Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Tennessee, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 4 months to file a claim; and if notice is never published, the absolute deadline is 1 year from the date of death; and a creditor who is personally mailed notice gets 60 days.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in Tennessee?
| Once notice to creditors is published | 4 months |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | 1 year from the date of death |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | 60 days |
“All persons…having claims…against the estate are required to file the same…on or before the earlier of the dates prescribed…otherwise their claims will be forever barred: Four (4) months from the date of the first publication…if the creditor received an actual copy of this notice at least sixty (60) days before that four-month date; or Sixty (60) days from the date the creditor received an actual copy of the notice if received less than sixty (60) days prior to that date; or Twelve (12) months from the decedent’s date of death.”
What makes Tennessee different
Tennessee’s tiered system can compress a mailed creditor’s window to as little as 60 days after receipt, while an absolute 12-month, date-of-death outer bar catches every claim regardless of notice.
Does this deadline apply the same way if the estate never opens probate?
These deadlines are creatures of the probate process itself; they run once an estate is opened (by publication, mailing, appointment, or the grant of letters, depending on Tennessee’s own rule above). A creditor of a decedent whose estate never enters probate at all is not cut off by this particular statute, though the underlying debt’s own ordinary statute of limitations still applies.
Sources
| Statute | Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-306(b); § 30-2-307(a) |
| Tennessee courts (general reference) | Tennessee judicial branch |
| Tennessee Secretary of State / legislature | Tennessee state government |
| Confidence | High |
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; the exact deadline in a given estate can turn on facts (whether a personal representative was appointed, whether notice was ever published or mailed) that only your own probate court file can confirm.