Arkansas Surplus Funds Laws
How mortgage foreclosure surplus, tax sale surplus and unclaimed funds work in Arkansas.
Mortgage foreclosure surplus
Ark. Code Ann. § 18-50-109 expressly governs proceeds of a statutory foreclosure: sale expenses, debt, later recorded liens by priority, then surplus to the grantor or entitled successor. Title 18, Chapter 50 supplies the nonjudicial procedure. Judicial foreclosure redemption is addressed in § 18-49-106. Section 18-50-109 states no fixed deadline for a grantor to submit a surplus claim; the trustee or mortgagee must apply proceeds in the statutory order. A statutory foreclosure creates no implied redemption right under § 18-50-116. After a judicial foreclosure, § 18-49-106 allows the mortgagor one year from sale to redeem, but the right may be waived in the mortgage or deed of trust. That is a property-redemption period, not a surplus claim period.
Tax sale surplus
Ark. Code Ann. § 26-37-205 and 26 CAR §§ 400-401–400-403 govern excess proceeds from Commissioner of State Lands tax sales. The Commissioner holds the former owner’s remainder after statutory distributions; the governing procedure is statewide, not an ordinary county-held overbid process. The Commissioner holds excess proceeds in escrow for one year before the former record owner may apply. For parcels sold after July 1, 2018, funds remain available for two years; for sales after July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2018, the published claim period was three years. After the applicable period, unclaimed funds return to the county. These are excess-claim periods, separate from pre-sale redemption.
Unclaimed funds
Arkansas Unclaimed Property Act, Ark. Code Ann. §§ 18-28-201 et seq.; initial owner claims are governed by § 18-28-215 and current Auditor of State administrative rules. Section 18-28-215 states no fixed cutoff for an owner to submit an initial claim to the Auditor. The administrator must allow or deny a filed claim within 90 days and generally pay or deliver an allowed claim within 30 days. A denial may be addressed by a new claim or an action under § 18-28-216.
Fee and practice notes
No fee limit reported for mortgage foreclosure surplus; tax overages are reported as capped at 10%.
Statute text
Links to the statutes referenced in our research. These may be third-party copies of older code editions, so check the current official code before relying on them.
