Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 33-3-114 (2026)
Exceptions to evidentiary privilege of mental health professionals
✓ current as of May 2026
Notwithstanding any evidentiary privilege a qualified mental health professional may have, including §§ 24-1-207, 63-11-213, 63-22-114, and 63-23-109, the qualified mental health professional may be compelled to testify in:
- (1) Judicial proceedings under this title to commit a person with mental illness or serious emotional disturbance to treatment if the qualified mental health professional decides that the service recipient is in need of compulsory care and treatment;
- (2) In proceedings for which the qualified mental health professional was ordered by the court to examine the service recipient if the service recipient was advised that communications to the qualified mental health professional would not be privileged;
- (3) Judicial proceedings under chapter 8, part 3 of this title; and
- (4) Guardianship, conservatorship, and veterans' guardianship proceedings under title 34.
Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 688,s 61, eff. 7/1/2024.
Acts 2000, ch. 947, § 1; 2002, ch. 730, § 14.