Transfer a Car Title After Death in Arkansas (Affidavit of Inheritance, Form 10-306)

1. The title names a beneficiary (TOD)

An owner can name one person as beneficiary with DFA Form 108, and the title then shows "transfer on death to" or "TOD" and that name. When an owner dies, a surviving co-owner on that title gets the new title; once no owner is left, the beneficiary does. The car does not go through probate (Ark. Code § 27-14-727).

1. Bring a death certificate issued by the state or a local government and the title with beneficiary to a revenue office.
2. Apply for the new title and pay the title fee.
3. If you want to name your own beneficiary, file Form 108 at the same time and pay the $10 processing fee.
4. Any loan or security interest on the car stays with it.

2. No probate: the Affidavit of Inheritance (Form 10-306)

Use it when the estate has not been administered and any will has not been, and probably will not be, admitted to probate. All the heirs at law agree whose name the car goes into.

1. Fill in the name of the person who died, the year, make, model, body style and VIN of each car (the form has room for three), and the name the car will be titled in.
2. Every heir at law signs and dates the form. It has no notary section.
3. Take it to a revenue office with the title and the death certificate.
4. Pay the $10 title fee. To drive the car, register it as well: that needs insurance on the VIN and the car on your current personal property assessment, with the tax paid.

3. Small estate affidavit (Probate Form 23)

If everything the person owned, less what is owed on it and not counting the homestead and the family allowances, is within $100,000 and no personal representative has been asked for, the heirs can file Form 23 with the probate clerk once the waiting period (45 days after the death) has passed. It covers the car together with the rest of the estate.

1. List the car in the affidavit with its value, less any loan on it.
2. File the affidavit with the probate clerk and get a copy certified by the clerk.
3. The form says the certified copy entitles the heirs to the listed property from anyone who holds it or acts as its registrar or transfer agent.
4. Ask the revenue office before you go: its own checklist names the Affidavit of Inheritance and letters testamentary, not Form 23. If the car is all you need to move, Form 10-306 is simpler.

4. The estate is in probate

Once the probate court appoints a personal representative, Form 10-306 no longer fits. The personal representative deals with the car using their letters, which the DFA lists among the papers it may need.

1. The personal representative signs the title over to the heir who gets the car, or to a buyer. The DFA requires the seller to print the new owner's name in the assignment on the back of the title, and both to sign and print their names.
2. The new owner brings the title, the letters and the death certificate to a revenue office and pays the $10 title fee.

Arkansas probate court: Circuit Court, probate division. The executor's papers: Letters testamentary (with a will) or letters of administration (without one). See how executors get letters.