You inherited a house in Knoxville. Here's how Knox County probate works.

Under Tennessee Code § 31-2-103, real property vests at the moment of death: in the heirs if there was no will, or in the beneficiaries named in the will. The exception is a will that specifically says the real estate is to be administered by the personal representative. So an executor does not automatically control the house. Whoever holds title generally has to sign to sell it, and when there are several heirs, that usually means every one of them.

Tennessee also gives the probate court power, alongside the chancery and circuit courts, to order a decedent's real estate sold (§ 30-2-401), which is the route when the house is needed to pay the estate's debts. Which of these fits your family changes who signs the contract, so read the will before you promise anything to a buyer.

Knox County probate runs through the Probate Division of the Clerk & Master's office, inside the City County Building at 400 Main Street in Knoxville (Suite 352, phone 865-215-2389). That is where a will gets filed, where a petition to open an estate gets filed if there is no will, and where letters testamentary or letters of administration are issued to the person who will act for the estate.

Opening the estate also starts the formal notice to creditors. Tennessee requires that notice to run in two consecutive weekly issues of a newspaper in the county (§ 30-2-306). Title companies often want to see that process underway or finished before they insure a sale of inherited property, which is the practical reason families open an estate even when the house passed to them by law.

No. Tennessee's Small Estate Probate Act uses a $50,000 cap, and the limited letters it produces give no authority over the decedent's real estate. A small estate filing can settle bank accounts, vehicles and furnishings, but it does not by itself put the house in shape for a buyer.

This is general information, not legal advice. The Clerk & Master's office or an estate attorney can tell you which procedure actually fits your family.

Knox County's Register of Deeds office has said plainly that changing the names on a property record generally requires a new deed to be prepared, signed and recorded. The common exception: if the existing deed already carries survivorship language and a certified death certificate gets recorded in that office, the record can update without a brand-new deed. Whether your parents' deed has that language is worth checking before you assume either way.

If a new deed is needed, who signs it depends on how the house passed: the heirs or beneficiaries themselves, or a personal representative acting under the will or a court order.