surety bond among them.

  Find an office (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to every path

• In person

  The circuit court clerk, then whoever holds the property

  The affidavit is sworn and then certified by the clerk. What moves the property is a copy certified by the clerk furnished to any person owing money, having custody of property, or acting as registrar or transfer agent.No order of the court or other proceeding is needed beyond that certification.

  Find an office (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

• By mail

  The Office of Motor Vehicle, Records Unit, Little Rock

  Optional, and it is the transferor's choice: the selling or transferring owner, at his option, may notify the Office of Motor Vehicle of the transfer by completing the notice and delivering it in person or by mail.It carries only the year, make, model, vehicle identification number, date of transfer, and the printed name and address of the transferor.

  See the mailing instructions (opens in a new tab)

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notaryThe court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

What it costs

Fees change, and the agency's own schedule is the only current source. Where Sahvelo cannot verify a fixed amount, it links the schedule rather than quoting a number.

After you file

• The county obligation continues. Renewing the registration in future will again require a current year personal property assessment with the vehicle listed, personal property tax paid up to date, and current insurance on the VIN.

  Applies to every path

• Where the car was handed to somebody before the paperwork was finished, the transferor's protection follows the bona fide transfer and the delivery of possession rather than the filing — but filing the Department's notice records it, and nothing in the transaction will prompt anyone to do so.

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notaryThe court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

• If the new owner wants to name a beneficiary of their own, the request is a separate form and it cannot be made while the vehicle is subject to a lien. A beneficiary already on a title is lost if the title is later surrendered to file one.

  Applies to A beneficiary is named on the certificate

• Get more than one certified copy of the affidavit while at the clerk's office. It is what every holder of the deceased's property has to be shown — anyone owing money, having custody of property, or acting as registrar or transfer agent.

  Applies to The court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

Official links you'll need

Every link goes directly to the issuing agency and opens in a new tab.

• Affidavit of Inheritance of a Motor Vehicle (opens in a new tab)

  Form An Arkansas state revenue office dfa.arkansas.gov

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notary

• Arkansas DFA — Do You Have What You Need? (opens in a new tab)

  guidance An Arkansas state revenue office dfa.arkansas.gov

  Applies to every path

• Arkansas Judiciary — Form 23 (opens in a new tab)

  Form The circuit court clerk, then whoever holds the property arcourts.gov

  Applies to The court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

• Request for Title with Beneficiary (opens in a new tab)

  Form The Office of Motor Vehicle dfa.arkansas.gov

  Applies to A beneficiary is named on the certificate

• Notice of Transfer of Ownership of a Motor Vehicle (opens in a new tab)

  Form The Office of Motor Vehicle, Records Unit dfa.arkansas.gov

  Applies to The sole heirs agree — one page, no ceiling, no notaryThe court's affidavit, certified by the clerk

If your situation doesn't fit one of these paths

Common complications, and what each one changes.

• One of the heirs cannot be found, or will not sign

  The Affidavit of Inheritance cannot be used. It is signed by the sole heirs at law and its operative sentence is that by mutual agreement the parties signatory consent and direct that the vehicle be titled in one named person — so it runs on unanimity rather than on entitlement. The published alternative is the court's own affidavit, which does not require everyone to sign: Form 23 is sworn by the distributee and works by the clerk's certification instead.^{Source 1Source 4}

• There is a will and nobody has decided what to do with it

  The Arkansas form asks the heirs to predict. They state that if the person left a will it has not, and probably will not be admitted to probate — a forecast about what other people will do, signed by the people making it. Where somebody does intend to file the will, this is not the instrument, and the sentence is what tells you so. The court's affidavit takes the opposite approach and asks who is entitled to receive the property as surviving spouse, heirs or devisees of the decedent's will.^{Source 1Source 4}

