Bill > HB2451

This bill makes several changes to Tennessee civil law, primarily concerning property division and estate matters. First, it clarifies that the Uniform Partition Heirs Property Act, which provides a framework for dividing jointly owned property, does not apply to situations where land is sold to settle the debts of a deceased person's estate. Second, it revises how a deceased person's "gross estate" (the total value of their assets) is calculated when determining the share a surviving spouse is entitled to, known as the "elective share." This calculation will now align with federal estate tax rules under Section 2031(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, with specific exclusions for assets that would not have been subject to state inheritance tax prior to a certain law change, and life estates or trusts for the surviving spouse will be valued using actuarial methods. Finally, the bill makes a minor grammatical correction to the language required in a petition to appoint a conservator, changing "should contain" to "shall contain."