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TennesseeSB 1910114th General Assembly (2025-2026)Senate

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 32; Title 35 and Title 67, relative to trust and estate law.

Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable

Signed by Governor

Trusts

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

9 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 6 mixed.

Business management shield limits beneficiary claims

Beginning July 1, 2026, trustees, trust advisors, and trust protectors gain protection from beneficiary claims over managing closely held businesses. Protection covers an excluded fiduciary following valid direction from a trust advisor or protector. It also covers managers acting in good faith, with proper care, a reasonable belief they serve beneficiaries’ interests, and no improper motive. Compensation must be reasonable, disclosed, and not prohibited by the trust. Investment duties, including diversification, remain; courts can still remedy breaches outside the shield.

Higher limit for ending costly trusts

Beginning July 1, 2026, the value limit for ending an uneconomic trust rises from $100,000 to $250,000. This rule concerns trusts whose costs do not justify keeping them running. The higher limit expands the termination process, but does not automatically end a trust. Ending a trust can change how beneficiaries receive or manage its assets.

Easier document changes for trust transfers

Beginning July 1, 2026, trustees with the specified power to move trust principal can change or restate the trust document. The law defines the original trust and the receiving trust. This method does not require retitling property or changing payable-on-death or beneficiary designations naming the original trust. That remains true when a fiduciary creates the receiving trust.

More ways to prove outside wills

Beginning July 1, 2026, Tennessee accepts additional ways to prove certain wills made outside the state. A covered will qualifies if admissible under the law where it was signed. It also qualifies under the law of the maker’s home state when signed, or the specified Tennessee will-proof rules.

More trust participation rights for charities

Beginning July 1, 2026, charities expressly named to receive trust distributions gain qualified-beneficiary rights. A charity must meet that legal test as if it were an individual when its status is determined. Rights include specified notices, trust information, and participation in settlement agreements outside court. Tennessee’s attorney general can also exercise these rights for charitable trusts principally administered in Tennessee. For that authority, the combined charitable interests must meet the same test as if they benefited one individual.

More privacy for trust court records

Beginning July 1, 2026, trustees and qualified beneficiaries can agree to redact confidential trust information or file it under seal without prior approval. The case must involve only them and concern the trust’s validity, meaning, or administration. Protected information includes trust documents, distribution terms, notices, personal details, and material the court designates confidential. Complete copies must promptly reach the court privately and qualified beneficiaries, unless the court orders otherwise. Later filings keep that protection, and courts must weigh a presumption favoring privacy before ordering disclosure for cause.

New trust settlement and objection rules

Beginning July 1, 2026, trust rules use “nonjudicial settlement agreement” for agreements made outside court. This wording covers trust administration, trustee powers, and changing or ending trusts. Objections to covered notices must identify the challenged part of the notice or attachments and explain why; general objections are disregarded. An objector can withdraw an objection in writing at any time, ending its effect. Separately, the deadline in one covered trust-notice procedure falls from 10 business days to five business days.

Trustees can pay costs from trusts

Beginning July 1, 2026, trustees can pay properly incurred expenses directly from trust assets. These include attorney fees and costs of defending an action against the trustee. This reduces the need for trustees to advance money, but can leave less for beneficiaries. Courts can stop further payments or require immediate repayment.

Family business tax classification requires 95%

Beginning July 1, 2026, the family-owned tax classification requires at least 95% family ownership of voting rights, capital interests, or profits. Ownership by qualifying relatives, trusts benefiting them, or a deceased relative’s estate counts. Relatives include blood or adopted family members sharing a common ancestor who are first cousins or closer. Their spouses, former spouses, and specified lineal descendants of those spouses also qualify. The law removes two related classification provisions but states no resulting tax amount.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsors

There is no primary sponsor on record.

Cosponsors

  • Jessie Seal

    Republican • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 113 • No: 11

House vote • 3/12/2026

FLOOR VOTE: REGULAR CALENDAR PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 3/12/2026

Yes: 81 • No: 4

Senate vote • 3/5/2026

FLOOR VOTE: Third Consideration 3/5/2026

Yes: 25 • No: 5

Senate vote • 2/24/2026

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Yes: 7 • No: 2

Actions Timeline

  1. Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

    4/6/2026

  2. Pub. Ch. 616

    4/6/2026

  3. Signed by Governor.

    3/26/2026Senate

  4. Transmitted to Governor for action.

    3/16/2026Senate

  5. Signed by H. Speaker

    3/16/2026House

  6. Signed by Senate Speaker

    3/16/2026Senate

  7. Enrolled and ready for signatures

    3/13/2026Senate

  8. Passed H., Ayes 81, Nays 4, PNV 1

    3/12/2026House

  9. Subst. for comp. HB.

    3/12/2026House

  10. Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

    3/9/2026House

  11. Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

    3/5/2026Senate

  12. Sponsor(s) Added.

    3/5/2026Senate

  13. Passed Senate, Ayes 25, Nays 5

    3/5/2026Senate

  14. Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/5/2026

    3/3/2026Senate

  15. Recommended for passage, refer to Senate Calendar Committee

    2/24/2026Senate

  16. Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/24/2026

    2/18/2026Senate

  17. Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

    2/2/2026Senate

  18. Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

    1/22/2026Senate

  19. Filed for introduction

    1/21/2026Senate

Bill Text

  • Enrolled / Public Chapter

    PDF

  • Fiscal Note

    PDF

  • Introduced

    PDF

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