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Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure

The Tennessee Rules of Court are provided to the
Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts
for use on their web site by Lexis Law Publishing.

These rules are current as of  

Please Note: On May 17, 2005, the Tennessee Supreme Court filed an order revising the Advisory Commission Comments to these Rules, deleting obsolete material. For the Comments in effect prior to May 17, 2005, Refer to the Archived Rules.

  1. Scope of Rules
  2. One Form of Action
  3. Commencement of Action
  4. Process
    4a. Service Upon Defendant in a Foreign Country
    4b. Service upon Secretary of State as Agent for Service of Appeals
  5. Service and Filing of Pleadings and Other Papers
    5a. Facsimile Filing of Papers
    5b. Electronic Filing, Signing, or Verification
  6. Time
  7. Pleadings, Allowed: Form of Motions
  8. General Rules of Pleading
  9. Pleading Special Matters
    9A.Petition for Termination of Parental Rights; Content of Petition
  10. Form of Pleadings
  11. Signing of Pleadings, Motions,and Other Papers; Representations to Court; Sanctions
  12. Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented: By Pleading or Motion: Motion for Judgment on Pleadings
  13. Counterclaim and Cross-Claim
  14. Third-Party Practice
  15. Amended and Supplemental Pleadings
  16. Scheduling and Planning, Pretrial and Final Pretrial Conferences and Orders
  17. Parties Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity
  18. Joinder of Claims and Remedies
  19. Joinder of Persons Needed for Just Adjudication
  20. Permissive Joinder of Parties
  21. Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties
  22. Interpleader
  23. Class Actions
  24. Intervention
  25. Substitution of Parties
  26. General Provisions of Governing Discovery
  27. Depositions Before Actions or Pending Appeal
  28. Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken
  29. Stipulations Regarding Discovery Procedure
  30. Depositions Upon Oral Examination
  31. Deposition Upon Written Questions
  32. Use of Depositions in Court Proceedings
  33. Interrogatories to Parties
  34. Production of Documents and Things and Entry Upon Land for Inspection and Other Purposes
    34a. Spoliation of Evidence
  35. Physical and Mental Examination
  36. Requests for Admission
  37. Failure to Make or Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions
  38. Jury Trial of Right
  39. Trial by Jury or by the Court
  40. Setting Cases for Trial
  41. Dismissal of Actions
  42. Consolidation; Separate Trials
  43. Evidence
  44. (Reserved)
  45. Subpoena
  46. Exceptions Unnecessary
  47. Jurors
  48. Juries of Less Than twelve; Majority Verdict
  49. Special Verdicts and Interrogatories
  50. Motion for a Directed Verdict
  51. Instructions to Jury; Objection
  52. Findings by the Court
  53. Masters
  54. Judgments and Costs
  55. Default
  56. Summary Judgment
  57. Declaratory Judgment
  58. Entry of Judgment
  59. New trials and Alteration or Amendment of Judgments
  60. Relief From Judgments or Orders
  61. (Reserved)
  62. Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment
  63. Inability of a Judge to Proceed
  64. Seizure of Person or Property
  65. Injunctions
    65a. Form of Security; Proceedings Against Sureties
  66. Receivers
  67. Deposit in Court
  68. Offer of Judgment
  69. Execution; Examination of Judgment Debtor and Other Persons
  70. Judgment for Specific Acts; Vesting Title
  71. Condemnation of Property