Which office takes the filing in Memphis, 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.
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 Pages still describing the old affidavit are out of date, and the clerk's office will turn you around.
Shelby County has a standing Probate Court for the Thirtieth Judicial District, with two divisions and its own elected Probate Court Clerk. Judge Kathleen N. Gomes sits in Division I, Judge Joe Townsend in Division II.
Filings go to the Probate Court Clerk's Office, Room 124, at 140 Adams Avenue. The Shelby County Clerk and Master is a different office in the same building, in Room 308, and does not take probate filings. Same address, wrong floor, wasted morning.
Local rules that change what you should do, and that a statewide guide will not tell you.
| Filing | Cost |
|---|---|
| Probate of will, letters of administration, small estate, or muniment of title | $341.50 |
| Conservatorship or guardianship | $341.50 |
| 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 |
| Interim, annual, or final accounting | $75.00 |
| Re-opening a closed estate | $75.00 |
| Petition or motion in an existing case | $25.00 |
| Additional certified letter, each | $5.50 |
| Initial service by certified mail, per person | $10.50 |
Effective January 1, 2026. Shelby's flat opening fee is $341.50, forty-eight dollars below the $389.50 charged in Knox, Hamilton, and Montgomery. There is no fee for beneficiary notices, TennCare notices and releases, consents, declinations, inventories, oaths, waivers, or appointing and closing orders. 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 three and a half hours west, so this is handled by email and scan. Send the county and roughly what the estate holds, and I will tell you exactly what to scan and what to leave alone.