Free, statute-anchored, for self-represented trustees
The Trustee Learning Center
Learn what Tennessee law actually provides — in plain language, on the real statutes — before you decide anything. The library states the law and recommends nothing.
The guides
Getting started · 7 min read
You were named successor trustee. What does Tennessee law expect?
Accepting or declining the office, the duties from day one, the initial notice and its two facts, the nonresident's filing, and the estate beside the trust.
Beneficiaries · 7 min read
The duty to inform in Tennessee: the initial notice, the distributees and the request
The initial notice's recipients, contents and two methods; the duty to keep the current distributees informed; the request, the waiver and the written direction.
Duties · 6 min read
Prudent administration in Tennessee: the standard, the investor rule and the review
The prudent person standard, the Tennessee Uniform Prudent Investor Act, the review of the assets within a reasonable time, and the costs a trustee may incur.
Distributions · 7 min read
Distributions in Tennessee: the three kinds of interest, the reserve and per stirpes
Mandatory, support and discretionary interests, the reserve on termination, the contest window and the creditors before distributing, and what per stirpes means in Tennessee.
Compensation · 5 min read
Trustee compensation in Tennessee: the terms, reasonable compensation and the court's factors
The terms' figure or reasonable compensation, the court's power to adjust, the regulated institution's schedule presumed reasonable, loyalty and reimbursement.
Role · 5 min read
Cotrustees in Tennessee: the majority rule, participation and dissent
Majority decision where unanimity fails, each cotrustee's participation, acting on a vacancy, delegation, the dissenting cotrustee and the duty to inform each other.
Role · 6 min read
Delegation, agents and directed trusts in Tennessee
What a trustee may delegate, the care in choosing and reviewing an agent, the agent's duty, and the excluded fiduciary who follows a trust advisor or trust protector.
Records · 5 min read
Records and receipts: what a Tennessee trustee keeps, and why
Adequate records, separate property, the ledger a report draws on, the delivery record for each notice, and the one-year rule a report can start.
Beneficiaries · 6 min read
When beneficiaries disagree in Tennessee: the terms, the court and the settlement agreement
The terms and the rules they cannot change, the nonjudicial settlement agreement, the court's role and jurisdiction, removal of a trustee, and the one-year rule.
Closing · 6 min read
Ending a Tennessee trust: the distribution, the discharge notice and the year after
Termination, the distribution within a reasonable time and the reserve, the discharge notice and its 45 days, the uneconomic trust, and the one-year rule after.
Duties · 7 min read
The mistakes Tennessee successor trustees make, and the duty each one touches
Distributing before the claims and the contest window settle, mixing trust money with your own, missing the initial notice, dealing with the trust for yourself, thin records, and paying yourself without a basis — each beside the Tennessee section it touches.
Getting started · 6 min read
The trust's bank account and tax ID after a death: what a Tennessee successor trustee opens, and how
Why the trust usually needs its own taxpayer identification number once the settlor dies, how the account is titled, what the certification of trust shows the bank, and what the bank may still ask.
Distributions · 7 min read
How long a Tennessee trustee has to distribute the trust, and what the reserve is for
The reasonable period of § 35-15-817(a), the reserve, the clocks that shape it — the contest window, the estate's creditors, the discharge notice's 45 days — and what an early distribution risks.
Role · 7 min read
Successor trustee versus personal representative in Tennessee: two jobs, one death
Two offices and two bodies of property: what the personal representative does under Title 30, what the successor trustee does under Title 35, and the places they meet — the will, the creditors and TennCare.
Duties · 6 min read
When the Tennessee trustee is also a beneficiary: the duties that do not bend
Serving as trustee of a trust you benefit from is allowed. What the statute watches: loyalty, impartiality, the improper motive in a discretionary distribution, transactions with the trust, and keeping the others informed.
Role · 6 min read
Resigning as a Tennessee trustee: the 30 days' notice, the hand-off, and what does not end
The two ways to resign, who fills the vacancy, the hand-off of the property, recording where the trust holds land, closing the account — and the liability a resignation leaves in place.
Administration · 6 min read
The certification of trust (Tenn. Code Ann. § 35-15-1013): what it says, who relies on it, and why the whole trust stays private
The nine statements a Tennessee certification makes, the notarized signature, what it leaves out, who may rely on it and how far, and what a third party may still ask for.
Beneficiaries · 7 min read
What a Tennessee trust beneficiary is owed: the initial notice, information on request, and where to bring a concern
Who the duties run to, the initial notice and the abstract, information on request and the absence of a periodic report, the notices at the end, and the court, the remedies and the one-year period.
Administration · 8 min read
The notice of trust in Tennessee: there is no filing — how a trust and the estate's creditors meet instead
No court filing announces a trust after a Tennessee death. What does the work instead: the notices Tennessee does set, the estate's notice to creditors and claim bars, the trust's share of what the estate cannot pay, TennCare's claim, and what the family keeps.
The library, by question
What does the role ask of me?
Notices and accountings
Money: fees and costs
Timelines, property, and closing
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The Learning Center is general information about Tennessee law — not legal advice, and not a substitute for advice from a licensed Tennessee attorney about your specific facts. TrusteeClear is software, not a law firm.