Settling Small Estates (TN)
In Tennessee, there are several ways to avoid full probate: limited letters of authority, muniment of title, or affidavit of heirship . Regardless of estate size, probate is not required if an estate contains only assets exempt from probate.
Limited Letters of Authority for Small Estates
If a Tennessee estate contains personal property worth <$50,000 in aggregate, you can use Limited Letters of Authority to settle the estate with almost no court involvement.
Requirements
To use the small estate process, the following conditions must be met:
- The estate's property subject to probate is worth <$50K in total
- At least 45 days have passed since the death
- No petition has already been made to the court to officially appoint a personal representative
In determining the value of the personal property, you should value assets as of the date of death, and ignore any unsecured debts. Do not include real estate, or any assets that would not normally go through probate, such as community property with right of survivorship, assets with named beneficiaries (e.g., 401Ks, life insurance policies), and other standard probate exclusions.
Process
To use the small estate process:
- Submit a petition to the court (see below)
- Obtain a probate bond equal to the value of the estate — even if there is a will and the will waives the requirement for a bond — unless petitioners are the sole people who will inherit, or all such adults agree to the petition in writing
- The court will then issue you Limited Letters of Authority
- Obtain possession of estate property by presenting a copy of these Letters to anyone currently in possession of the property (note that real estate cannot be transferred via this process)
- Settle the estate in the normal way (pay debts, distribute remaining assets), but do NOT publish a Notice to Creditors
- Your Letters will expire after 1 year, by which time you MUST have finished the process
Caution: When using this process, you are personally liable for the value of the estate for 1 year, so be sure to pay any estate creditors before making distributions (and note that any obligation to TennCare is not limited by the 1-year deadline)
Petition Contents
The form of the petition to the court is set by law, and is quite simple: see Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-4-103 (9).
The petition must include an itemized list of the property of the decedent to which the Limited Letters are to apply, the value of each item of property, the identity of each creditor of the decedent, and the amount owed to each identified creditor.
Some local courts have their own form for this, so you could check with the appropriate court if you like. For example, here is Davidson County Probate Court Small Estate Petition for use when there is no will.
When submitting the petition:
- If there is a will, attach the original will together with affidavits of the attesting witnesses or the affidavits of the two (2) disinterested persons attesting to the decedent's handwriting
- Attach the proof of probate bond or bond waivers
- Attach a certified copy of the death certificate
See Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-4-102 et seq.
Muniment of Title
A Muniment of Title is similar to Letters of Limited Authority, but has no limit on estate value, and can be used to transfer both real and personal property (although in practice it is primarily used for real property).
Requirements
You can use a Muniment of Title if a valid will exists.
Process
To settle an estate via a Muniment of Title:
- Submit to the court a Petition for Probate of Will for the purpose of establishing a Muniment of Title (see below)
- The court will schedule and hold a hearing to see if there are any objections, and issue an Order of Probate for Muniment of Title
- Use the certified Order to collect estate assets
- Settle the estate in the normal way (pay debts, distribute remaining assets)
Muniment of Title Application
Check with your local court (see below) to determine if they have a preferred application form, or you can create one yourself based on this example Petition for Probate of Will for Muniment of Title Hamilton County Form.
Attach a certified death certificate and the original will to the application.
See Tenn. Code Ann. § 32-2-111.
Affidavit of Heirship
Alternately, you can use an Affidavit of Heirship to lay claim to real property. This is typically used in the case where there is no will, and is not as strong as the other approaches mentioned on this page. The affidavit must be completed by a person who knew the decedent well, but who does not stand to inherit anything. Once the affidavit has been signed, notarized, and recorded in the deed records of the County, most title companies and real estate companies will allow the heirs to sell the property.
See Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-712.
Estate Settlement Considerations
Before paying any debts or making any distributions, be sure to account for any Family Entitlements in TN, which typically have priority over everything except expenses of the last illness, funeral charges, and any estate administrations expenses.
Even if the estate does not go through probate, you may still be entitled to TN Executor Compensation, and this compensation also has priority over most estate debts.
Estate debts have priority over most distributions in turn, so before distributing assets you should resolve any estate debts. If the estate makes any distributions beyond amounts set aside for family entitlements, unpaid creditors have the right to sue the recipients for repayment using those excess distributions. Consequently, even if the settlement process does not require you to publish a Notice to Creditors, you may want to follow TN probate rules for finding estate debts, since doing so may limit the time creditors have to pursue repayment.
If estate solvency is uncertain, an executor should consider going through official probate for the increased creditor protection it offers. Alternately, such uncertainty can sometimes persuade creditors to forgive a portion of debts, since they will want to avoid legal expenses as well, and may prefer to get something rather than nothing.
See also Making Distributions.
No Small Estate Affidavit
Many people ask about using a small estate affidavit without any court involvement, but TN replaced this approach with Limited Letters of Authority in 2023.
Court
In Tennessee, probate is normally handled by the Clerk and Master of the applicable Chancery Court (Tennessee's 95 counties are divided into 31 judicial districts, each with its own Chancery Court). If you are using EstateExec and you enter the decedent's county of legal residence on the Decedent tab, you will see a link to the appropriate court here.
Additional Information
If your estate doesn't qualify for a small estate approach, or you're simply interested in exploring standard probate, take a look at Probate in TN.
And since probate is just the court-supervised subset of winding up a person's affairs after death, you'll probably want to check out our Complete Guide to Estate Settlement in TN.
Finally, in case you're interested, details about handling small estates in other states can be found here: