Which office takes the filing in Manchester, who runs it, what it costs in 2026, the local rules that trip people up, and which of the three Tennessee paths your estate is on.
The rule changed in 2023
Tennessee no longer has a small estate affidavit you hand to a bank. The 2023 rewrite of the Small Estate Probate Act replaced it with a sworn petition to the court clerk, who issues Limited Letters. Pages still describing the old affidavit are out of date, and the clerk's office will turn you around.
Where it is filed
Probate in Coffee County is heard in Chancery Court, Fourteenth Judicial District, and filings go to the Clerk and Master at the Justice Center on Hillsboro Boulevard. Chancery has handled estate administration here since 1980.
The mailing address is not the street address. Mail goes to Box 8 at the same building, and leaving the box number off slows things down.
Court
Chancery Court, Fourteenth Judicial District
Clerk and Master
Sheila Proffitt
Office
300 Hillsboro Boulevard, 1st Floor, Justice Center, Manchester, TN 37355
Local rules that change what you should do, and that a statewide guide will not tell you.
Chancery filings are electronic, through Tybera. Read the Fourteenth Judicial District e-filing rules before you start. Account approval takes a day or two and a credit card is required even if you pay per transaction.
E-filing costs $5.00 per transaction with a $50.00 cap per case, or $300.00 a year unlimited, plus $1.25 per document you download. Card payments add a dollar or 2.5%, whichever is larger.
The original will must be physically delivered. You may e-file a copy, but letters will not issue until the original reaches the court. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want the letters mailed back, otherwise you will be called to pick them up.
A TennCare release is required in every probated estate here, regardless of the person's age. That is stricter than the statewide rule, which is tied to long-term care at 55 or older.
The court does not provide petition and order forms for a general probate. It does publish small estate forms, the claim form, notice to creditors, consent and waiver of bond, the probate status report, and the nonresident fiduciary agent appointment.
You are responsible for redacting Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and medical records. The clerk does not check. Case numbers changed format: what used to be 2011-PR-23 is now 11PR-23.
What it costs
Filing
Cost
Probate opening and closing, with three letters
$374.50
Small estate
$374.50
Muniment of title
$374.50
Conservatorship or guardianship
$374.50
Sale of real property, year's support, homestead, insolvency
$200.00
Filing a claim against an estate
$50.00
Exception to a claim
$100.00
Reviewing and filing an accounting
$75.00
Filing a request on an existing estate
$25.00
Publication, Manchester Times or Tullahoma News
$120.00
Effective January 1, 2026. The quoted fees already include state and county litigation tax, the indigent fund tax, the courthouse security fee, the jail building tax, and the data processing fee. A pauper's oath may still be used to start a proceeding. Court costs change by order, so confirm the figure on the day you file.
The three paths
T.C.A. § 30-4-103
Small estate, Limited Letters
Personal property in the person's name alone totalling $50,000 or less, counted without any real estate, and at least 45 days since the death. You file a sworn petition listing every asset and every debt, and the clerk issues Limited Letters you present to the bank. Expect a bond requirement.
T.C.A. § 32-2-101
Full administration, common form
More than $50,000 in personal property, or anything the smaller track cannot carry. A personal representative is appointed, notice to creditors is published, and claims run four months from first publication. Most uncontested estates settle in six to twelve months.
T.C.A. § 32-2-111
Muniment of title
A will admitted for the limited purpose of establishing title, with no personal representative appointed and no administration opened. It fits where nothing needs an administrator. Whether it suits a given case is a question for the clerk's office.
The original will, if there is one. Not a copy. Tennessee wants the original filed with the clerk, and Letters will not issue until it is in.
Certified death certificates. Order ten. Every bank, insurer, and plan administrator keeps one.
An asset list with date-of-death values, split into what was in the person's name alone and what was not. That split is what decides your path.
A debt list with each creditor's name, address, and amount. The small estate petition asks for this by name.
Written consents from the other adult heirs, where they agree you should serve.
Your own photo identification.
What the clerk will and will not do
The statute directs the clerk's office to assist with the small estate petition, and they do. They will tell you which form, which blanks, where to sign, and what it costs.
They will not tell you whether to open a small estate or a full administration, who inherits, what to do about a disputed will, or how to handle real estate. Those are legal questions, and a clerk answering them would be practicing law. That line is where people get stuck, and it is the line this site exists to help you stand on the right side of.
Hand the paperwork part to me
Every path above starts the same way. Someone has to turn a pile of statements, bills, and titles into one list the court and the family can both read. That is the part I do.
An asset list with date-of-death values, in the order the petition asks for them
A debt and creditor list with names, addresses, and amounts
A running estate account you keep adding to as money moves
Delivered as a spreadsheet and a PDF within two business days
$249 flat. Nothing owed until you have seen it.
I am in Murfreesboro, about forty-five minutes from Manchester. Send the county and roughly what the estate holds, and I will tell you exactly what to scan and what to leave alone.