(a) Subject to subsection (b), all tangible personal property owned by a decedent that is subject to the control of a court of this state for the purposes of administration escheats to this state in accordance with § 31-6-101.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 31-6-104

  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. Source: OCC
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • 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
(b) Property that otherwise falls within subsection (a) does not escheat to this state but goes to another jurisdiction if the other jurisdiction claims the property and establishes that:

(1) The other jurisdiction is entitled to the property under its laws;
(2) The decedent customarily kept the property in that jurisdiction prior to the decedent’s death; and
(3) This state has the right to escheat and take tangible personal property being administered as part of a decedent’s estate in the other jurisdiction if the decedent customarily kept the property in this state prior to the decendent’s death.
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