How Probate Works in Tennessee

1) File a verified petition for letters testamentary or letters of administration with the court exercising probate jurisdiction, with the will (if any), the heirs or beneficiaries, an estimate of the estate's value and information on the proposed personal representative. 2) Post bond unless excused, and receive letters. 3) Within 30 days after letters issue, the clerk publishes a notice to creditors in a county newspaper (two consecutive weekly notices). 4) Within 60 days the personal representative files an inventory (unless waived) and sends copies of the will or letters to beneficiaries or heirs. 5) Pay valid claims, expenses and taxes. 6) Distribute the remaining estate and make final settlement with the court.

Besides the $50,000 small estate procedure, any duly proven will may be admitted to probate only as a 'muniment of title' to real estate and personal property, without issuing letters testamentary or otherwise administering the estate. Personal representatives may also be excused from bond and from filing an inventory in some cases (for example, when the will waives them or all residuary beneficiaries agree).

Creditors must file claims with the probate court clerk within four months after the first publication (or posting) of the notice to creditors; a creditor who receives an actual copy of the notice less than 60 days before that four-month date has 60 days from receiving it. In all cases, claims not filed (or sued on) within 12 months after the date of death are forever barred.

A resident or nonresident individual may serve as personal representative of a decedent's estate. A nonresident fiduciary must first appoint the Tennessee Secretary of State in writing as agent for service of process (with a $10 filing fee). Bond is not required if the will waives it, if the personal representative is the sole beneficiary and the court approves, or if all beneficiaries are adults who consent in a sworn filing and the court approves; otherwise the bond must be at least the value of the estate being administered (and not more than double), with two or more sureties or one corporate surety.

Tennessee no longer uses a small estate affidavit; it uses a 'Small Estate Probate' procedure with limited letters. A small estate is one whose probate property does not exceed $50,000. Only personal property counts: real estate, property held jointly with right of survivorship or as tenants by the entirety, and property payable to a named beneficiary are not included. After 45 days from the death (the court may waive the wait for good cause), and if no regular administration has been opened, one or more competent adult heirs (or, if a will directs a different distribution, the person named as personal representative) file a sworn petition listing each item of property and its value and each creditor and the amount owed. A bond with a corporate surety equal to the property's value is required unless the petitioners are the sole heirs or beneficiaries or all adult heirs and beneficiaries consent in writing. No notice to creditors is published, and creditors may not file claims in the small estate proceeding. The limited letters stay open until their first anniversary, when the personal representative and surety are discharged.