Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Tennessee adopted the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code, Chapter 15 of Title 35, effective July 1, 2004, and rewrote the reporting section. There is no mandatory annual trustee's report. In its place, Tennessee requires an early notice with either a copy of the trust or an abstract, and offers trustees a statutory release at the end of a trust that closes claims if no one objects within 45 days.
Who must provide an accounting in Tennessee
Section 35-15-813 requires the trustee to keep the current mandatory or permissible distributees of income or principal reasonably informed about the administration and the material facts they need to protect their interests. Where a trust is divided into separate shares, the duty runs only to the beneficiaries of each share. The trustee must respond in a reasonable time to a qualified beneficiary's request for information, and the beneficiary reimburses the trustee's reasonable expenses of responding.
Within sixty days after an irrevocable or nongrantor trust is accepted and funded, the trustee must notify each current income beneficiary, each vested remainder beneficiary, and each nonfiduciary holder of a power of appointment that the trust exists. The notice goes by first-class mail or personal delivery and includes either a complete copy of the trust document with the trustee's contact details, or an abstract. The trustee chooses which.
The abstract is specific. For a current income beneficiary, it states the number of other income beneficiaries, whether income distributions are required or discretionary, whether principal may be distributed and for what purposes, an estimate of the trust's value, and an estimate of the income that may be distributable. For a remainder beneficiary, it states the number of other remainder beneficiaries, an estimate of the trust's value, and the conditions for distribution.
These duties can be shaped. They do not apply to the extent the trust terms provide otherwise, or the settlor, a trust protector or a trust advisor directs otherwise in writing. Where reports are redirected that way, they go to a designated representative, or to the person who gave the direction. A beneficiary may waive reports and later withdraw the waiver.
What a Tennessee trust accounting must contain
Because Tennessee does not mandate a periodic report, the content standard that matters most is the one in section 35-15-817 for a trustee seeking a release. The notice includes a statement of the fair market value of the trust's assets and its liabilities as of a date no more than 30 days before the notice is sent. It also includes a statement of receipts, with the source and amount of each, and of disbursements, with the amount and recipient of each, including distributions, fees, expenses and taxes, along with an estimate of remaining fees and costs. The statement covers the period since the trustee accepted, since the last court-approved accounting, or since the last completed release, whichever is most recent, and may not exceed three years.
Income and principal allocation in Tennessee
Allocation is governed by Tennessee's Uniform Principal and Income Act, Chapter 6 of Title 35, which section 35-15-901 incorporates into the trust code.
Filing an accounting with the Tennessee court
Tennessee trusts are not routinely filed with a court. A final accounting approved by the court under section 35-15-205 closes claims on the matters it covers.
Estates are different. Under section 30-2-601, the personal representative makes an accounting with the clerk of the court exercising probate jurisdiction within fifteen months after qualification, and annually after that until the estate is fully administered. Each accounting states all receipts, disbursements and distributions of principal and income for the period and the remaining assets, verified under oath. Where the will or other pleadings waive accountings, the personal representative files a status report on the same schedule instead, and a residuary distributee may ask the court to require a detailed accounting.
When a Tennessee accounting is contested
Section 35-15-1005 runs from knowledge as well as from reports. A proceeding for breach of trust must be brought within one year after the earlier of the date the beneficiary was sent information that adequately disclosed facts indicating a potential claim, or the date the beneficiary had actual knowledge of those facts. In some circumstances, information available to the beneficiary electronically counts as actual knowledge. Without either, the outer limit is three years from the first of the trustee's removal, resignation or death, the end of the beneficiary's interest, or the end of the trust.
Two procedures close claims outright. No proceeding may be brought on any matter covered by a final accounting the court approved under section 35-15-205. And no proceeding may be brought on any matter covered by a section 35-15-817 notice if the trustee complied with that section and no one objected in writing within 45 days.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Tennessee release statements built to section 35-15-817, final accountings for court approval, and personal representative accountings under section 30-2-601. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Tennessee fiduciary accounting requirements and is not legal or tax advice. Statutes and court rules change. Verify the current text before relying on any of it, and consult counsel on questions of legal interpretation.
More: the uniform framework · all state pages · our services
Primary source: Tennessee Code Annotated Title 35, Chapter 15.
Written by Christina Gutman, C.P.A. — Founder and Principal of T.E.A. Fiduciary. Christina is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant by the State of California and has specialized exclusively in fiduciary accounting for over a decade, preparing trust, estate, and conservatorship accountings for law firms, professional fiduciaries, trust companies, family offices, and individual trustees nationwide. She has also served as a forensic consultant in contested accounting matters. More about Christina
