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Tennessee timeline

Tennessee probate timeline: the 45-day wait and creditor deadlines

The simplified route starts 45 days after death.

That clock is one condition among several, and it is not the whole estate timeline. The deadlines that carry the most risk are creditor deadlines, and in Tennessee they are set out below against the event each one runs from.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.

The one date this page can source

The small estate probate — petition for limited letters of administration/testamentary (tenn. code ann. tit. 30, ch. 4, "the small estate probate act," enacted by 2023 pub. ch. 297) route requires 45 days to elapse from the date of death. This is a precondition: the affidavit or petition cannot be presented before it runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.

Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 30, Chapter 4, is amended by deleting the chapter and substituting: 30-4-101. This chapter is known and may be cited as "The Small Estate Probate Act."Tenn. Pub. Ch. 297 (2023) (HB 337; Tenn. Code Ann. tit. 30, ch. 4) — Tennessee Secretary of State; PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 297.

Creditor deadlines

Tennessee does not run one creditor clock. Separate periods start from separate events, and the date that actually bars a claim is the one the applicable period produces. They are listed here against the event that starts each, because a period attached to the wrong starting event is how a deadline gets missed by weeks.

From publication of notice to creditors
Four months from first publication of notice to creditors (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-307; general text not verifiably harvested this session).
From actual notice to a known creditor
Shorter of the general period or a period running from the date actual notice was received (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-307).
Outer limit, running from death
For the Bureau of TennCare: the earlier of twelve (12) months from the decedent’s date of death or four (4) months from the date the bureau received the notice to creditors (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310 as amended by Pub. Ch. 102 (2021)).

How these combine. Tennessee runs multiple separately-triggered claim deadlines that cannot be collapsed: a four-month period from first publication of the notice to creditors and an actual-notice period (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 30-2-306, 30-2-307), the ultimate bar (§ 30-2-310(a)-(b)), and the TennCare-specific limits (§ 30-2-310(c)). Only the TennCare framework (Pub. Ch. 102 (2021), which merely ADDS § 30-2-310(c)) was machine-harvestable; the general publication/actual-notice bar in §§ 30-2-306/307/310(a)-(b) lives in the Lexis-locked code and no enacted Public Chapter restating it was located across GA 100–114.

Twelve (12) months from the decedent's date of death; or (B) Four (4) months from the date when the bureau received the notice to creditorsTenn. Pub. Ch. 102 (2021) (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310) — Tennessee Secretary of State; This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it..

Publishing notice starts a period after which most claims are barred. Missing a required notice can extend the estate’s exposure and, in some circumstances, the personal exposure of the person administering it. Confirm the dates that apply to this estate with the Chancery Court (Probate Court in Davidson and Shelby Counties) before relying on them, because a specific case can carry deadlines these general provisions do not reach.

The Tennessee creditor period is not restated here

Tennessee’s notice-to-creditors and claim-limitation provisions are in Title 30, Chapter 2. As with the rest of the Tennessee Code Annotated, the text is not served by a state-run host: the advertised free access route returns a JavaScript shell rather than the section.

Creditor deadlines are the highest-consequence figures on this site. Getting one wrong by a month can expose the person administering the estate personally, so a period that could not be read from the code is not published here in any form.

The structure of the question is still worth knowing even without the Tennessee numbers: a claim period usually runs from a published notice, a separately served notice can create its own later window, and an outer limit measured from the date of death sits behind both. Which of those controls is the thing the statute decides.

For a live estate, the clerk of the probate court in the county of venue and the notice actually published in that county are the authoritative record of the dates that apply.

Authority that would settle this: Tenn. Code Ann. tit. 30, ch. 2 (notice to creditors; claims). The access attempt described above was made on 2026-09-17. Nothing is quoted from it, because nothing could be read from it; a figure restated from a secondary summary would look like a sourced answer without being one.

Tennessee timeline decision map

What must be established before the Tennessee clock matters

The Tennessee waiting period is only one condition. Use this map to separate the route clock from creditor deadlines, asset scope, court costs, and the documents needed to move from screening to filing.

QuestionRecorded Tennessee answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Small estate probate — petition for limited letters of administration/testamentary (Tenn. Code Ann. tit. 30, ch. 4, "The Small Estate Probate Act," enacted by 2023 Pub. Ch. 297)Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?personal probate property only; gross value for this route.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$50,000Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?45 days after death; Tennessee runs multiple separately-triggered claim deadlines that cannot be collapsed: a four-month period from first publication of the notice to creditors and an actual-notice period (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 30-2-306, 30-2-307), the ultimate bar (§ 30-2-310(a)-(b)), and the TennCare-specific limits (§ 30-2-310(c)). Only the TennCare framework (Pub. Ch. 102 (2021), which merely ADDS § 30-2-310(c)) was machine-harvestable; the general publication/actual-notice bar in §§ 30-2-306/307/310(a)-(b) lives in the Lexis-locked code and no enacted Public Chapter restating it was located across GA 100–114.Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.Ask the Chancery Court (Probate Court in Davidson and Shelby Counties) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?No compensation amount is recorded here: Tennessee has no statutory percentage schedule; the personal representative receives reasonable compensation fixed by the court. The section named in the task, Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-323, was verified (Justia discovery) to govern 'advances for property maintenance expenses' (Acts 1997, ch. 426), NOT compensation — so it must not be cited for the compensation standard. No enacted Public Chapter restating a Tennessee PR-compensation standard was located (GA 100–114), and the codified provisions are LexisNexis-only, so the operative standard is not quoted from a verified primary source and is recorded as UNKNOWN.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Clock ledger

Do not compress the Tennessee deadlines into one date

The Tennessee record names separate triggers. The description beside each trigger is the source-bound statement to carry into the estate calendar; the interaction rule explains which period controls when more than one applies.

