You inherited an interest in Arkansas, or you are about to. Here is what the state actually requires to put it in your name, what can take it away if you do nothing, where the money goes when the operator cannot find you, and the order to do things in. Written by a mineral buyer who pays for the probate on a committed deal, so read it with that in mind.
Updated November 2026. Written by Stephen Clayman, career landman and owner of Berlin Royalties. Statutes were checked against primary sources; this is general information from a buyer, not legal advice, and the state-specific details are the reason to call a Arkansas attorney, not a substitute for one.
Not always. Arkansas lets an estate of $100,000 or less, including real property, pass by a small estate affidavit filed with the probate clerk 45 days after death, with newspaper publication. Larger estates need a probate. An Arkansas affidavit of heirship is evidence only and does not transfer title, and Arkansas has no dormant mineral act.
An affidavit of heirship can be recorded in the deed records, but it is presumptive evidence only and does not transfer title; title insurers often require a probate or a quiet title action behind it. The practical shortcut is the small estate under Ark. Code 28-41-101: an estate of $100,000 or less after homestead and allowances, filed with the probate clerk 45 days after death. Real property is included, with two weeks of newspaper publication required.
Estates above that go through probate, and a nonresident decedent's Arkansas minerals go through an ancillary administration in the county where they sit. A beneficiary deed, below, avoids all of it for the next generation.
Yes. Arkansas calls it a beneficiary deed, Ark. Code 18-12-608. It must be recorded before death, and a revocation must be recorded before death to be effective. No mineral exclusion.
No. A severed mineral interest in Arkansas is a perpetual corporeal interest that cannot be abandoned or lost by nonuse. The risk in Arkansas is the property tax, below, not a lapse statute.
Ark. Code 15-74-601: a first purchaser pays within six months of first sale and then within 60 days after the month of sale, with 12 percent per year on late amounts. Under 15-74-604 a lease operator who fails to pay within 180 days after marketing owes 12 percent, and 15-74-602 adds 14 percent where proceeds are willfully withheld. Our letter generator writes the statutory demand, and the full state table is on royalty payment laws by state.
Search Arkansas Auditor of State unclaimed property under the decedent's name and every spelling of it. Mineral proceeds are abandoned after three years. Arkansas requires holders to report mineral proceeds pay-to-current with the well name and the section, township and range, which makes an Arkansas claim unusually easy to match to a tract. Our unclaimed royalties hub covers the search in every state we buy in, and we run it free whether or not you sell.
Arkansas repealed its estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2005 and has no inheritance tax. Inherited minerals take a federal stepped-up basis. The arithmetic is on our capital gains and depletion page, and a date-of-death appraisal is what documents the basis.
The printable version of that list, with the title path for every state, is our executor's checklist for mineral rights.
Send a photo of whatever you have. We will tell you what the family owns, what it pays, whether any money is sitting in suspense or with the state, what the title needs, and what it is worth, in writing and with the reasoning shown. Free, and the answer is the same whether or not you sell.
Get a Free Valuation Text a Check StubOr call or text 918-984-1645 and ask for Stephen.
No. It is recorded as evidence of who the heirs are, but it does not convey title. A small estate affidavit under Ark. Code 28-41-101, where the estate is $100,000 or less, or a probate, is what moves the interest.
Not to a dormant mineral act; Arkansas has none. You can lose them to a tax sale if producing minerals are assessed and the taxes go unpaid.
Sometimes. Brine rights follow the deed language, and the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission's 2.5 percent lithium royalty applies inside approved brine units. We read the instruments before anyone talks price.