USA – ARKANSAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Aaron Bundy and Danya Bundy, Bundy
homestead credit claims, voter and vehicle registra - tions, driver’s licenses, and where family and business life actually happen. Domicile at death fixes primary probate jurisdiction. Clients establishing or shedding Arkansas connections should build the record delib - erately rather than reconstruct it in an audit or a will contest. 7.2 Expeditious Citizenship There is no expeditious or investment-based route to citizenship through Arkansas, because no state can confer citizenship. Naturalisation is federal, adminis - tered by USCIS on federal timelines. The investment- linked immigration route is the federal EB-5 immigrant investor programme, which can lead to permanent residence and eventual naturalisation. The current minimums are USD800,000 in targeted employment areas and USD1,050,000 otherwise, and qualifying EB-5 investments can be located in Arkansas pro - jects. State residency matters for taxation and probate jurisdiction, but it has no effect on citizenship. 8. Planning for Minors, Adults with Disabilities and Elders 8.1 Special Planning Mechanisms Third-party special needs trusts hold family wealth for a beneficiary with a disability without disqualify - ing the beneficiary from means-tested benefits. First- party trusts funded with the beneficiary’s own assets, usually litigation recoveries or direct inheritances, qualify under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p(d)(4)(A) with the required payback provision, and pooled trusts serve smaller amounts. ABLE accounts through the Arkansas ABLE programme provide a tax-advantaged supplement for disability expenses, and eligibility wid - ened in 2026, when the qualifying age of onset rose from before 26 to before 46. For minors, custodial accounts under the Arkansas Uniform Transfers to Minors Act handle modest sums, bearing in mind that a gifted custodianship runs to age 21, and 529 accounts carry the state deduction. New federal children’s savings accounts from the 2025 tax legislation add a modest supplement, not a substitute for a trust. Trusts handle real wealth, since few parents intend an 18- or 21-year-old to receive an inheritance
outright. Without planning, property passing to minor land in a court-supervised guardianship of the estate with bonding and annual accountings, and courts must approve settlements involving minors. A funded trust avoids nearly all of it. 8.2 Appointment of a Guardian Guardianship requires a court proceeding and con - tinuing judicial supervision. Under Section 28-65-101 et seq of the Arkansas Code Annotated, the process involves a petition, professional evaluation of the respondent, notice, and a hearing with due process protections, and the court may appoint a guardian of the person or of the estate or both. The General Assembly overhauled the statute in 2025, raising the standard of proof for incapacity to clear and convinc - ing evidence, enhancing respondents’ procedural protections, and rewriting emergency and temporary guardianship procedures. Courts must consider less restrictive alternatives, and limited guardianships tai - lored to proven incapacity are preferred over general ones. Supervision continues for the life of the guardianship. Guardians of the estate are bonded and file annual accountings, and they need court authority for signifi - cant transactions involving the ward’s property. The proceeding is public and slow, and it costs far more than planning, which is the point worth making to cli - ents. A durable power of attorney, a funded revoca - ble trust, healthcare directives, and current beneficiary designations make most guardianships unnecessary. 8.3 Planning for Incapacity Arkansas adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, effective 2012, at Section 28-68-101 et seq of the Arkansas Code Annotated. Powers of attorney are durable by default, and agent duties are codified. The Act includes provisions encouraging third-party acceptance of the instrument. Authority for gifting and other estate planning actions must be granted expressly, which matters when a family wants to con - tinue annual exclusion gifts during a parent’s incapac - ity. Healthcare planning runs through the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act, Sections 20-6-101 to 20-6- 118 of the Arkansas Code Annotated, which governs
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