Duty Law Blog

Clouded Title in Arkansas: What It Means and How a Quiet Title Action Clears the Air Picture this: you've found a buyer for a piece of land your family has owned for decades, or maybe you're finally ready to build on that lot you inherited from your grandfather. The deal is moving along nicely — until the title company sends back a report longer than the Sunday paper, flagging a lien nobody's heard of, a deed with a typo in the legal description, and an heir you didn't know e

Somewhere out there, a family is standing in a kitchen at 11pm, holding a stack of junk mail like it's a treasure map, whispering "I think Dad had a savings account somewhere?" I've seen families consider hiring a private investigator to track down assets nobody could locate. I've seen someone find important documents in a box that had, generously, seen better decades — cockroach eggs included. Neither of those families was disorganized or careless. They just never got the ch

If you've recently been told "you're the successor trustee now," and you're not entirely sure what that sentence means beyond "there's paperwork," you're in good company. Almost nobody grows up dreaming of becoming a Trustee. It just sort of happens to you. Here's the good news: trust administration is a process, not a mystery. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and thousands of people who've never taken a legal class in their life have successfully walked through it.

You know the story. Three little pigs, one big bad wolf, and a lot of huffing and puffing. It's a story about a properly built home and today we are going to use that story to go over a properly built estate plan in Arkansas. Somewhere out in the Arkansas countryside, three little pigs set out to build their own homes and, more importantly, protect themselves from a very determined predator named Wolf. Wolf isn't interested in eating the pigs out of malice. He's just doing hi

Nobody grows up dreaming of spending a year of their life shuffling paperwork through probate court. And yet here we are — because somewhere along the way, a lot of well-meaning people never got around to the five or six decisions that would have let their family skip that whole ordeal. Probate isn't evil. It's more like jury duty: not designed to ruin your life, but nobody's mad when they get to skip it. This guide walks through what probate actually is, when it's worth buil

Opening your mailbox to find a Notice of Real Estate Value Change can be a surprise—especially when the proposed increase is tens of thousands of dollars. The good news is that a higher appraised value does not always mean you'll immediately pay taxes on that higher amount. Arkansas law includes important constitutional protections for many homeowners. What Is Amendment 79? Arkansas voters adopted Amendment 79 to the Arkansas Constitution to help protect homeowners from drama

Your lawyer hasn't called you back. It's been two days. Maybe three. You've checked your phone enough times that your screen now unlocks itself out of sympathy. You've convinced yourself your attorney has: forgotten your case, taken an extended vacation, retired without telling anyone, or is hiding behind a large ficus every time your name appears on caller ID. As funny as those theories are, they're usually wrong. I'm an attorney, and let me tell you what is actually happeni

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Wealthy individuals have long used a variety of tools and strategies to pass on their assets to their heirs tax-free. One such tool that...

How to transfer $$ to your Kids Tax Free. In 2021, Bloomberg reported that billionaire Charles Schwab used a GRAT to transfer $2.7...

Probate is not the most recommended way to transfer property on death but it is very common. It often starts when a loved one passes away...

There are many legal loopholes and rules that lawyers must learn to provide you with the best outcome for your situation. For example,...

Estate Planning serves to cover the bases for you in transferring property in an unforeseen event or even death. For example, a full...

Lost money, property, and public notices of debts to name a few. Most DIY wills are invalid. Invalid wills are treated as if the person...

Many people think all they need is a will, and that perhaps its best just to write that one on their own. Unfortunately, its not that...