Clock starts withRecorded periodSource
Publication of noticeFour months from first publication of notice to creditors (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-307; general text not verifiably harvested this session).Tenn. Pub. Ch. 102 (2021) (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310)
Actual notice to a known creditorShorter of the general period or a period running from the date actual notice was received (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-307).Tenn. Pub. Ch. 102 (2021) (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310)
Outer limit from deathFor the Bureau of TennCare: the earlier of twelve (12) months from the decedent’s date of death or four (4) months from the date the bureau received the notice to creditors (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310 as amended by Pub. Ch. 102 (2021)).Tenn. Pub. Ch. 102 (2021) (Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-310)

How the periods combine: Tennessee runs multiple separately-triggered claim deadlines that cannot be collapsed: a four-month period from first publication of the notice to creditors and an actual-notice period (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 30-2-306, 30-2-307), the ultimate bar (§ 30-2-310(a)-(b)), and the TennCare-specific limits (§ 30-2-310(c)). Only the TennCare framework (Pub. Ch. 102 (2021), which merely ADDS § 30-2-310(c)) was machine-harvestable; the general publication/actual-notice bar in §§ 30-2-306/307/310(a)-(b) lives in the Lexis-locked code and no enacted Public Chapter restating it was located across GA 100–114.

Case-file context

Keep the Tennessee answer with its neighboring conditions

A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Tennessee descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.

Route context

Tennessee's small-estate procedure is governed by "The Small Estate Probate Act" (Tenn. Code Ann. tit. 30, ch. 4), which 2023 Pub. Ch. 297 substituted in place of the former affidavit route. For personal-property-only estates of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or less, a competent adult heir (or named executor) petitions the Chancery/Probate Court 45 days after death for limited letters of administration/testamentary of a small estate. Filing fees are county-clerk fees and vary; executor compensation is reasonable compensation set by the court.

Tennessee's small-estate procedure was REPLACED by 2023 Public Chapter 297, which deleted Title 30, Chapter 4 in full and substituted "The Small Estate Probate Act." The former clerk-certified affidavit route (2022 Pub. Ch. 665) is superseded. Under the current Act a "small estate" is a probate estate in which the value of the probate property (personal property only) does not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). After the expiration of forty-five (45) days from the decedent's death — provided no petition for appointment of a personal representative has been filed — one or more competent adult heirs (or, if testate, the named executor) file a PETITION with the court for the issuance of "limited letters of administration of a small estate" (or limited letters testamentary). The court, not the clerk by affidavit, issues the limited letters; the recipient is the personal representative, a bond equal to the estate value may be required, and limited letters expire about one year after issuance. Upon good cause shown the court may waive the 45-day wait. If assets discovered during administration exceed $50,000, the matter may be converted to full probate.

Cost context

Tennessee probate/small-estate filing fees are county-clerk fees under Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401 and vary by county; the Small Estates Act itself only cross-references that fee authority rather than stating a dollar amount.

No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.

Compensation context

Tennessee has no statutory percentage schedule; the personal representative receives reasonable compensation fixed by the court. The section named in the task, Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-323, was verified (Justia discovery) to govern 'advances for property maintenance expenses' (Acts 1997, ch. 426), NOT compensation — so it must not be cited for the compensation standard. No enacted Public Chapter restating a Tennessee PR-compensation standard was located (GA 100–114), and the codified provisions are LexisNexis-only, so the operative standard is not quoted from a verified primary source and is recorded as UNKNOWN.

No compensation amount is recorded here: Tennessee has no statutory percentage schedule; the personal representative receives reasonable compensation fixed by the court. The section named in the task, Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-323, was verified (Justia discovery) to govern 'advances for property maintenance expenses' (Acts 1997, ch. 426), NOT compensation — so it must not be cited for the compensation standard. No enacted Public Chapter restating a Tennessee PR-compensation standard was located (GA 100–114), and the codified provisions are LexisNexis-only, so the operative standard is not quoted from a verified primary source and is recorded as UNKNOWN.

Court-material note: Probate jurisdiction in Tennessee sits in Chancery Court in most counties, but in Davidson and Shelby Counties a dedicated Probate Court exists. There is no statewide small-estate form or statewide filing-fee schedule; under the 2023 Small Estate Probate Act the petition for limited letters is filed with, and the fee set by, the county court clerk (Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401).

Arithmetic illustration

See the Tennessee amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Tennessee ceiling is $50,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $37,500 sits below the Tennessee figure and $62,500 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Tennessee counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Tennessee ceilingWhat it does not decide
$37,500Below $50,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$62,500Above $50,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Calendar the verified gate, preserve the unresolved questions, and confirm the county filing path before distributing property.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

Probate jurisdiction in Tennessee sits in Chancery Court in most counties, but in Davidson and Shelby Counties a dedicated Probate Court exists. There is no statewide small-estate form or statewide filing-fee schedule; under the 2023 Small Estate Probate Act the petition for limited letters is filed with, and the fee set by, the county court clerk (Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401).

Source trail

Records used by this Tennessee map

The general sequence

The order in which an estate is actually worked — secure property, confirm title and beneficiary designations, identify the court route, notify and account, then close — is the same everywhere and carries no citation, so it is set out once rather than repeated on each state’s page. Read it inthe executor’s first week, and seehow long probate takes for how the phases stretch in practice.

What is jurisdiction-specific is above: the Tennessee periods, the event each one runs from, and the source each was read in.

Use this as a starting point.

This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.

Continue in Tennessee