Which office takes the filing in Nashville, who runs it, what it costs in 2026, and which of the three Tennessee paths your estate is on.
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 Pages still describing the old affidavit are out of date, and the clerk's office will turn you around.
Davidson County is the exception that most statewide guides get wrong. Probate here does not go through the Clerk and Master. It goes to the Seventh Circuit Court, Probate Division, which holds exclusive jurisdiction in this county over the administration of estates and the probate of wills, and which everyone calls the Davidson County Probate Court. Judge Andra Hedrick presides.
Filings are received by the Probate Court Clerk's Office, a division of the Circuit Court Clerk. Davidson County does have a Chancery Court Clerk and Master, and she does not take probate filings. Walking into the wrong office on Public Square costs you a morning.
| Filing | Cost |
|---|---|
| Petition to probate will | $334.50 |
| Petition for letters of administration | $334.50 |
| Small estate petition, with or without a will | $334.50 |
| Muniment of title only | $334.50 |
| Conservatorship or guardianship | $334.50 |
| Petition to re-open an estate | $75.00 |
| Filing a claim against an estate | $50.00 |
| Interim or final accounting | $75.00 |
| Additional certified letters, each | $5.00 |
| Service by sheriff, per defendant | $52.00 |
Effective January 1, 2026. One certified letter is included in the petition fee. Court costs change by order, so confirm the figure on the day you file.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
$249 flat. Nothing owed until you have seen it.
I am in Murfreesboro, about thirty-five minutes from the Nashville courthouse. Send the county and roughly what the estate holds, and I will tell you exactly what to scan and what to leave alone.