On Sept.13, the Tennessee Supreme Court filed an order soliciting written comments concerning proposed amendments to Rule 12, section 1, and the First-Degree Murder Report which is appended to Rule 12. The deadline for submitting written comments was Oct 13, and the Court received no written comments during that period. The amendments were adopted and take effect immediately.

In the parental termination case In re Bentley D., the Tennessee Supreme Court concluded that a father’s notice of appeal, signed by his attorney but not the father personally, satisfies the statutory signature requirement for appeals in parental termination cases. The court remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for consideration of the father’s appeal on the merits. Chief Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins authored the unanimous opinion.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed previous rulings that dismissed a lawsuit contesting the will of a Hamilton County man who died in 2015. In a 2013 will the deceased, Dr. J. Don Brock, left behind a sizeable estate to his wife, two stepdaughters and two children from a previous marriage, but excluded five children from the previous marriage. The Supreme Court declined to adopt a broad rule precluding persons disinherited by successive wills from ever bringing a will contest. Instead, the court ruled that parties may establish standing to contest a will by showing that they would be entitled to share in the decedent’s estate if the challenged will, or challenged wills, were set aside or no will existed and the laws of intestacy applied. Justice Cornelia A. Clark authored the court's unanimous opinion.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed the convictions and death sentences for Sedrick Clayton in the murders of Arithio, Patricia, and Pashea Fisher, and the conviction for attempted murder of A’Reco Fisher in Memphis. The court found the sentences were not arbitrary nor were they disproportionate to sentences imposed in similar cases. Justice Roger A. Page wrote the majority opinion, with Justice Sharon G. Lee authoring a concurring opinion.

In a Hamblen County case involving a trust for a severely disabled child, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that Tennessee law authorized the trustee to sign an agreement requiring the trust to arbitrate claims against the broker who managed the trust funds. In a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals denying arbitration, and vacated the trial court’s order requiring arbitration of all of the trust beneficiary’s claims. The case was sent back to the trial court to determine which of the beneficiary’s claims had to be decided by an arbitrator.