Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-4-403 (2026)
Customer's right to stop payment - Burden of proof of loss
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) A customer or any person authorized to draw on the account if there is more than one (1) person may stop payment of any item drawn on the customer's account or close the account by an order to the bank describing the item or account with reasonable certainty received at a time and in a manner that affords the bank a reasonable opportunity to act on it before any action by the bank with respect to the item described in § 47-4-303. If the signature of more than one (1) person is required to draw on an account, any of these persons may stop payment or close the account.
- (b) A stop-payment order is effective for six (6) months, but it lapses after fourteen (14) calendar days if the original order was oral and was not confirmed in writing within that period. A stop-payment order may be renewed for additional six-month periods by a writing given to the bank within a period during which the stop-payment order is effective.
- (c) The burden of establishing the fact and amount of loss resulting from the payment of an item contrary to a stop-payment order or order to close an account is on the customer. The loss from payment of an item contrary to a stop-payment order may include damages for dishonor of subsequent items under § 47-4-402.
Acts 1963, ch. 81, § 1 (4-403); 1995, ch. 397, § 3.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1994–2021 · leading case: Stringfellow v. First Am. Nat'l Bank, 878 S.W.2d 940 (Tenn. 1994).
Stringfellow v. First Am. Nat'l Bank, 878 S.W.2d 940 (Tenn. 1994). “If a payor bank has paid an item over the stop payment order of the drawer or maker or otherwise under circumstances giving a basis for objection by the drawer or maker, to prevent unjust enrichment and only to the extent necessary to prevent loss to the bank by reason of its…”
Harpeth Fin. Servs., LLC v. Jim Clay Pinson, Jr. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2021). “See Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-4-403 (a) (2001) (allowing a “customer or any person authorized to draw” on a bank account to “stop payment of any item drawn on the .”
Niccole A. Naifeh v. Valley Forge Life Ins. Co. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005). “The statute governing the transfer at issue in this case does not state that an oral cancellation of an electronic transfer lapses after fourteen days as it would, for example, with a check under section 47-4-403(b) of the Tennessee Code.”
Curtis Morris v. Amsouth Bank (Tenn. Ct. App. 2008). “Moreover, the Tennessee Uniform Commercial Code grants AmSouth a statutory right to disgorge funds that have been obtained through mistake or fraud: (a) Except as provided in subsection (c), if the drawee of a draft pays or accepts the draft and the drawee acted on the mistaken…”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-4-403(b) — 1 case
Niccole A. Naifeh v. Valley Forge Life Ins. Co. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005). “The statute governing the transfer at issue in this case does not state that an oral cancellation of an electronic transfer lapses after fourteen days as it would, for example, with a check under section 47-4-403(b) of the Tennessee Code.”
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