• The revenue office turned you away over a tax you have never heard of

  That is Arkansas's county personal property tax, and it is a precondition of registering rather than a consequence of it. The Department requires a current year personal property assessment with the vehicle listed, personal property tax paid up to date, and current insurance on the VIN meeting Arkansas liability requirements. The assessment is a separate act from the payment, and a car that has just come out of an estate may be on nobody's assessment. Contact the county assessor or collector where you reside.^{Source 3}

• There was a beneficiary on the title and now there is not

  A loan probably did it. Arkansas's rule runs both ways: a beneficiary cannot be added if the vehicle is subject to a lien, and if a title with a beneficiary is surrendered in order to file a lien, the beneficiary cannot be reflected on the newly issued title. So borrowing against a car after naming a beneficiary quietly ends the designation. It is also revoked if the vehicle is sold, or if an application is filed to remove or change the beneficiary.^{Source 2}

• The family expected two people to be named as beneficiaries

  Arkansas allows one. A beneficiary means one individual who is designated to become the owner of the vehicle upon the death of the current owners as reflected on the certificate of title, and a beneficiary cannot be a business, firm, partnership, corporation, association or any other legally-created entity. Up to three owners may be listed above the beneficiary, so the multiplicity Arkansas allows is on the owner side rather than the beneficiary side.^{Source 2}

• Two names on the title, and one of them is unavailable

  For adding or changing a beneficiary, the conjunction decides. Where the title reflects multiple owners with names connected by and, all owners must sign the request. Where the names are connected by or, either may sign. That rule is stated for the beneficiary request; what the conjunction does on a death transfer is not established here, because the Arkansas Code was not read.^{Source 2}

• The estate looks too big for the small estate affidavit

  Check what comes out before the ceiling is applied. The affidavit counts the value, less encumbrances, of all property owned at death — excluding the homestead of and statutory allowances for the benefit of the surviving spouse or minor children. So a house that is the homestead, and the spouse's statutory allowances, are outside the $100,000 figure. Encumbrances come off too.^{Source 4}

• There are bills the estate has not paid

  The court affidavit is absolute on its face: there are no unpaid claims or demands against the decedent or the decedent's estate. There is no provision for paying them out of what is collected — the statement is that there are none. It also reaches one creditor by name: either the Department of Human Services furnished no federal or state benefits to the deceased, or it has been reimbursed in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations.^{Source 4}

• An executor has been appointed and wants to move the car

  Sahvelo cannot tell you what Arkansas requires and says so rather than guessing. What is established is one line: the Department's checklist of documents a transaction may need lists an Affidavit of Inheritance and Letters of Testamentary together, as alternatives, and adds that other forms may be needed depending on the circumstances. No procedure is published beyond that, and the Arkansas Code — which would say more — is published through a commercial platform and was not read. Ask a state revenue office.^{Source 3}

• Somebody is already driving the car and the paperwork is not done

  There is a filing worth making, and nothing will prompt it. Section 27-14-911, as the Department's own notice quotes it, provides that an owner who has made a bona fide sale or transfer of title and delivered possession is not liable for damages afterwards resulting from another's negligent operation of the vehicle. The protection follows the transfer and the delivery; the Notice of Transfer of Ownership records it, and the Department says the selling or transferring owner may do so at his option.^{Source 5}

• You do not know who the heirs at law are

  This page cannot tell you, and that is a deliberate silence rather than an oversight. Who counts as an heir at law is a question of Arkansas descent law, and Arkansas publishes its Code through a commercial platform rather than on a state website, so the Code was not read for this page. Everything here comes from official Arkansas forms instead. An Arkansas attorney, or the circuit court clerk, is the place to establish it — and the form requires all of them, so it has to be right.^{Source 1}

• You are looking for the notary block on the inheritance affidavit

  There is not one. The Arkansas Affidavit of Inheritance of a Motor Vehicle has no notary block, no waiting period, no dollar ceiling and no notice requirement anywhere on it — which is unusual enough to be worth saying, because families reasonably expect one and go looking. What it does have is the requirement that every heir at law signs. Sahvelo states nothing about whether a revenue office asks for anything further at the counter, because nothing further is published.^{Source 1}

Questions people ask about this

• Is there a value limit on the inheritance affidavit?

