Probate Notice to Creditors and Claim Deadlines in Tennessee

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Separate the clerk's publication from the representative's direct notice

Section 30-2-306 gives the probate clerk 30 days after letters issue to publish in the representative's name. The ordinary route is two consecutive weekly notices in a newspaper published in the county. If the county has no newspaper, the clerk uses three public postings, including the usual courthouse location. Publication is not required when letters issue more than one year after death.

The notice uses the statutory form. It identifies the estate, death and letters, the court and county, and the filing clocks. A publisher's affidavit must show the publication dates; for posting, the representative's affidavit shows the first posting date. The affidavit is filed with the clerk and noted on the docket.

The personal representative has a separate duty under § 30-2-306(d). The representative must mail or otherwise deliver a copy of that notice to creditors actually known or reasonably ascertainable, using their last-known addresses. The section gives no separate records checklist or send-by date. It excuses direct notice when the creditor already filed, was paid, or released all claims.

File the supporting paper and verified claim with the probate clerk

Section 30-2-307 requires filing after a personal representative has been appointed. A written-instrument debt uses the instrument or a photocopy; a judgment uses a copy certified by the rendering court's clerk; and an open account uses an itemized statement.

Every claim also needs the creditor's affidavit stating that the debt is a correct, just, and valid estate obligation, identifying credited payments, and disclosing security. The submission is in triplicate, although only the first copy must be verified. The clerk returns a pre-appointment claim and any claim received more than 12 months after death.

Apply the actual-copy formula and the outside bar separately

The statutory notice uses two possible actual-copy clocks. If the creditor received the copy at least 60 days before the date four months after first publication or posting, that four-month date controls. If the copy arrived later, the creditor receives 60 days from receipt. The notice then makes those dates subject to the earlier 12-month date measured from death.

Section 30-2-307 bars a debt claim not filed within the period prescribed in the notice. Section 30-2-310 separately forever bars an ordinary claim or demand not filed, or a later suit not brought or revived, before 12 months expire from death. The state follows the same outside rule, but tax claims are expressly excluded and state taxes remain governed by § 67-1-1501.

Preserve only the late routes the statutes actually provide

An estate may close before the 12-month date. Under § 30-2-307(a)(2), a creditor who files after that closing but before 12 months may proceed against the distributees pro rata when the court finds the claim proper and the creditor did not receive appropriate notice. The discharged representative is not personally liable. The creditor bears the burden on known-or-reasonably-ascertainable status and proper actual notice.

The extraordinary-circumstances extension in § 30-2-307(e) applies to an amendment of a timely claim, not to the original filing deadline. Section § 30-2-311 separately lets the representative waive filing and pay a claim whose principal does not exceed $1,000, but the representative bears the burden of showing that the paid claim was valid.

Use the separate pending-action and TennCare procedures

Tennessee Code § 30-2-320 treats a surviving pending action as a legally filed demand when a duplicate order of revivor, one copy certified or attested, is filed with the probate clerk. A pending action not timely revived against the representative abates.

Section 71-5-116 adds a TennCare track. Within 60 days after letters, the representative must give the bureau the specified death notice for a decedent age 55 or older, state whether the decedent received TennCare, request a release, and file the confirming affidavit. If the decedent was a TennCare recipient, the representative must also send the ordinary notice to creditors to the bureau. The estate cannot close without the bureau's release showing payment, waiver, or that nothing is due.

What trips people up

Publication and direct notice have different actors. The clerk publishes, while the personal representative sends the individual copy to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors.

The 60-day period does not automatically replace the four-month date. It applies when the creditor receives the actual copy less than 60 days before that four-month date.

Filing a timely claim does not make it valid. Section 30-2-307(d) says the clerk's filing creates no inference about validity or timeliness.

The only express extraordinary-circumstances extension in § 30-2-307 concerns a later amendment to a timely claim. It is not a general extension of the original claim deadline.

Common questions

Who chooses and publishes the Tennessee creditor notice?

The statute assigns the notice to the clerk of the court administering the estate. The clerk gives it in the personal representative's name.

Can a creditor file before an executor or administrator is appointed?

No. Section 30-2-307(d) directs the clerk to return a claim submitted before a personal representative is appointed.

Is one signed claim copy enough?

No. The claim must be submitted in triplicate. The second and third copies do not have to carry the verification.

Can the representative pay a small bill without a filed claim?

Tennessee Code § 30-2-311 permits that for a claim not exceeding $1,000 in principal, but the representative must prove the claim's validity if the payment is challenged.

Statutes and sources

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-306 — clerk publication, form, proof, direct notice, and late-appointment exception. Public.Resource.Org release of the Official Code of Tennessee Annotated: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c02s30-2-306 (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-307 — claim bar, post-closure recourse, form, triplicate filing, clerk limits, and amendments. Same official-code release: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c02s30-2-307 (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 30-2-310, 30-2-311, and 30-2-320 — 12-month bar and tax exception, small-claim filing waiver, and pending-action revivor. Same official-code release: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.30.html#t30c02s30-2-310 (accessed 2026-08-12).
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 71-5-116 — TennCare notices and estate-closing release. Public.Resource.Org release of the Official Code of Tennessee Annotated: https://unicourt.github.io/cic-code-tn/transforms/tn/octn/r76/gov.tn.tca.title.71.html#t71c05s71-5-116 (accessed 2026-08-12).
• 2012 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 886, §§ 4-6 — enacted source for the current notice formula and claim-bar text: https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/107/pub/pc0886.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12).