Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Tennessee

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Ordinary inventory, oath, and waiver

Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-301(a) requires a complete and accurate inventory of the decedent's probate estate within 60 days after the representative enters on the administration. The representative returns it to the clerk of the court exercising probate jurisdiction in the county and verifies it by oath before the clerk or another person legally authorized to administer oaths, in or outside Tennessee.

A solvent estate has a limited waiver route. No inventory is required if the will excuses it or all residuary distributees or legatees excuse it, unless any residuary distributee or legatee demands an inventory. The statute does not say that the excuse must be notarized, attached to a form, or accompanied by a particular schedule.

Successor's shorter clock

A new representative does not simply inherit the ordinary 60-day period. Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-113(b) requires a true and perfect inventory within one month after appointment, covering the decedent's estate that comes to the new representative's hands.

Court record, property, and absent appraisal rules

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-302, the clerk presents the returned inventory to the court. If it appears regular, the court orders it recorded in the book of inventories.

The operative inventory sections require completeness and accuracy but do not state an inventory valuation date, fair-market-value measure, encumbrance field, gross-or-net calculation, independent-appraiser requirement, or appraiser qualification. Those matters may arise from a court order or local practice, but they are not statewide requirements in §§ 30-2-301 to -302.

Omitted property

Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-608 supplies an omission remedy rather than a general supplemental-inventory form or deadline. Before final settlement, any interested person—including a legatee, distributee, surviving spouse, or creditor—may prove that the returned inventory was incomplete. The omitted article is then debited to the representative at its value unless the representative shows a sufficient reason for leaving it out.

What trips people up

The 60-day beneficiary notices in § 30-2-301(b) concern copies of a will, will paragraphs, or letters of administration. They are not a statewide duty to send every beneficiary a copy of the inventory.

The deadline trigger is entering on the administration, not the decedent's date of death. A successor's specific one-month period runs from the successor's appointment.

Section 30-2-303 governs sale of a decedent's effects. It is not a failure-to- inventory or citation provision.

Common questions

Must the inventory state date-of-death fair market values?

Sections 30-2-301 and 30-2-302 do not impose a valuation date or fair-market- value method for the inventory. Do not infer that requirement from the word “inventory” alone.

Is an independent appraiser required?

Not by the statewide inventory provisions. They state no appraiser requirement, number, disinterest standard, license, certificate, or report rule.

Can one beneficiary demand an inventory despite a waiver?

Yes, if that person is a residuary distributee or legatee. Section 30-2-301(a) preserves that demand right even when the will or all residuary takers otherwise excused the inventory.

Statutes and sources

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-301(a) — ordinary inventory, 60-day clock, probate estate, court return, oath, waiver, and demand: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c02s30-2-301 (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-302 — court review and recording in the book of inventories: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c02s30-2-302 (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-113 — delivery to a new representative and the successor's one-month inventory: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c01s30-1-113 (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-608 — proof and value debit for omitted articles: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c02s30-2-608 (accessed 2026-08-10).
• 2023 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 298 — current post-release amendment to § 30-2-301(b), leaving the inventory rule in subsection (a) unchanged: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/113/pub/pc0298.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10; effective July 1, 2023).