Tennessee has 32 judicial districts with a Chancery Court in each district. Some of these 32 districts have legislatively created Probate Courts.[1] If a particular county did not create a special Probate court, the jurisdiction over the probate stays with the Chancery court.[2]
Tennessee's Chancery Courts are courts of equity.[3] 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.[4] While the Chancery Court and Tennessee's Circuit Court, the court of general civil and criminal jurisdiction,[3] may share a set of procedural rules in each county, there are some distinct rules applying to the separate courts.[5][6] Parties in the Chancery Court are entitled to have a jury try issues of material fact.[7]
In 2015, Tennessee's Supreme Court created a pilot Business Court.[8] The Davidson County (Nashville) Chancery Court Part III was designated to serve as the Business Court.[9][10] Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle[11] was the first Business Court judge and sat on the business court into 2019.[12] In 2017, Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Joe Binkley[13] was appointed a Business Court judge.[14] In 2019, Davidson County Chancellor Anne C. Martin[15] was appointed the Business Court judge and remains in that position (as of July 2024).[10] She was appointed as a Business Court Representative to the American Bar Association's Business Law Section in 2023.[16] 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.[17]
The Probate Courts are legislatively created courts with jurisdiction over probating wills, estate administration, conservatorships and guardianships.[3] Only two counties, Shelby[18] and Davidson,[19][20] have Probate Courts.[21] There are only three probate judges in the state.[22] Unless properly designated to another court, probate and estate matters will reside in a Tennessee county’s Chancery Court.[23]
