Ark. Code Ann. § 4-3-115 (2026)
Incomplete instrument
- “Incomplete instrument” means a signed writing, whether or not issued by the signer, the contents of which show at the time of signing that it is incomplete but that the signer intended it to be completed by the addition of words or numbers.
- Subject to subsection (c), if an incomplete instrument is an instrument under § 4-3-104, it may be enforced according to its terms if it is not completed, or according to its terms as augmented by completion. If an incomplete instrument is not an instrument under § 4-3-104, but, after completion, the requirements of § 4-3-104 are met, the instrument may be enforced according to its terms as augmented by completion.
- If words or numbers are added to an incomplete instrument without authority of the signer, there is an alteration of the incomplete instrument under § 4-3-407.
- The burden of establishing that words or numbers were added to an incomplete instrument without authority of the signer is on the person asserting the lack of authority.
History. Acts 1991, No. 572, § 5.
Case Notes
Authority.
Trial court properly determined that a decedent's companion did not convert the decedent's funds when she deposited a check into her account, as the decedent's estate failed to show that the check, which was an incomplete instrument under subsections (a) and (d) of this section, was completed without authority; as the change was deemed authorized, the check was not an altered instrument under § 4-3-407(a). Hankins v. Austin, 2012 Ark. App. 641, 425 S.W.3d 8 (2012).
Omissions.
A note was not incomplete merely because the amount of annual installment was left blank, but such omission simply indicates that annual installments were not contemplated and the entire amount of the note was due one year after the date. Bryan v. Bartlett, 435 F.2d 28 (8th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 915, 91 S. Ct. 1373, 28 L. Ed. 2d 658 (1971) (decision under prior law).