Tennessee Chancery and Probate Courts
{{Short description|Courts of equity in Tennessee, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
Tennessee has 32 judicial districts with a Chancery Court in each district. Some of these 32 districts have legislatively created Probate Courts.{{Cite web |title=Circuit, Criminal, Chancery & Business Courts {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/circuit-criminal-chancery-courts |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.tncourts.gov}} If a particular county did not create a special Probate court, the jurisdiction over the probate stays with the Chancery court.[https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/docs/probate_manual_final.pdf Probate Committee of the Tennessee Clerks of Court Conference, Probate Guide] (September 2012)
Tennessee chancery courts
Tennessee's Chancery Courts are courts of equity.{{Cite web |title=About the Trial Courts {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/circuit-criminal-chancery-courts/about |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.tncourts.gov}} Tennessee's Chancery Court was created in the first half of the 19th Century, and remains one of the few distinctly separate courts of equity in the United States.{{Cite journal |last=Fowler |first=Russell |date=February 2012 |title=A History of Chancery and its Equity |url=https://www.tba.org/?pg=LawBlog&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=9941 |journal=Tennessee Bar Journal |volume=48 |issue=2}} While the Chancery Court and Tennessee's Circuit Court, the court of general civil and criminal jurisdiction, may share a set of procedural rules in each county, there are some distinct rules applying to the separate courts.{{Cite web |title=Local Rules – Davidson County Courts of Record – Circuit Court Clerk |url=https://circuitclerk.nashville.gov/local-rules-davidson-county-courts-of-record/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Local Rules of Practice {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/court-rules2/local-rules-practice |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.tncourts.gov}} Parties in the Chancery Court are entitled to have a jury try issues of material fact.{{Cite web |title=Tennessee Code 21-1-103 – Right to trial by jury » LawServer |url=https://www.lawserver.com/law/state/tennessee/tn-code/tennessee_code_21-1-103 |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.lawserver.com}}
In 2015, Tennessee's Supreme Court created a pilot Business Court.{{Cite web |title=Business Court Docket {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/bizcourt |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.tncourts.gov}} The Davidson County (Nashville) Chancery Court Part III was designated to serve as the Business Court.{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Chief Justice Sharon G. |date=March 16, 2015 |title=In the Supreme Court of Tennessee, No. ADM2015-00467, Order Establishing the Davidson County Business Court Pilot Project |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/docs/order_est._davidson_countybusiness_court_pilot_project_3-16-2015.pdf}}{{Cite web |title=Business Court Pilot Project – Chancery Clerk and Master of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County |url=https://chanceryclerkandmaster.nashville.gov/cases/business-court-pilot-project/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |language=en-US}} Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle{{Cite web |title=Ellen Lyle, JAMS Mediator and Arbitrator |url=https://www.jamsadr.com/lyle |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=www.jamsadr.com |language=en}} was the first Business Court judge and sat on the business court into 2019.{{Cite web |last=Lyle |first=Chanceller Ellen Hobbs |date=January 31, 2019 |title=Victor Poteet, et al. v. David Brown Levy, et al., In the Chancery Court for the State of Tennessee, Twentieth Judicial District, Davidson County, No. 15-1264-BC |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/docs/1.31.2019_-_poteet_v._levy.pdf}} In 2017, Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Joe Binkley{{Cite web |title=Judge Joe Binkley, Jr. – Trial Courts of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County |url=https://trialcourts.nashville.gov/general-information/directory-of-judges/judge-joe-binkley-jr/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |language=en-US}} was appointed a Business Court judge.{{Cite web |title=Tennessee Supreme Court Endorses Recommendations of the Statewide Business Court Docket Advisory Commission {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/news/2017/12/22/tennessee-supreme-court-endorses-recommendations-statewide-business-court-docket |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.tncourts.gov}} In 2019, Davidson County Chancellor Anne C. Martin{{Cite web |title=Chancellor Anne C. Martin – Trial Courts of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County |url=https://trialcourts.nashville.gov/chancellor-anne-c-martin/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |language=en-US}} was appointed the Business Court judge and remains in that position (as of July 2024). She was appointed as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section in 2023.{{Cite web |title=Chancellor Martin Appointed Business Court Representative to ABA Business Law Section {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://www.tncourts.gov/news/2023/05/09/%5Btitle-raw%5D |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=www.tncourts.gov}} Tennessee's Administrative Office of the Courts received a grant from the State Justice Institute to work with the National Center for State Courts to develop a curriculum for expanding business courts in Tennessee and elsewhere.{{Cite web |title=Tennessee Business Court Docket Pilot Project Awarded Grant to Create Nationwide Curriculum {{!}} Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts |url=https://tncourts.gov/news/2018/05/10/tennessee-business-court-docket-pilot-project-awarded-grant-create-nationwide |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=tncourts.gov}}
Tennessee probate courts
The Probate Courts are legislatively created courts with jurisdiction over probating wills, estate administration, conservatorships and guardianships. Only two counties, Shelby{{Cite web |title=Probate Court {{!}} Shelby County, TN - Official Website |url=https://www.shelbycountytn.gov/227/Probate-Court |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=www.shelbycountytn.gov}} and Davidson,{{Cite web |title=Probate Court Clerk – Circuit Court Clerk |url=https://circuitclerk.nashville.gov/probate/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Circuit Court History – Trial Courts of Metropolitan Nashville & Davidson County |url=https://trialcourts.nashville.gov/general-information/history/circuit-court-history/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |language=en-US}} have Probate Courts.{{Cite web |title=The Court System in Tennessee |url=https://justiceforalltn.org/legal-help/the-court-system-in-tennessee/ |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=Justice For All TN |language=en-US}} There are only three probate judges in the state.{{Cite web |title=Court System {{!}} Williamson County, TN - Official Site |url=https://www.williamsoncounty-tn.gov/221/Court-System#:~:text=Currently%20there%20are%20142%20trial,32%20judicial%20districts%20in%20Tennessee |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=www.williamsoncounty-tn.gov}} Unless properly designated to another court, probate and estate matters will reside in a Tennessee county’s Chancery Court.{{Cite web |title=Probate Court {{!}} UT County Technical Assistance Service |url=https://www.ctas.tennessee.edu/eli/probate-court#:~:text=Chancery%2520court%2520has%2520exclusive%2520jurisdiction,%C2%A7%252016%252D16%252D201. |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=www.ctas.tennessee.edu}}
See also
References
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