(a)(1) If a person dies leaving a surviving spouse and no children, the surviving spouse shall be endowed in fee simple of one-half (½) of the real estate of which the deceased person died seized when the estate is a new acquisition and not an ancestral estate and of one-half (½) of the personal estate, absolutely, and in his or her own right, as against collateral heirs.(2) However, as against creditors, the surviving spouse shall be invested with one-third (1/3) of the real estate in fee simple if a new acquisition, and not ancestral, and of one-third (1/3) of the personal property absolutely.(b) If the real estate of the deceased person is an ancestral estate, the surviving spouse shall be endowed in a life estate of one-half (½) of the estate as against collateral heirs and one-third (1/3) as against creditors.Rev. Stat., ch. 52, § 21; Acts 1891, No. 65, § 1; C. & M. Dig., § 3536; Pope's Dig., § 4421; Acts 1981, No. 714, § 23; A.S.A. 1947, § 61-206.
Arkansas Legal Code