Tennessee Code Annotated

Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-1-106 (2026)

Estate with unlimited power of disposition

✓ current as of May 2026
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When the unlimited power of disposition, qualified or unqualified, not accompanied by any trust, is given expressly, in any written instrument, to the owner of any particular estate for life or years, legal or equitable, such estate is changed into a fee absolute as to right of disposition, and rights of creditors and purchasers, but subject to any future estate limited thereon or executory devise thereof, in event and so far as the power is not executed or the property sold for the satisfaction of debts during the continuance of the particular estate; provided, that any proceeds from the sale of such estate, not needed for the satisfaction of the debts of such owner during the continuance of the particular estate, shall be held in trust by such owner for the beneficiaries of the remainder interest and the purposes stated in such written instrument.

Code 1932, §§ 7603, 8093; Acts 1981, ch. 450, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 64-106.


Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1994–2021 · leading case: Fell v. Rambo, 36 S.W.3d 837 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000).
Fell v. Rambo, 36 S.W.3d 837 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 17× “Rambo asserts that the trial court should have applied the pre- *843 1981 version of Tenn.Code Ann. § 66-1-106 which terminated a remainder interest when a life tenant with unlimited powers of disposition sold the property subject to the life estate.”
Ogle v. Ogle, 880 S.W.2d 668 (Tenn. 1994). · cites it 24× “T.C.A. § 66-1-106 provides in pertinent part: When the unlimited power of disposition, qualified or unqualified, .”
Harrell v. Harrell, 321 S.W.3d 508 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 4× “John relies on Tenn.Code Ann. § 66-1-106 (2004) for this transformation.”
Valerie J. Hargis v. Fredalene Fuller, Individually & as of the Est. of Barney Loyd Fuller, Jr. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 22× “Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-1-106 (2003). “Under the common law of this state, a devise of a life estate coupled with an absolute power of disposition created a fee simple estate in the devisee which -10- effectively defeated the rights of a remainderman, whether the power of…”
Madge Fell,e t al v. Gloria Rambo (Tenn. Ct. App. 2001). · cites it 7× “(2) The holding of this Court that the pre-1981 version of T.C.A. 66-1-106 is applicable establishes that the remaindermen have no interest in the farm and no interest in the proceeds from the sale of the farm and therefore are without standing to further pursue this case.”
Ben Wilson v. Kate Wilson Ward (Tenn. Ct. App. 2003). · cites it 4× “1994); Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-1-106 . Also see, Redman v.”
In Re Est. of Hattie Faye Baker (Tenn. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 2× “Derryberry did not hold a life estate, Petitioner’s reliance on Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-1-106 is likewise misplaced.”
Fell v. Rambo (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 2× “By operation of the pre-1981 version of Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-1-106 (1993), any proceeds of the sale of the farm unspent at the time of Ms.”
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