How to fill out Arkansas 10-306

Arkansas's short road through an unadministered estate. When someone dies leaving a vehicle, no probate is open, and no will is headed to probate, the sole heirs at law state exactly that on this one page - said decedent's estate has not been administered, and that if he left a will it has not, and probably will not be admitted to probate - identify the decedent's vehicles, and by mutual agreement consent and direct that the vehicle be the property of and titled in the name of whoever the family has settled on. DFA's registration checklist pairs it with the death certificate, and where an estate has an appointed representative the letters testamentary route replaces it.

Written against 10-306 (5/8/03), issued under Ark. Code Ann. Title 27, Chapter 14. The recital is sworn language about the estate's whole posture - no administration, no will headed to probate. If there is any real prospect of the will being admitted, wait: an affidavit whose premise collapses leaves the vehicle's title clouded at exactly the moment a buyer is trying to register it.

Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank 10-306 from the dfa.arkansas.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our 10-306 guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.

Every line, in the order you meet it

1. 1
   You fill this in

   Date, and the decedent's name

   Today's date in the opening blanks and the deceased's name exactly as their title spells it.

   Watch out: The estate's paperwork - death certificate, title, this affidavit - should agree on the name letter for letter. Match the title, not the obituary.

2. 2
   You fill this in

   Confirm the recital is true

   The printed premise: estate not administered, any will not admitted to probate and probably never will be.

   Watch out: This is the fork in the road. An opened probate means letters testamentary do this job instead, and the checklist accepts either - but not a mixture.

3. 3
   You fill this in

   The vehicle table

   Year, make, model, body style and VIN for each vehicle the estate holds, one per row.

   Watch out: Take the VINs from the titles or registrations in the decedent's papers. Every vehicle listed here can move on this single affidavit.

4. 4
   You fill this in

   Who the vehicles go to

   The name the heirs direct the property to be titled in - an heir, or a purchaser the family has agreed to sell to.

   Watch out: Title it to one heir first when the plan is to sell later: a straightforward seller with a clean title is an easier sale than an estate mid-story.

5. 5
   You fill this in

   Every heir signs

   The execution block, dated, with the signature of each sole heir at law.

   Watch out: Mutual agreement means all of them, gathered or by mail. Then the affidavit travels to the Revenue Office with the death certificate and the decedent's title - and a bill of sale too, if the named person is buying rather than inheriting.

What gets this one rejected

• •An estate that is actually in probate. The affidavit's own recital - not administered, will not admitted - stops being true the day a court opens the file, and the personal representative's letters take over from there.
• •A missing heir. It is the instrument of the sole heirs at law, plural where there are several, and by mutual agreement means every one signs - an heir left off can undo the transfer later.
• •Filing it without the death certificate. DFA's checklist pairs Affidavit of Inheritance/Letters of Testamentary with the death certificate in the same breath.
• •Using it to skip a surviving co-owner. A vehicle titled to husband OR wife already belongs to the survivor's signature; this affidavit is for vehicles stranded in the decedent's sole name.
• •Directing the vehicle to a buyer while pretending otherwise. The direct-titling blank can name a purchaser, but the price then belongs on a bill of sale beside it - the affidavit moves title, it does not launder consideration.

Rules that decide whether it is accepted

• •Consideration is acknowledged, not stated. The printed words - by mutual agreement, consideration for which is hereby acknowledged - let the family's own arrangement stand without itemising it. What the Revenue Office needs priced is any onward sale, on its bill of sale.
• •One filing, several vehicles. The table rows exist because estates own trucks and trailers as well as the car; listing them together keeps the heirs from swearing the same recital three times.

Every line here was read off 10-306 (5/8/03) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Motor Vehicle pages. This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ, theirs governs.

Back to all Arkansas seller paperwork, or what selling a car in Arkansas involves.