Tennessee Probate Guide
County-specific probate filing-office contacts, filing fees, required forms, and step-by-step guidance for families settling an estate in Tennessee.
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Types of Probate in Tennessee
Tennessee offers several probate procedures depending on estate value and circumstances. Attorney requirements vary by probate type and local practice.
See the full comparison of Tennessee probate typesWhich procedures exist, who qualifies, and how the timelines compare.Find your county
Tennessee Probate Filing Offices by County
Choose your county to get its probate court contacts, filing fees, and required forms. 95 counties have detailed data.
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Tennessee Probate Guides
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Browse Tennessee guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Browse Tennessee guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Probate Basics
2Executor Duties
5Taxes & Deadlines
8- Tennessee Probate Timeline
- How to Contest a Will in Tennessee
- Tennessee and the Federal Estate Tax
- Tennessee Family Allowance: A Year's Support During Probate
- Tennessee Intestate Succession: Who Inherits Without a Will
- Tennessee Notice to Creditors and Estate Claims
- Tennessee Probate Bond Requirements: When Executors Must Post Bond
- Tennessee Step-Up in Basis Guide
Planning Documents
7Property Transfer
3Avoiding Probate
1Tennessee Probate Self-Help and Online Resources
Tennessee probate resource map by source type
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
All Tennessee self-help resources (11 links)Official court, form, law-library, referral, and legal-education links, plus how to use each source
Tennessee probate source navigation starts with state court, form, agency, legal-help, or referral links that are already tracked in Settled state data. These links are state-level starting points, not county-specific filing instructions.
Which Tennessee probate source should you use?
- Start with the state court, form, or self-help source for general Tennessee probate context.
- Use county filing-office, clerk, register, or court pages for local filing locations, local forms, fee schedules, and records portals.
- Use legal-help, law-library, or referral links as research or referral paths, not as a substitute for counsel.
- Verify current filing steps with the county office, court, clerk, register, legal-aid source, or counsel before filing.
Statewide process, forms, and code sources
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
- Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, Self-Help Center
The judiciary's self-help service. It does NOT cover probate: its guides are divorce, order of protection, general sessions civil, expungement and parenting plans. Useful to an executor for its find-a-lawyer and courthouse-locator paths rather than for estate procedure; the filing office itself is listed separately below.
- Tennessee courts, find a courthouse
The judiciary's courthouse locator, which is how to confirm where an estate is opened when the local court's address is not obvious.
- Tennessee Department of Health, Office of Vital Records
How to order a certified Tennessee death certificate and who may request one. Nearly every asset transfer starts with certified copies. The root redirects to the help-centre path.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue, inheritance tax
The department's own page on Tennessee inheritance tax, which matters mainly for confirming the dates it stopped applying to.
- Tennessee Department of Revenue, title and registration
Vehicle title and registration requirements, which is the path a vehicle takes when its owner has died.
- Division of TennCare, estate recovery
The official page for TennCare estate recovery, a claim the state may bring against the estate of someone who received TennCare benefits.
- Tennessee Health Facilities Commission, advance directives and POST
The state's own questions and answers on advance directives and the POST form, for the planning side of the same conversation.
County filing-office sources
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
- Tennessee courts, clerks directory
The statewide directory of court clerks and clerks and master. Tennessee probate is administered locally, so this is the office that actually accepts an estate filing.
Referral-navigation sources
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
- Help4TN
Free legal help information and a helpline run by the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services, covering civil matters including estates.
- Tennessee courts, guide to free or reduced-rate legal services
The judiciary's own directory of free and reduced-rate legal help across Tennessee, organised by region.
- Tennessee Bar Association
The state bar association, whose public pages carry its lawyer-finding and public-education material.
Settled pairs these Tennessee source links with county pages, forms, first-step guides, transfer guides, and source notes so families can move from statewide context to the local office that handles the estate.
Tennessee Estate Law Overview
Tennessee Estate Tax Info
Tennessee has no state estate tax, no state inheritance tax, and no general state income tax. The former Tennessee inheritance tax was fully repealed for deaths on or after January 1, 2016, and the Hall income tax on interest and dividends was fully repealed effective January 1, 2021.
Federal estate tax info
Federal estate tax only applies to estates exceeding $15,000,000 (2026).
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Intestate succession determines who receives probate property when a Tennessee resident dies without a valid will.
View spouse inheritance rules
Under Tenn. Code Ann. 31-2-104(a)(1), if there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the surviving spouse receives the entire intestate estate.
Under Tenn. Code Ann. 31-2-104(a)(2), if there are surviving issue, the surviving spouse takes either one-third (1/3) of the entire intestate estate or a child's share, whichever is greater. A child's share is computed by counting the spouse as one share alongside the children (for example, with two children the spouse counts as a third taker and receives 1/3; with three children the spouse takes the greater of 1/3 or 1/4, which is 1/3).
View order of inheritance (no spouse)
- 1Issue (children and their descendants)The share not passing to a surviving spouse, or all if no spouse
- 2Parents (parent or parents equally)If there is no surviving issue, the estate passes to the decedent's parent or parents equally
- 3Brothers and sisters and the issue of each deceased brother and sisterIf there is no surviving issue or parent, the estate passes to the decedent's brothers and sisters and the issue of any deceased brother or sister by representation
- 4Grandparents and more remote next of kinIf there is no surviving issue, parent, or descendant of a parent, the estate passes one-half to the paternal and one-half to the maternal grandparents and their issue under the next-of-kin rules
Tennessee Homestead Protection
Tennessee homestead protection is a limited statutory creditor exemption, not an unlimited constitutional homestead system. Under Tenn. Code Ann. 26-2-301 the basic homestead exemption is $35,000 for an individual homeowner and $52,500 in the aggregate for individuals who jointly own and use the property as their principal residence. Larger amounts apply to certain older or dependent-supporting homeowners. On death, the homestead inures to the surviving spouse for life and then to the decedent's minor children.
0Creditor protection: read the statute text
$35,000 for a single homeowner; $52,500 aggregate for joint owners using the property as their principal residence (for claims/deaths on or after January 1, 2022). See amount_bands for prior-law figures.
Statute: Tenn. Code Ann. 26-2-301
Size limits & qualifications
Inside city limits: No acreage split modeled
Outside city limits: No acreage split modeled
Property types: Principal residence (real property), Manufactured home used as a principal residence, where applicable
Restrictions on leaving homestead in will
With spouse, no minor children:
No Florida-style homestead devise restriction. A surviving spouse has a homestead right for life (Tenn. Code Ann. 31-1-104) plus separate elective-share, exempt-property, and year's-support rights; review each separately.
With minor children:
On the surviving spouse's death (or where there is no surviving spouse), the homestead passes to the decedent's minor children until they reach majority (Tenn. Code Ann. 31-1-104; 30-2-201 et seq.).
Exempt Property
Tennessee provides estate allowances for surviving spouses and unmarried minor children (exempt property, a year's support allowance, and a homestead right) and separate creditor exemptions for debtor property under Title 26. These protections are limited and source-specific.