Which office takes the filing in Clarksville, 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 Pages still describing the old affidavit are out of date, and the clerk's office will turn you around.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 Montgomery County is heard in Chancery Court for the Nineteenth Judicial District, and filings go to the Clerk and Master. There is no separate probate court.
The office is not in a courthouse. It sits at Millennium Plaza, Suite 101, on its own.
One local rule matters more here than anywhere else on this site, and it decides whether you can do this yourself. See below.
Court
Chancery Court, Nineteenth Judicial District
Clerk and Master
Heather L. Moore, JD
Office
2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 101, Clarksville, TN 37040
Phone
931-648-5703
Email
ClerkandMasterInfo@montgomerytn.gov
Hours
8:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday
Before you go
Local rules that change what you should do, and that a statewide guide will not tell you.
A full administration effectively requires a lawyer here. Local rule 17.01 says every fiduciary must be represented by a Tennessee-licensed attorney and every petition and motion must be filed by one, with two exceptions: changing your own name, and opening an estate under the small estate exemption. If your estate fits the small estate track, you can do it yourself. If it does not, budget for counsel.
A non-attorney fiduciary may still file their own annual and final accountings and fee requests without counsel.
Publication is paid to the newspaper, and the paper you pick changes the bill. A notice to creditors runs $30.00 in the Nashville Ledger, $75.00 in Main Street News, and $100.00 in the Leaf Chronicle. Choosing the Ledger saves seventy dollars for the same statutory notice. With the Leaf Chronicle, the clerk issues the notice but you have to forward it yourself.
Electronic filing places a temporary $100.00 hold on your card where the fee varies by case type, then the clerk adjusts it to the real amount. It is not an overcharge, but it sits on the card until the clerk acts and however long your bank takes to release it.
E-filing is encouraged, not required. Paper filing is preserved by the rules. There is an e-filing fee plus a card processing fee on top of the statutory cost.
Pleadings go to the Clerk and Master before being presented to the court. Common form and intestate administrations may be heard by the Court or the Probate Master; solemn form must be heard by the Court.
What it costs
Filing
Cost
Estates, muniment of title, limited letters of small estate, will contest, solemn form
$389.50
Filing a claim against an estate
$50.00
Exception to a claim
$100.00
Inventory or annual accounting
$75.00
Request not otherwise provided for
$25.00
Order on an existing case other than closing
$20.00
Re-opening any closed case
$75.00
Clerk preparing and causing notice to be published
$25.00
Initial summons in a probate matter
$0.00
Electronic filing, per filing
$5.00
Effective October 1, 2026, the newest schedule of any county on this site. Litigation taxes of $109.50 are already included where marked. 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 an hour and a half from Clarksville. Send the county and roughly what the estate holds, and I will tell you exactly what to scan and what to leave alone.