To make a will in Tennessee, put your wishes in writing, sign the document while two competent witnesses watch, have those witnesses sign in your presence and each other’s, and add a notarized self-proving affidavit so the will can be admitted to probate without further testimony. You must be at least 18 and of sound mind when you sign. Everything else — who inherits what, who administers your estate, who raises your minor children — is up to you within the limits Tennessee law places on disinheriting a spouse or an after-born child.
Who Can Make a Will
Tennessee requires that you be at least 18 years old and of sound mind at the moment you sign.1Tennessee Courts. A Guide for Clerks Serving Courts With Probate Jurisdiction Sound mind means you understand three things: what property you own, who your close relatives are, and what it means to sign a document directing where your property goes when you die.
A dementia diagnosis or a mental illness does not automatically disqualify you. Capacity is judged at the time of signing, not on some other day. Because lack of capacity is the most common ground for a will contest, if there is any question about your health, sign on a good day and consider getting a dated note from your doctor confirming you were lucid.
What Your Will Should Cover
A will decides three things: who gets your property, who administers your estate, and who raises your minor children.
Naming an Executor
Your executor (also called a personal representative) gathers your assets, pays debts and taxes, files with the probate court, and distributes what remains to your beneficiaries. The person must be a legal adult and cannot have been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary. An executor who lives outside Tennessee has to designate an in-state agent to accept legal papers and may be required to post a bond.2Justia Law. Tennessee Code 30-1-104 – Service of Process Upon Nonresident Executor or Administrator
After your death, the executor petitions the probate court in the county where you lived, and the court issues letters testamentary authorizing them to act.3Justia Law. Tennessee Code 30-1-101 – Letters Testamentary or of Administration Required Always name at least one alternate in case your first choice cannot serve. You can also waive the bond requirement with explicit language, which is common when the executor is a trusted family member. Executors are entitled to reasonable compensation set by the probate court.4Justia Law. Tennessee Code 30-1-407 – Compensation for Services
Naming a Guardian for Minor Children
If you have children under 18, name a guardian who would raise them if both parents die. Tennessee courts give strong weight to a parent’s written nomination, though the final decision belongs to the court based on the child’s best interest. Without a nomination, the court picks someone on its own.
Name at least one alternate. Talk to the people you plan to name before you finalize the will. The guardian of the child’s person (who raises the child) does not have to be the same person as the guardian of the child’s property. Split the roles if the right caretaker is not the right money manager.
Signing and Witnesses
The standard witnessed will is the most reliable form. It must be in writing, signed by you, and signed by at least two witnesses who watched you sign or watched you acknowledge your signature. The witnesses must sign in your presence and in each other’s presence.5Justia Law. Tennessee Code 32-1-104 – Will Other Than Holographic or Nuncupative – Signatures Everyone needs to be in the same room at the same time. Courts have thrown out wills where a witness stepped away or signed later.
If you cannot sign yourself, you can direct someone else to sign your name, but only in your presence and in the presence of both witnesses.
The statute does not require you to sign at any particular place on the page, but signing at the end is the safest practice because it forecloses arguments that language was added after the fact.
Pick witnesses who receive nothing under the will. An interested witness does not automatically void the will, but unless two other disinterested witnesses also attested, the interested witness forfeits any inheritance beyond what they would have received under intestacy.6Justia Law. Tennessee Code 32-1-103 – Witnesses – Who May Act
Handwritten Wills
Tennessee recognizes a holographic will, which is written entirely in your handwriting and signed by you, with no witnesses needed at signing.7Justia Law. Tennessee Code 32-1-105 – Holographic Will The catch is at probate: two witnesses have to verify the handwriting is yours before the court will accept it. Handwritten wills invite disputes over unclear phrasing and are easier to contest than witnessed ones. If you use this method, write plainly and specifically.
Making the Will Self-Proving
A self-proving affidavit is a sworn statement, signed by your witnesses before a notary, that repeats what the witnesses would have to testify to in court. It is written on the will itself or attached to it.8Justia Law. Tennessee Code 32-2-110 – Affidavit of Witnesses to Prove Will With it, the will can be admitted to probate without tracking your witnesses down after you die.
