Administration of Estates

  1. Law
  2. Tennessee Code
  3. Clerks of Courts
  4. County Clerks
  5. Administration of Estates

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    1. Notwithstanding any law or public, private, special or local act to the contrary, no county clerk shall serve as clerk of a court with probate jurisdiction. In any county in which the county clerk is performing this function, the duties as to administration of estates and guardian appointments shall be vested in either the clerk of the court with probate jurisdiction or the clerk and master. In any county in which the county clerk is the only clerk of the court with probate jurisdiction, these duties shall be transferred to the clerk and master.
      1. Subdivision (a)(1) shall not apply in counties having a population, according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census, of:

        not less than  nor more than

        44,200 44,300

        71,100 71,200

      2. In the counties listed in subdivision (a)(2)(A), the county clerk shall continue to serve as clerk of the court with probate jurisdiction and the clerk shall continue to exercise the same powers and duties as it exercised on June 30, 2003.
    3. Subdivision (a)(1) shall not apply in counties having a population, according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census, of:

      not less than  nor more than

      12,800 12,900

      27,100 27,200

      43,100 43,200

      62,300 62,400

      182,000 182,100

    4. Effective July 1, 2014, in counties having a population of not less than forty-one thousand (41,000) nor more than forty-one thousand one hundred (41,100), according to the 2010 federal census or any subsequent federal census, all clerical duties and responsibilities for the probate court currently exercised by the circuit court clerk shall transfer to the clerk and master. On such date, the clerk and master shall assume all duties and responsibilities with respect to the administration of estates, guardian appointments and other probate matters. All probate files, records and other documents maintained for the probate court in such counties shall be transferred to the custody of the clerk and master.
  2. The clerk of the court having probate jurisdiction has the following duties as to the administration of estates:
    1. Administer to every administrator or executor an oath to perform the will of the deceased, or for the faithful performance of the administrator's or executor's duty; provided, that in the alternative, the oath of the administrator or executor may be sworn or affirmed in the presence of a notary public and the acknowledgment of the representative's oath, when certified by the notary public, shall be presented to the appropriate clerk;
    2. Except as provided in § 30-1-201, take from every such representative a bond, with two (2) or more able sureties, or one (1) corporate surety, in an amount not exceeding double the value of the estate and not less than the value of the estate, payable to the state of Tennessee, conditioned as is shown in § 30-1-203;
    3. Issue to the representative letters of administration or testamentary, authorizing the representative to administer the estate of the deceased;
    4. Receive of every administrator or executor the inventory the administrator or executor may return of the decedent's estate, and cause the administrator or executor to verify it by the administrator's or executor's oath, and present the inventory to the court;
    5. Record the inventory, if it be found regular by the court, in the book of inventories;
    6. Receive from every personal representative the personal representative's account of sales, and cause the personal representative to verify the account of sales by the personal representative's oath, and present the account of sales to the court, and record the account of sales if the court finds the account of sales regular;
    7. Take and state, once every year, in vacation, at the clerk's office, the accounts of every personal representative of any deceased person, after the lapse of fifteen (15) months from the personal representative's qualification;
    8. Compel the accounting party, by subpoena, to come before the clerk once every year for the purpose of settling the accounting party's accounts;
    9. Present to the court, in writing, the names of those personal representatives and guardians who refuse to answer the subpoena, or who fail to settle; and also the names of the minors in their county, of the clerk's knowledge, whose guardians are in default, and the sureties of whose guardians are dead, removed out of the state or become insolvent;
    10. Examine the accounting party, when it seems necessary, upon oath, touching the accounting party's receipts and disbursements;
    11. Continue the settlement, from time to time, on cause shown by affidavit;
    12. Charge such party with all such sums as the party has received or might have received by using due diligence; and credit such party with such disbursements as the party supports by lawful vouchers, and with a reasonable compensation for the party's services;
    13. Report the account to the next court having probate jurisdiction for confirmation or rejection;
    14. Record the settlement when it is finally adjusted by the court;
    15. Serve every party, resident in the clerk's county, that is interested in the account, or the agent or attorney of such as reside elsewhere, with five (5) days' notice of taking such account, and take no account of any administration until such notice has been given;
    16. Record all refunding bonds lodged with the clerk by any personal representative, taken from distributees, and file and preserve the originals in the clerk's office; and
    17. Perform all the duties required of the clerk in the administration of insolvent estates of deceased persons.
  3. In counties having a population of not less than thirty-nine thousand fifty (39,050) nor more than thirty-nine thousand one hundred fifty (39,150), according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census, the circuit court clerk, who also serves as the general sessions court clerk, shall serve as the clerk of the court with probate jurisdiction in any such counties.

Code 1858, § 4069 (deriv. Acts 1789, ch. 23, § 3; 1813, ch. 120, § 4; 1831, ch. 29, § 2; 1837-1838, ch. 125, §§ 1-4; 1851-1852, ch. 180, § 1; 1851-1852, ch. 215, § 2); Shan., § 5884; Code 1932, § 10084; modified; impl. am. Acts 1978, ch. 934, §§ 22, 36; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 18-604; modified; Acts 1983, ch. 55, § 2; 1985, ch. 140, § 4; 1993, ch. 449, § 1; 2003, ch. 310, §§ 2, 6-10; 2004, ch. 463, § 1; 2005, ch. 24, §§ 1, 2; 2005, ch. 115, § 1; 2006, ch. 528, § 1; 2011, ch. 417, § 1; 2012, ch. 654, § 1; 2014, ch. 756, § 1.

Compiler's Notes. For table of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement.


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