"Buying a Home in Arkansas: Which Spouses Have to Sign at Closing Because of Dower and Curtesy?"

The title company in Fayetteville sends over the draft deed for the home you are buying, and there are two signature lines under the seller's name instead of one. The second line is for the seller's wife. She is not on the listing, she is not on your purchase contract, and the county records have never shown her as an owner. In Arkansas, her signature is still part of what makes the title yours.

In Arkansas, a married seller's spouse signs the deed to release dower or curtesy under Arkansas Code § 18-12-402, and on a homestead the deed is not valid unless that spouse joins, under § 18-12-403. Your own spouse may also sign the mortgage without being on the loan, so the lender holds a clean first lien. Both signatures get arranged before closing day, and this article shows you how.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, licensed in fifteen states, including Arkansas.

Dower and curtesy on the home you are buying in Arkansas

Dower and curtesy are interests a married person holds in real estate that belongs to their spouse. Dower is the wife's interest and curtesy is the husband's. Most states abolished both a long time ago. Arkansas kept them, and Arkansas Code § 28-11-301 and the sections around it still carry them forward: a surviving spouse takes dower or curtesy in the real and personal property of the spouse who died. I walked through the refinance side on the Arkansas cash-out refinance page; on a purchase, the same interest belongs to the seller's spouse.

The seller's spouse holds that interest right now, while both of them are living, even though it only pays out at death. So when a married person sells a home in Arkansas, their spouse's dower or curtesy is attached to that home, and it can follow the home to you. Stewart Title's underwriting manual lists Arkansas among the states where a surviving spouse's dower or curtesy can reach a home the other spouse sold, even to a buyer who paid full price, unless the survivor released it (Stewart Underwriting Manual, Dower and Curtesy). That is the whole reason the second signature line is on your deed.

Arkansas law says exactly how the interest gets released. Under § 18-12-402, a married person may relinquish dower or curtesy in the spouse's real estate by joining with the spouse in the deed, or by a separate acknowledged instrument executed to the spouse's grantee. You are the grantee. The Arkansas Supreme Court reads that statute strictly: in O'Marra v. MacKool (2005), a spouse acknowledging a deed without joining in it was held not enough. The signature has to be the spouse's own, on the deed or on a separate release.

The homestead rule adds a second reason the seller's spouse signs

Arkansas has a separate statute for the family home, and it is stricter. Arkansas Code § 18-12-403 says:

No conveyance, mortgage, or other instrument affecting the homestead of any married person shall be of any validity, except for taxes, laborers' and mechanics' liens, and purchase money, unless his or her spouse joins in the execution of the instrument, or conveys by separate document, and acknowledges it.

So if the seller lives in the home with their spouse, a deed without the spouse's signature is not valid at all. That is the level of problem a title company refuses to insure around, and it is why an Arkansas closer holds the closing until the seller's spouse has signed. The words "purchase money" in that list of exceptions matter on your side of the file, and I come back to them below.

The Arkansas title company's checklist on the seller's side

The examiner tracing the seller's ownership back through earlier deeds (the chain of title) works from the Arkansas Bar Association's Standards for Examination of Real Estate Titles. Three parts of the 2021 edition explain what will land on your title commitment (Chapter 7, Marital Status and Chapter 4, Conveyances).

The deed states whether the seller is married. You will see "a married person" or "an unmarried person" right after the seller's name. The title examiner can rely on that statement when nothing in the record suggests otherwise (Standards 7.1 and 4.2).

A missing statement gets proved. If an earlier deed in the seller's chain does not say whether the seller was married, and it was recorded in the last seven years, the title company fills that gap with an affidavit or a public record. In practice that is usually a marital status affidavit signed at closing.

A married seller's spouse signs too. If the seller was married, the examiner looks for the spouse's signature on the deed or on a separate release, and on a home the couple lives in, that signature is required. Standard 4.2 confirms the two spouses may sign separate documents and the transfer is still valid.

All of that lands on Schedule B, Part I of your title commitment as a requirement. Reading the commitment and sorting a requirement from an exception is its own article, and the examiner is also running the owner of record check that confirms the seller actually holds title. Arkansas title agents may fill in blanks on lawyer-approved forms and may not advise you, as the Arkansas mortgage page explains, so an unusual marital picture (a separation, a death) is a question for an Arkansas attorney.

The seller's spouse cannot come to closing

Arkansas law gives three workable routes.

A separate instrument. Section 18-12-402 allows the release by a separate instrument executed to the grantee, and Standard 4.2 confirms that separate instruments from each spouse work on a homestead as well. The spouse signs their own release before a notary, and the closer records it with the deed.

An attorney-in-fact. Arkansas Code § 18-12-503 allows appointing an agent to relinquish all rights and possibility of dower, curtesy and homestead to a spouse's buyer, tenant or lender. A power of attorney written for this purpose, signed and acknowledged by the absent spouse ahead of time, lets someone else sign the release at the table. Arkansas practice is to record the power of attorney along with the deed, so the closer needs the original.

Remote online notarization. Arkansas authorized it under Act 1047 of 2021, and an Arkansas eNotary can notarize through an approved provider while the signer is out of state. The Arkansas page covers the details, and lender and title acceptance for your particular file still has to be confirmed.

Every one of those routes is simple with a few weeks of notice and difficult with a few days. The seller's side owns this task, and you can still ask through your own agent the week the contract is signed: is the seller married, and will the spouse be at closing or signing separately? The answer tells the closer which route to set up.

Your own spouse and the mortgage: signing without borrowing

Now the other side of the table. Suppose you are buying the home in your own name, on your own income, and your spouse is not on the loan. In Arkansas, your spouse may still be asked to sign the mortgage. FHA's handbook puts it plainly in HUD Handbook 4000.1, Section II.A.1.b, General Mortgage Insurance Eligibility, revised 06/27/2025:

If necessary to perfect a valid first lien under state law, the Mortgagee must require a non-borrowing spouse to execute either the security instrument or documentation indicating that they are relinquishing all rights to the Property.

Conventional lenders reach the same place through the title company's closing instructions.

Section 18-12-403 carves "purchase money" out of the homestead rule, so the mortgage that buys the home is treated differently from a later refinance on the homestead question. Dower and curtesy are a separate interest, and § 18-12-503 names the lender as one of the parties a spouse can release them to. Stewart's Arkansas practice guidance says a spouse who is not on title should always join to release dower, curtesy and homestead. The exception is when you and your spouse take title together as joint tenants with right of survivorship, meaning you both own the home and it passes to whichever of you survives the other (Arkansas Real Estate Practices). So you should plan for your spouse's signature on the mortgage, and the title company will tell us whether it is required on your file.

Signing the mortgage is a different act from signing the note. The note is the promise to repay, and only the person on the loan signs it. The mortgage attaches the loan to the home, and a spouse signing only the mortgage is consenting to the home being used as collateral and releasing their marital rights to the lender. Your spouse is not underwritten, and their income and debts stay out of your qualifying. Arkansas is not a community property state, so the FHA rule that pulls a non-borrowing spouse's credit report, in Section II.A.4.b of the handbook, does not apply here. The general version of this question, across all fifteen states, explains why Arkansas is in the dower and curtesy group.

The steps, in the order I would take them

1. At application, please let me know whether you are married, and whether your spouse will be on the loan, on the title, or neither. That one sentence tells me which signatures your closing will need.
2. The week the contract is signed, please ask through your agent whether the seller is married and whether the spouse will sign. The listing side then knows the deed needs two signatures.
3. Please send me the fully signed purchase contract, all pages and any addenda, the day it is signed. The title order goes in right away. That same contract also settles who pays the Arkansas transfer tax at closing.
4. When the title commitment arrives, we read it together. We look for the line stating the seller's marital status and any requirement that the seller's spouse sign. If the seller's spouse is out of state, this is the week the power of attorney or the remote signing gets set up.
5. A few days before closing, the closer and I make sure every signer is scheduled, including your spouse if the title company has asked for the mortgage signature.

