Arkansas Trust and Estate Accounting Requirements

Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.

Arkansas adopted the Uniform Trust Code as the Arkansas Trust Code, Chapter 73 of Title 28, and kept the uniform reporting section largely intact. Its reporting rules apply to irrevocable trusts created, and revocable trusts that become irrevocable, on or after September 1, 2005.

Who must provide an accounting in Arkansas

Section 28-73-813 requires the trustee to keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration and the material facts they need to protect their interests, and to respond promptly to a beneficiary's request for information unless that would be unreasonable. On request, the trustee furnishes a copy of the trust instrument.

Within 60 days after accepting a trusteeship, the trustee notifies the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee's name, address and telephone number. Within 60 days after learning that an irrevocable trust has been created, or that a revocable trust has become irrevocable, the trustee tells them of the trust's existence, the settlor's identity, their right to request a copy of the trust instrument, and their right to a trustee's report. The trustee also gives advance notice of any change in the method or rate of compensation.

The report goes at least annually and at termination to the distributees or permissible distributees of income or principal, and to any other beneficiary, qualified or not, who requests it. A beneficiary may waive reports and later withdraw the waiver.

What an Arkansas trust accounting must contain

The report covers the trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee's compensation, and a listing of the trust assets with market values if feasible. On a vacancy with no cotrustee remaining, the former trustee sends the report. A personal representative, conservator or guardian may send it for a trustee who has died or become incapacitated.

When an Arkansas accounting is contested

Section 28-73-1005 bars a proceeding for breach of trust more than one year after the beneficiary was sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim and told the beneficiary how long they had to bring it. A report discloses adequately if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the claim or should have inquired into it. Otherwise, the outer limit is five years from the first of the trustee's removal, resignation or death, the end of the beneficiary's interest, or the end of the trust.

How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps

We prepare Arkansas annual and termination reports under section 28-73-813, with the disclosure and deadline notice that start the section 28-73-1005 one-year period. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.

This page provides general information about Arkansas fiduciary accounting requirements and is not legal or tax advice. Statutes and court rules change. Verify the current text before relying on any of it, and consult counsel on questions of legal interpretation.

More: the uniform framework · all state pages · our services

Primary source: Arkansas Code Title 28, Chapter 73 (Arkansas Trust Code).

Written by Christina Gutman, C.P.A. — Founder and Principal of T.E.A. Fiduciary. Christina is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant by the State of California and has specialized exclusively in fiduciary accounting for over a decade, preparing trust, estate, and conservatorship accountings for law firms, professional fiduciaries, trust companies, family offices, and individual trustees nationwide. She has also served as a forensic consultant in contested accounting matters. More about Christina

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Kansas Trust and Estate Accounting Requirements