It is not required. But if a witness has moved, become incapacitated, or died by the time your will is offered for probate, proving it becomes slow and expensive. Notary fees in Tennessee run a few dollars per signature. Do it.
Assets Your Will Does Not Control
A common mistake is assuming a will covers everything you own. Several kinds of assets pass directly to a named beneficiary regardless of what your will says:
- Life insurance policies pay whoever is listed on the policy.
- Retirement accounts, including 401(k)s and IRAs, go to the beneficiary named on the account paperwork.
- Payable-on-death bank accounts go to the person named on the account.
- Transfer-on-death brokerage accounts work the same way for investments.
- Property held jointly with right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving co-owner.
If your will leaves your IRA to your daughter but the beneficiary form on file with the plan administrator names your ex-spouse, your ex-spouse gets the IRA. The beneficiary designation wins. Review these forms every time your family circumstances change — a marriage, divorce, birth, or death — and make sure they line up with your will.
Family Members You Cannot Fully Disinherit
A valid Tennessee will still cannot cut certain people out entirely.
Spousal Elective Share
A surviving spouse who is unhappy with what your will provides can reject the will and claim an elective share instead. The percentage scales with the length of the marriage:
- Less than 3 years: 10% of the net estate
- 3 to less than 6 years: 20%
- 6 to less than 9 years: 30%
- 9 years or more: 40%
If you divorced and later remarried the same person, all years count toward the total.9Justia Law. Tennessee Code 31-4-101 – Right to Elective Share
Year’s Support
Separate from the elective share, a surviving spouse (or unmarried minor children if there is no surviving spouse) is entitled to a monetary allowance from the estate for one year, based on the previous standard of living and the condition of the estate. The allowance is exempt from creditor claims.10FindLaw. Tennessee Code 30-2-102 – Year’s Support for Surviving Spouse
Children Born After the Will
If a child is born or adopted after you sign your will and you never update it, Tennessee treats the omission as accidental. The after-born child receives the share they would have received if you had died without a will. The protection does not apply if you intentionally excluded the child or provided for them through a trust or other lifetime arrangement. The simple fix is to update your will after any birth or adoption.
Changing or Revoking Your Will
You can change or cancel your will any time you still have capacity. The cleanest method is signing a new will that explicitly revokes every prior one. A new will that merely contradicts an older one still controls to the extent of the conflict, but the ambiguity invites litigation, so include an express revocation clause.
You can also revoke by physically destroying the will — burning, tearing, or obliterating it — with the intent to revoke. Accidental damage does not count. If someone else destroys it, they must do so at your direction and in your presence.11Justia Law. Tennessee Code 32-1-201 – Actions Effecting a Revocation of Will
A codicil is a formal amendment. It must meet the same signing and witnessing requirements as the original will. Codicils are workable for small changes, but stacking several of them on one will creates contradictions. For anything more than a minor update, sign a new will instead.
What Divorce Does Automatically
If you divorce after signing your will, Tennessee automatically revokes every provision that benefits your former spouse. Any bequest to them, any power of appointment granted to them, and any nomination of them as executor, trustee, or guardian is treated as if they had died before you.12FindLaw. Tennessee Code 32-1-202 – Revocation by Divorce Remarrying the same person revives those provisions. A legal separation that does not end the marriage does not trigger the automatic revocation. Even so, sign a new will after any divorce to address everything else that has changed.
Where to Store the Signed Will
You can deposit your signed will with the probate court in the county where you live. The clerk keeps it in a secure vault, charges a $5 fee, and issues a certificate of deposit. Only you, or someone you authorize in a signed writing, can retrieve it during your lifetime.13Justia Law. Tennessee Code 32-1-112 – Deposit of Will With Probate Court Depositing the will does not lock anything in; you can still revoke or replace it.
If you keep the will at home, use a fireproof safe. A bank safe deposit box works if someone else has access to open it after your death. Tell your executor, your attorney, and at least one trusted family member where the will is. If the original cannot be found after you die, Tennessee courts presume you destroyed it on purpose. That presumption can push your entire estate into intestacy and undo the planning you did.