Annual Trust Accounting Requirements in Tennessee
At a glance
| Governing law and accounting type | Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 35-15-813, -205, -817: no automatic annual account; information rights plus optional judicial final accounting and nonjudicial discharge notice |
|---|---|
| Covered trusts, periods, and effective date | Ordinary private trusts; § 813(a)(1) and initial-notice rules exclude pre-July 1, 2004 irrevocable agreements. § 817 notice covers at most 3 years and ends within 30 days before sending; § 205 begins at acceptance or last court-approved account |
| Recipients and information rights | Current mandatory/permissible distributees must be reasonably informed; qualified beneficiaries may request administration information. § 817 recipients: living grantor, qualified beneficiaries/representatives, and known serving trustees, trust advisors, and trust protectors |
| Annual, final, vacancy, and demand triggers | No automatic annual or vacancy accounting. Information is request-based; optional §§ 205 and 817 routes arise on full/partial termination or trustee resignation/removal. A successor may petition but has no duty to do so |
| Required contents, values, and allocations | § 817 notice: recent asset fair-market values and known liabilities; receipt sources/amounts; disbursement amounts/recipients; distributions, fees, expenses, taxes; estimated remaining costs; period dates; distribution proposal; event/claim notice; contact information. No separate allocation schedule required |
| Delivery, service, and court filing | § 817 notice is sent to statutory recipients; absent receipt confirmation, mailing is presumed received after 5 business days. § 205 petition is served on trustees, advisors, protectors, and qualified beneficiaries/representatives; no routine filing, signature, verification, or notarization stated |
| Waiver, trust modification, and exceptions | Beneficiary may waive a § 813 report or information and withdraw for future reports; writing is not expressly required. Trust terms or a settlor/advisor/protector's written direction may alter § 813(a)-(b); pre-July 1, 2004 irrevocable agreements retain prior law for specified duties |
| Objection, limitation, settlement, and discharge | § 817 uses a 45-day specific written-objection period; an objection may be withdrawn in writing. No effective objection can produce court-account-equivalent claim preclusion. § 1005 otherwise uses 1 year after adequate disclosure/actual knowledge or a 3-year outer period |
| Enforcement, costs, and noncompliance | Court may compel duties or an account, suspend/remove trustee, deny compensation, surcharge, trace property, or grant other relief (§ 1001). Fees/costs are equitable under § 1004; § 205 ordinarily taxes petitioner's reasonable fees and costs to the trust |
Requirements one by one
Tennessee separates information rights from financial accountings
Tennessee Code Annotated § 35-15-813(a)(1)-(2) requires a trustee to keep current mandatory or permissible distributees reasonably informed about trust administration and material facts, and ordinarily to answer a qualified beneficiary's administration- information request within a reasonable time. It does not prescribe an automatic annual financial accounting for every ordinary private trust.
The same section treats waiver and trust directions separately. Under § 35-15-813(d)-(e), a beneficiary may waive reports or information and later withdraw the waiver for future reports, while the trust terms or a written direction from an authorized settlor, trust advisor, or trust protector may alter the stated information duties. Section § 35-15-813(f) preserves prior law for specified trusts that became irrevocable before July 1, 2004.
A final court accounting is available but not automatic
Under § 35-15-205(a), a qualified beneficiary or successor trustee may petition for a final accounting after the trustee resigns or is removed or when the trust fully or partially terminates. The outgoing trustee may also petition for approval and relief from liability. A successor trustee is expressly not required to file that petition.
The accounting period begins with the later of the trustee's acceptance or the end of the period last approved by the court. Under § 35-15-205(b)(1), the petition identifies the serving fiduciaries, qualified beneficiaries, and covered period and is served as § 35-15-205(c) directs. After considering objections and evidence, the court may approve the account or grant other relief. Approval relieves the trustee for the covered period.
The nonjudicial discharge notice has its own financial schedule
Section § 35-15-817(a)-(h) supplies a separate optional notice after full or partial termination, resignation, or removal. The asset-and-liability date and the end of the transaction period must be no more than 30 days before sending. The transaction statement covers no more than three years.
