Informational — verified from official court publication, not legal advice. This citation is informational. The source URL was not yet fetched. Confirm with a licensed attorney before relying on it.

Tennessee TN AI draft

← Back to Law Library
Distribution Type
Equitable Distribution
Division Standard
Equitable — judge decides
Income Adjustment
Equitable

Methodology

Equitable distribution

Tennessee divides marital property — separate property is excluded — “in proportions as the court deems just” under Tenn. Code Ann. §36-4-121(a)(1), without regard to marital fault and with no presumption of equal division. §36-4-121(c) enumerates thirteen factors, from the duration of the marriage and each party's age, health, earning capacity, and needs through contributions to the other's earning power, contribution or dissipation of property, separate-property values, economic circumstances, tax consequences and foreseeable asset expenses, closely held business valuation evidence, Social Security benefits, the equities between the parties, and — added by 2022 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 762 — the amount, source, and reasonableness of attorney fees and expenses paid by each party. The 2022 act also requires courts to equitably allocate marital debt.

Division Factors

The following factors are commonly evaluated under Tennessee law:

  1. Duration of the marriage (Tenn. Code Ann. §36-4-121(c)(1))
  2. Age, physical and mental health, vocational skills, employability, earning capacity, estate, financial liabilities, and financial needs of each party (§36-4-121(c)(2))
  3. Tangible or intangible contribution by one party to the education, training, or increased earning power of the other party (§36-4-121(c)(3))
  4. Relative ability of each party for future acquisitions of capital assets and income (§36-4-121(c)(4))
  5. Contribution of each party to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, depreciation, or dissipation of the marital or separate property, including the contribution of a party as homemaker, wage earner, or parent (§36-4-121(c)(5))
  6. Value of the separate property of each party (§36-4-121(c)(6))
  7. Estate of each party at the time of the marriage (§36-4-121(c)(7))
  8. Economic circumstances of each party at the time the division of property is to become effective (§36-4-121(c)(8))
  9. Tax consequences to each party, costs associated with the reasonably foreseeable sale of an asset, and other reasonably foreseeable expenses associated with the asset (§36-4-121(c)(9))
  10. In determining the value of an interest in a closely held business or similar asset, all relevant valuation evidence, including any marketability or lack-of-control discount and any control premium (§36-4-121(c)(10))
  11. Amount of social security benefits available to each spouse (§36-4-121(c)(11))
  12. Such other factors as are necessary to consider the equities between the parties (§36-4-121(c)(12))
  13. Total amount of attorney fees and expenses paid by each party in connection with the proceedings, whether the fees were paid from marital or separate property, and the reasonableness and necessity of the fees (§36-4-121(c)(13), added by 2022 Pub. Ch. 762)

Statute / Authority

Citation: Tenn. Code Ann. §36-4-121 ↗

Source: https://tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/Majority%20Opinion%20-%20M2024-00030-COA-R3-CV.pdf

Source & verification AI draft
Citation
Tenn. Code Ann. §36-4-121
Source URL
https://tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/Majority%20Opinion%20-%20M2024-00030-COA-R3-CV.pdf
Fetched
Not yet fetched

The SHA-256 is a tamper / identity hash on the body text we captured at fetch time — not a third-party signature. It lets us prove what we rendered matches what we observed.

Reference Library

Tennessee Property Division

Tennessee Code Ann. §36-4-121 divides marital property — separate property is excluded — in proportions the court deems just, without regard to fault and with no equal-division presumption, after weighing the thirteen factors of §36-4-121(c): duration; each party's circumstances and needs; contributions to the other's earning power; future acquisition ability; contribution or dissipation including homemaking; separate-property value; the estates at marriage; economic circumstances; taxes and foreseeable asset expenses; closely held business valuation evidence; Social Security benefits; the equities between the parties; and, since the 2022 amendment (Pub. Ch. 762), attorney fees and expenses. The same act requires equitable allocation of marital debt.

Citation: Tenn. Code Ann. §36-4-121

Source: https://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/tncode/

Last updated: 2026-07-23T00:37:19.823719

← Back to Law Library