The mistakes that cost time on this signature

Assuming the deed only needs the name on the county record. In Arkansas a married seller's spouse signs even when they have never been on title, because dower, curtesy and homestead rights attach during the marriage.

Your spouse hearing "you need to sign" and assuming "you now owe the money." They are signing the mortgage and not the note, and explaining that before the signing table keeps the appointment calm.

An illustration, with invented details

The names and facts below are made up to show how the signatures work.

Say you are buying a home in Conway from Robert, the only owner on the county record. Robert is married to Dana, who has never been on title, and the home is where they live. The draft deed recites that Robert is "a married person," and Dana's name appears in a relinquishment paragraph below Robert's granting language, releasing her dower and homestead rights to you as grantee. Both of them sign before a notary, and the title policy issues without an exception for Dana.

Now change one fact. Dana took a job in Dallas and cannot be in Conway on closing day, so the seller's attorney prepares a separate acknowledged instrument releasing her rights to you. She signs it in Texas, the original comes back by courier, and the closer records it with Robert's deed. You still get clean title, with one extra document that was set up in the second week of the contract rather than the last.

On your side of the same closing, you are the only person on the loan, and the closing instructions ask your spouse Michael to sign the mortgage. He signs that and nothing else.

Your next step in Arkansas

If you are shopping in Arkansas, you can see pricing for your own scenario with no credit pull, no account and nobody calling you. You choose the rate option that works best for you, and the selection can change as your situation does.

Once you are ready to put an offer in front of a seller, get pre-approved for an Arkansas mortgage. I will review your income, debts, credit and available funds, and the marital status question gets answered on day one.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial, a commitment to lend, or legal advice. Dower, curtesy and homestead rights are legal questions under Arkansas law, and whether they apply to a particular home, marriage or power of attorney is a question for an Arkansas attorney rather than a lender. Final approval depends on the property, the appraisal and full underwriting.

Common questions

Does the seller's spouse have to sign the deed in Arkansas?

Yes, when the seller is married, even if the spouse has never been on title. Arkansas Code § 18-12-402 provides that a married person relinquishes dower or curtesy in the spouse's real estate by joining in the deed or by a separate acknowledged instrument executed to the grantee. If the home is the seller's homestead, § 18-12-403 says the deed is not valid unless the spouse joins in it or conveys by separate document.

What are dower and curtesy in Arkansas?

They are interests a married person holds in the real estate of their spouse. Dower is the wife's interest and curtesy is the husband's. Arkansas Code § 28-11-301 and the sections around it carry them forward, so a surviving spouse takes dower or curtesy in the property of the spouse who died. The interest attaches during the marriage, which is why the seller's spouse releases it when the home is sold.

What happens if the seller's spouse cannot attend the closing in Arkansas?

Arkansas law provides three routes. The spouse can sign a separate instrument releasing dower, curtesy and homestead to the grantee, which § 18-12-402 allows and which the Arkansas title standards accept on a homestead as well. The spouse can appoint an attorney-in-fact under § 18-12-503 to relinquish those rights, with the power of attorney recorded along with the deed. Or the spouse can sign through remote online notarization under Act 1047 of 2021.

Does my spouse have to sign the mortgage in Arkansas if they are not on the loan?

Often, and the title company's closing instructions decide it for your file. FHA's handbook requires your spouse to sign the mortgage, or a document giving up their rights to the home, when state law needs it for the lender to hold a valid first lien. Arkansas Code § 18-12-503 names the lender as a party a spouse can relinquish dower, curtesy and homestead to. Signing the mortgage does not put your spouse on the note, so they are not underwritten.