Le fiduciaire successeur au Tennessee

What a successor trustee is in Tennessee

A successor trustee is the person who takes over the administration when the trustee before — very often the settlor, who served as trustee of a revocable trust — can no longer serve. Most successors are named in the instrument; the code supplies the rest of the rules: when the office is vacant, who fills it, how the successor accepts, what the successor owes and to whom (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 35-15-701, 35-15-704, 35-15-801).

The office is a fiduciary one from the moment of acceptance. A successor administers the trust in good faith, under its terms and purposes and in the beneficiaries' interests (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-801), and the trust's terms can expand, restrict or vary most of the code's rules, though not the core duties the statute reserves (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-105).

Two beginnings: incapacity and death

A successor's service begins in one of two ways. At the settlor's incapacity, the instrument decides how incapacity is determined — often by a physician's letter — and a provider may release the information a physician or an attorney attests is needed to determine a capacity an instrument turns on (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-50-125); the appointment of a conservator for an individual serving as trustee is itself a vacancy (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-704(a)(6)). While the trust is still revocable, the successor's duties run to the settlor (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-603(a)), and an agent under the settlor's power of attorney reaches the trust only as far as the trust or the power expressly allows (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-602(e)).

At the settlor's death, the trust becomes irrevocable, the duties run to the beneficiaries, and the initial notice falls due within 60 days after the acceptance and the funding (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(b)); the contest window runs from the death (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-604).

When a trusteeship is vacant

A vacancy occurs when a designated trustee rejects the office, cannot be identified or does not exist; when a trustee resigns, is disqualified or removed, or dies; or when a conservator is appointed for an individual serving as trustee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-704(a)). While a cotrustee remains in office, a vacancy need not be filled; it must be filled if no trustee remains (§ 35-15-704(b)). A vacancy that must be filled is filled, in this order, by a person designated in the terms of the trust, by a person appointed by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, or by the court (§ 35-15-704(c)); whether or not there is a vacancy, the court may also appoint an additional trustee or a special fiduciary when the administration needs one (§ 35-15-704(e)).

Accepting, or rejecting, the office

A person designated as trustee accepts by substantially complying with a method of acceptance the terms provide or, where the terms give none or the method is not expressly exclusive, by accepting delivery of the trust property, exercising powers or performing duties as trustee, or otherwise indicating acceptance (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-701(a)). Record the day you accept: the initial notice runs from the later of it and the trust's funding.

A designee who has not accepted may reject the trusteeship, and one who does not accept within a reasonable time after knowing of the designation and of the trust's assets is deemed to have rejected it; without accepting, a designee may act to preserve the trust property if a rejection is sent within a reasonable time to the settlor or, where the settlor is dead or lacks capacity, to a qualified beneficiary, and may inspect the property for environmental or other liability (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-701(b), (c)).

A trustee who lives outside Tennessee

An individual who is not a Tennessee resident may serve as trustee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-50-107(a)(2)(D)), but before acting the nonresident fiduciary files with the Secretary of State a writing appointing the Secretary of State as the fiduciary's agent for service of process, identifying the trust and stating the fiduciary's street address, with the $10 filing fee (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-50-107(b)(2)). The Secretary of State's form and current submission instructions are its own; a licensed Tennessee attorney of your choosing prepares the appointment.

Délais du trustee au Tennessee : ce que prévoient les lois

Vérifié par rapport aux Tennessee Statutes le 2026-10-28. Information générale, pas un avis juridique ; le texte officiel fait foi.

The predecessor, the property and the records

Until the trust property is delivered to the successor, a trustee who resigned or was removed keeps the duties of a trustee and the powers necessary to protect the property, and delivers it within a reasonable time — unless a cotrustee remains or the court orders otherwise (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-707).

A successor takes reasonable steps to compel a former trustee or another person to deliver the trust property and to redress a breach of trust known to the successor (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-812). Ask for the prior records, the ledger, the tax returns and the delivery history, and record what you receive and what is missing.

