Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Tennessee, tennessee requires the court clerk to take a bond from the personal representative before issuing letters, unless one of several statutory exceptions applies (will excuses bond, PR is sole beneficiary, all beneficiaries consent, or PR is an exempt bank).
Does Tennessee require an executor to post a bond?
Tennessee requires the court clerk to take a bond from the personal representative before issuing letters, unless one of several statutory exceptions applies (will excuses bond, PR is sole beneficiary, all beneficiaries consent, or PR is an exempt bank).
“The decedent by will excuses the personal representative from making bond”
Source: Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-201
Can the will waive it in Tennessee?
Yes. The clerk shall not require bond if the decedent’s will excuses the personal representative from making bond.
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Can the heirs or beneficiaries waive it in Tennessee?
Yes. Waivable if the personal representative and sole beneficiary are the same person (with court approval), or if all beneficiaries are adults and all consent in a sworn/perjury-penalty statement filed with and approved by the court.
If a bond is required, how much?
When a bond is required, Tennessee sizes it at 100% of the estimated value of the personal estate plus expected annual income, per its own bond-amount statute.
“the bond shall not be less than the value of the estate of the decedent subject to administration nor more than double the value of the estate”
Source: Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-201
What makes Tennessee different
Tennessee is not a UPC informal/supervised state; it applies one uniform default-bond rule to all administrations, but layers in four independent statutory off-ramps (will excuse, sole-beneficiary-as-PR, unanimous adult-beneficiary consent, or exempt bank), any one of which is sufficient, and preserves an interested person’s right to force bond back on for waste or mismanagement concerns.
A note on sourcing: Tennessee’s own official legislature/code site returned an HTTP 403 to the fetch tool this session; verified instead via codes.findlaw.com, a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the section verbatim with its official citation.
| Bond-requirement source | Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-201 |
| Tennessee courts (general reference) | Tennessee judicial branch |
| Tennessee Secretary of State / legislature | Tennessee state government |
| Confidence | Medium |
Every statute quoted on this page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; a probate court has final discretion over bond in every state; confirm your own case with the court or a local attorney before relying on the default described here.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Tennessee.