Tennessee Code 31-2-103 – Vesting of estate – Net estate
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 31-2-103
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Heirs: means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent. See Tennessee Code 31-1-101
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Personal property: All property that is not real property.
- Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
- Personal representative: includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status. See Tennessee Code 31-1-101
- Property: includes both real and personal property or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership. See Tennessee Code 31-1-101
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- real property: include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
- Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
- Testate: To die leaving a will.
The real property of an intestate decedent shall vest immediately upon death of the decedent in the heirs as provided in § 31-2-104. The real property of a testate decedent vests immediately upon death in the beneficiaries named in the will, unless the will contains a specific provision directing the real property to be administered as part of the estate subject to the control of the personal representative. Upon qualifying, the personal representative shall be vested with the personal property of the decedent for the purpose of first paying administration expenses, taxes, and funeral expenses and then for the payment of all other debts or obligations of the decedent as provided in § 30-2-317. If the decedent’s personal property is insufficient for the discharge or payment of a decedent’s obligations, the personal representative may utilize the decedent’s real property in accordance with title 30, chapter 2, part 4. After payment of debts and charges against the estate, the personal representative shall distribute the personal property of an intestate decedent to the decedent’s heirs as prescribed in § 31-2-104, and the property of a testate decedent to the distributees as prescribed in the decedent’s will.