Inheritance Disclaimer and Renunciation Requirements in Tennessee

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and covered interests

The Tennessee Disclaimer of Property Interests Act applies to “any interest in or power over property, whenever created.” Its delivery section supplies routes for interests passing by will, intestacy, testamentary and living trusts, beneficiary designations, survivorship arrangements, and powers of appointment.

Whole, partial, and conditional disclaimer

T.C.A. § 31-7-105 permits a disclaimer “in whole or part.” A partial disclaimer may be stated as a fraction, percentage, monetary amount, term of years, limitation of a power, or another interest or estate in the property. The general act does not state a separate conditional-disclaimer rule. Federal tax qualification is narrower because 26 U.S.C. § 2518 requires an unqualified refusal.

Writing or record and required contents

The disclaimer must be in writing, declare the disclaimer and its extent, and describe the interest or power being disclaimed. Section 31-7-105 does not define an electronic record or require an original, a property legal description, or a tax representation as part of the general state minimum.

Signature, witnesses, acknowledgment, and notary

The beneficiary may sign personally without a stated witness, acknowledgment, oath, or notary requirement. Tennessee also allows another person to subscribe the beneficiary's name, but only at the beneficiary's express direction, in the beneficiary's presence, and in the presence of at least two people competent to witness a will.

State deadline, irrevocability, and federal-tax overlay

Sections 31-7-105 and 31-7-113 state no fixed general Tennessee validity deadline. Delay still creates risk because acceptance, transfer, judicial sale, or written waiver can bar a disclaimer. The disclaimer becomes irrevocable on the later of compliant delivery or filing and its statutory effective time.

Tax qualification is a separate track. T.C.A. § 31-7-114 expressly says a tax-qualified disclaimer must comply with 26 U.S.C. § 2518, including the federal nine-month limit. That imported requirement does not turn nine months into the deadline for every Tennessee disclaimer.

Delivery, filing, and recipient

T.C.A. § 31-7-112(b)-(j) permits personal delivery, first-class mail, or another method likely to result in receipt. The destination depends on the source of the interest:

• A will or intestacy disclaimer goes to the personal representative, or is filed with a court that can appoint one if none is serving.
• A testamentary-trust disclaimer goes to the trustee, then to the personal representative if no trustee is serving, with a trust-court filing fallback if neither is serving.
• A living-trust disclaimer goes to the trustee or the trust court; before the trust becomes irrevocable, it goes to the settlor or transferor.
• A beneficiary-designation disclaimer goes to the person who made the designation before irrevocability. After irrevocability, personal property goes to the person obligated to distribute it, while real property uses the mandatory recording route below.
• A survivorship disclaimer goes to the person who takes because of it.

Real-property recording and notice

T.C.A. § 31-7-115 generally makes recording optional when the instrument that created the interest or power could or must be recorded. Missing that optional route does not defeat validity between the beneficiary and the people who take because of the disclaimer.

There is one express exception. After a beneficiary designation becomes irrevocable, a disclaimer of the resulting real-property interest must be recorded in the county register's office where the property is located. The act does not add a general legal-description requirement or a separate purchaser, lienholder, or constructive-notice rule.

Acceptance, transfer, insolvency, and creditor bars

A signed written waiver bars the disclaimer. Before effectiveness, acceptance, a voluntary assignment, conveyance, encumbrance, pledge, transfer or contract to transfer, and a judicial sale also bar an interest disclaimer. Section 31-7-113 does not list insolvency or an ordinary creditor claim as a separate general bar, though other law may add limits.

The consequence depends on what was disclaimed. A barred disclaimer of a power is ineffective. A barred disclaimer of an interest instead operates as a transfer to the people who would have taken under the act if the disclaimer had not been barred.

Effective date and destination

Under T.C.A. § 31-7-106(b), most property-interest disclaimers take effect when the instrument creating the interest becomes irrevocable, or at the intestate's death for an intestacy interest. A governing-instrument clause for disclaimed interests controls the destination. Without one, an individual is generally treated as dying immediately before distribution.

Tennessee adds two descendant rules. If descendants would take by representation, only descendants surviving at distribution share. If the interest otherwise would pass to the beneficiary's own estate, it instead goes per stirpes to surviving descendants; if none survive, it goes to the transferor's intestate successors, including the state but excluding the beneficiary. T.C.A. § 31-7-107 separately provides that a survivorship disclaimer takes effect at the other holder's death and passes as if the beneficiary predeceased that holder.

What trips people up

The current act is in Chapter 7, not former § 31-1-103. Tennessee replaced the older disclaimer statute with the Tennessee Disclaimer of Property Interests Act in 2019. A form built around the repealed section can state the wrong deadline, delivery route, and destination rule.

The witness rule is an alternative-signature safeguard. Two witnesses are required when another person signs the beneficiary's name at the beneficiary's direction. Section 31-7-105 does not impose those witnesses when the beneficiary signs personally.

Real-property recording is mandatory only on one beneficiary-designation route. The act otherwise says a disclaimer may be recorded and preserves between-party validity if that optional step is omitted.

Common questions

Can I mail a Tennessee disclaimer?

Yes. Section 31-7-112 permits first-class mail, but it does not say that the postmark alone completes delivery. The method must be likely to result in receipt, and the correct recipient still depends on the type of interest.

Can I choose who receives the property next?

Generally no. A provision in the instrument addressing disclaimers controls. Without one, the statutory deemed-death and descendant rules determine who takes; the beneficiary does not name a replacement recipient through the disclaimer.

Does accepting one benefit always bar every possible disclaimer?

Section 31-7-113 bars the interest sought to be disclaimed when it is accepted before effectiveness. Whether conduct amounts to acceptance, and whether a different severable interest remains available to disclaim, can depend on the instrument and other law.

Statutes and sources

• T.C.A. §§ 31-7-103, 31-7-105(a), (c)-(e) — scope, whole or partial disclaimer, required writing and contents, signature alternatives, partial forms, and irrevocability. Current release-76 Title 31 text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• T.C.A. §§ 31-7-106 to -107 — effective time, governing-instrument priority, deemed death, descendants, estate fallback, future interests, and survivorship interests. Current release-76 Title 31 text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• T.C.A. § 31-7-112 — delivery methods, asset-specific recipients, court fallbacks, and mandatory recording for real property under an irrevocable beneficiary designation. Current release-76 Title 31 text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• T.C.A. §§ 31-7-113 to -115 — bars and consequences, federal-tax savings rule, and optional recording outside the statutory exception. Current release-76 Title 31 text, accessed 2026-08-01.
• 2019 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 340, § 2 — enacted Chapter 7. Official enrolled act, accessed 2026-08-01.
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518(b) — separate federal qualified-disclaimer conditions. Official U.S. Code text, accessed 2026-08-01.