The notice lists each receipt's source and amount and each disbursement's amount and recipient, including beneficiary distributions and all paid fees, expenses, and taxes. It adds estimated remaining costs, period dates, a distribution proposal, the triggering event, claim-warning language, and individual- or corporate-trustee contact information. Section 35-15-817(d) sends it to the living grantor, qualified beneficiaries or their representatives, and known serving trustees, trust advisors, and trust protectors.
Objection and claim periods depend on disclosure and the chosen route
The § 35-15-817(f) period is 45 days after receipt. Effective July 1, 2026, an objection must identify with reasonable specificity the disputed part of the notice or exhibits and the basis for the objection; a general objection is ineffective. An objection may be withdrawn in writing. If receipt confirmation is unavailable, § 35-15-817(k) now presumes receipt five business days after mailing.
When the trustee complies and no effective objection remains, § 35-15-817(g)-(h) directs distribution under the proposal and gives the notice court-account-equivalent preclusive effect for the stated breach claims. A timely objection may be resolved by nonjudicial settlement or judicial relief under § 35-15-205.
Outside those routes, § 35-15-1005(a)-(c) generally uses one year after adequate disclosure or actual knowledge, or a three-year outer period tied to fiduciary departure, termination of the beneficiary's interest, or termination of the trust. A court-approved final account or a compliant unopposed § 35-15-817 notice separately bars covered matters under § 35-15-1005(e).
Courts have a broad remedy and fee menu
Section § 35-15-1001(a)-(b) permits a court to compel performance or an accounting, enjoin or redress a breach, appoint a special fiduciary, suspend or remove the trustee, reduce or deny compensation, trace property, or grant other appropriate relief. Under § 35-15-1004(a)-(c), fees and costs in a judicial trust-administration proceeding are discretionary according to justice and equity. The more specific final-account rule in § 35-15-205(f) ordinarily taxes the petitioner's reasonable fees and costs to the trust unless the court directs otherwise.
What trips people up
- Section 35-15-813 is not the standard UTC annual-report rule. Tennessee uses current-distributee information duties and qualified-beneficiary requests instead.
- A final accounting and a discharge notice are different routes. Section 35-15-205 produces a court judgment; § 35-15-817 uses a statutory notice and objection process outside court.
- The nonjudicial schedule has a three-year cap. Earlier administration may need an already approved court account or an earlier compliant notice to establish the starting point described in § 35-15-817(c)(2).
- A general objection no longer works. Since July 1, 2026, § 35-15-817(f) requires reasonable specificity about both the disputed material and the basis.
Common questions
Can monthly statements substitute for Tennessee's termination notice?
Not by themselves. Section 35-15-817(c) requires a combined statutory notice with recent values, liabilities, transaction detail, remaining-cost estimates, period dates, a distribution proposal, event and claim notices, and contact information.
Must a successor trustee ask the court to approve the predecessor's account?
No. Section 35-15-205(a) lets a successor trustee petition, but expressly says the successor has no obligation to do so.
Does every information response start the one-year claim period?
No. Section 35-15-1005 requires information that adequately discloses facts indicating a potential claim, or actual knowledge of those facts. A routine response that does not meet that standard does not necessarily start the one-year period. Section § 35-15-1005(f) also addresses when consented electronic access counts as actual knowledge.
Is a Tennessee trust accounting notarized?
The surveyed provisions do not require notarization. A judicial petition must be served under § 35-15-205(c), while the nonjudicial route turns on sending and receipt of the § 35-15-817 notice.
Statutes and sources
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(a)(1)-(2), (d)-(f) — current-distributee information, requests, waiver, trust-direction, and legacy-trust rules. Official 2007 chapter 24, official 2013 chapter 390, and official 2022 chapter 877 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-205(a)-(f) — optional judicial final accounting, petition contents and service, approval, relief, and costs. Official 2019 chapter 340 and official 2022 chapter 877 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-817(a)-(m) — termination/change notice, required financial contents, recipients, 45-day objection, distribution, and discharge. Official 2023 chapter 166 and official 2026 chapter 616 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 35-15-1001 and 35-15-1004 — breach remedies and trust-administration fees and costs. Official 2004 chapter 537 (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-1005(a)-(f) — one- and three-year claim periods, final-account and notice preclusion, and electronic actual knowledge. Official 2017 chapter 290, official 2022 chapter 877, and official 2025 chapter 101 (accessed 2026-08-10).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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