  No. The Department's Affidavit of Inheritance of a Motor Vehicle carries no dollar figure at all — and no waiting period, no notice requirement and no notary block either. What it requires instead is that all the sole heirs at law sign, that the estate has not been administered, and that any will has not and probably will not be admitted to probate.^{Source 1}

• Does everyone have to sign?

  Yes. The form is signed by the sole heirs at law, and its operative sentence is that by mutual agreement the parties signatory consent and direct that the vehicle be the property of, and titled in the name of, one named person. A missing or unwilling heir means the court's own small estate affidavit instead.^{Source 1Source 4}

• What is the other affidavit, and how is it different?

  Form 23, the Arkansas Judiciary's Affidavit for Collection of Small Estate by Distributee. It is sworn for the purpose of dispensing with administration, waits forty-five days, and counts all property owned at death less encumbrances — excluding the homestead and the statutory allowances for a surviving spouse or minor children — up to $100,000. What moves the property is a copy certified by the clerk.^{Source 4}

• Why is the revenue office asking about county taxes?

  Because Arkansas requires them to be current before it will register a vehicle. You need a current year personal property assessment with the vehicle listed, personal property tax paid up to date, and current insurance on the VIN meeting Arkansas liability requirements. The assessment is a separate act from the payment — contact the county assessor or collector where you reside.^{Source 3}

• What do we take to the revenue office?

  The certificate of title, a death certificate, and either the Affidavit of Inheritance or Letters of Testamentary — the Department names those two together as alternatives on the same line. Plus the county assessment and tax current, and insurance on the VIN. The Department adds that other forms may be needed depending on the circumstances.^{Source 3}

• Could the car have had a beneficiary on it?

  Yes, if one was requested during the owner's lifetime. Arkansas allows one individual — not a business — to be reflected on the certificate as the person who becomes the owner on the death of the current owners, with no more than three owners listed above them. It cannot be added while the vehicle is subject to a lien.^{Source 2}

• There was a beneficiary and now the title does not show one. Why?

  Most likely a loan. If a title with a beneficiary is surrendered in order to file a lien, the beneficiary cannot be reflected on the newly issued title. The designation is also revoked if the vehicle is sold, or if an application is filed to remove or change the beneficiary.^{Source 2}

• What does Arkansas want from an executor?

  Sahvelo has not established that and will not guess. The Department's checklist names Letters of Testamentary as an accepted document and publishes no procedure beyond that. Ask a state revenue office before assembling paperwork.^{Source 3}

• Who counts as an heir at law?

  This page does not say, deliberately. That is a question of Arkansas descent law, and Arkansas publishes its Code through a commercial platform rather than on a state website, so the Code was not read here. Every rule on this page comes from an official Arkansas form or page instead. An Arkansas attorney or the circuit court clerk is the place to establish it — and the affidavit needs all of them, so it has to be right.^{Source 1}

• What does it cost?

  Sahvelo states no Arkansas title fee, because the pages read here publish none — the Department's checklist says fees are due and points to a sales tax estimator. The cost that most often bites is the county personal property tax, which has to be paid up to date before the vehicle can be registered.^{Source 3}

• How long do we have to wait?

  Nothing at all on the Department's inheritance affidavit — it states no waiting period. The court's small estate affidavit states that more than forty-five days must have elapsed since the death.^{Source 1Source 4}

• The car is already being driven by whoever is inheriting it. Are we still on the hook?

  The Department's own notice quotes the answer: section 27-14-911 provides that an owner who has made a bona fide sale or transfer of title and has delivered possession is not liable for damages thereafter resulting from another's negligent operation. Filing the Notice of Transfer of Ownership records it, and the Department says the transferring owner may do so at his option.^{Source 5}

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