The notice a successor gives

Within 60 days after the acceptance and the funding of an irrevocable or nongrantor trust, the trustee notifies each current income beneficiary, each vested ultimate beneficiary of a remainder interest and each nonfiduciary holder of a power of appointment that the trust has been established — by first-class mail or personal delivery, with a complete copy of the instrument and the trustee's name, address and telephone number, or an abstract (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(b)). The duty is a default rule the terms or a written direction may change ((e)) and reaches no trust irrevocable before July 1, 2004 ((f)).

Throughout the administration the trustee keeps the current distributees reasonably informed and answers a qualified beneficiary's request in a reasonable time (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-813(a)); no periodic report is required by statute.

Cotrustees: the majority rule

Cotrustees who are unable to reach a unanimous decision may act by majority decision; where a vacancy occurs, the remaining cotrustees may act for the trust (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-703(a), (b)). Each cotrustee participates unless unavailable or the function was properly delegated ((c)); a cotrustee who did not join an action is not liable for it, but exercises reasonable care to prevent and redress a serious breach ((f), (g)); a dissenting trustee who notified a cotrustee of the dissent at or before the time of the action is not liable except for a serious breach ((h)); each keeps the other cotrustees and the other fiduciaries reasonably informed ((i)).

Showing your authority: the certification of trust

A bank, a brokerage or a title company that asks for the trust instrument may be given a certification of trust instead: the trust's existence and the date of the instrument, the settlors, the acting trustees and the named successors, the trustee's powers, revocability and who may revoke, the signature authority among multiple trustees, the conditions of succession, the trust's identification number only if essential to the transaction, how assets should be titled, and the statement that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in a manner that would make the representations incorrect — signed by the trustees with signatory authority and attested by a notary public (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-1013(a)). The trustee may provide copies of all or part of the instrument ((c)), and a third party may ask for additional information to clarify an ambiguity before contracting ((f)).

Compensation, liability, and the ways trustees get into trouble

Where the terms do not fix the compensation and neither the living settlor nor a majority of the qualified beneficiaries has agreed to it, a trustee is entitled to compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances; where the terms fix it, the court may allow more or less if the duties are substantially different from those contemplated or the figure is unreasonably low or high (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-708(a), (b)). The factors include the size of the trust, the nature and number of the assets, the income, the time and responsibility, the expertise, any real estate or closely held business, and any litigation to protect the property (§ 35-15-708(c)).

A violation of a duty the trustee owes a beneficiary is a breach of trust, and the court's remedies reach from an order to account to payment, removal and reduced or denied compensation (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-1001). A term relieving the trustee of liability does not cover bad faith or reckless indifference (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-1008). The common paths into trouble are trust money in the trustee's own account (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-810), a transaction with the trustee's own family or business (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-802), a missed initial notice, and a distribution before the debts and the taxes were known.

Bond, resignation, removal and the recording

A trustee gives a bond only if the court finds one is needed to protect the beneficiaries' interests or the terms require it (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-702). A trustee may resign on at least 30 days' notice to the qualified beneficiaries, the settlor if living, and all cotrustees, or with the court's approval; resignation discharges no liability (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-705). The settlor of a revocable trust may remove and appoint trustees by written notice (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-606); the court may remove a trustee on the request of the settlor, a cotrustee or a qualified beneficiary, or on its own initiative, for the grounds the section states (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-706).

Where real estate is trust property and a trustee resigns or is removed without a court proceeding, the departing trustee records an instrument reciting the change, the successor's name and address and each parcel in the register of deeds of each county where trust real estate lies; if not within 30 days, the successor records it (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-1-101(b)).

When a licensed Tennessee attorney is the right next call

A predecessor who will not deliver, a vacancy the instrument does not fill, cotrustees who cannot agree, a beneficiary who objects to the compensation, a sale of real estate, or a question whether the settlor's incapacity has begun under the instrument's terms — each has a legal answer that depends on the instrument and the facts. TrusteeClear organizes the successor's record; the legal judgment belongs to a licensed Tennessee attorney of the successor's choosing.