2021 Tennessee Code
Title 29 - Remedies and Special Proceedings
Chapter 18 - Forcible Entry and Detainer
§ 29-18-127. Form of Execution and Writ — Disposition of Personal Property Following Defendant's Removal From Property

Universal Citation: TN Code § 29-18-127 (2021)
  1. The execution for costs shall issue in the usual form, and the writ of possession may be as follows:

    State of Tennessee,

    To the sheriff or any constable of such county:  County.

    Whereas, at a trial of forcible and unlawful detainer had in such county on the  day of  , 20 , before E F, a judge of the court of general sessions of such county, judgment was given that A B recover from C D possession of a certain tract or parcel of land, bounded [or known and described] as follows [insert the description in the warrant]: We therefore command you, that you take with you the force of the county, if necessary, and cause A B, the plaintiff in such judgment, to have and be restored to the possession of such tract or parcel of land, and that you remove C D, the defendant in such judgment, therefrom, and give such plaintiff peaceable possession of such premises, and make return to me in twenty (20) days how you have executed this writ.

    This  day of  , 20 . E F, G.S.J.



    1. Upon removing the defendant in any judgment under this chapter, the plaintiff or a designated representative of the plaintiff, shall place the defendant's personal property:

      1. On the premises from which the defendant is being removed;

      2. In an appropriate area clear of the entrance to the premises; and

      3. At a reasonable distance from any roadway.

    2. The plaintiff or a designated representative of the plaintiff shall not disturb the defendant's personal property for forty-eight (48) hours. After such forty-eight (48) hours, the remaining personal property of the defendant may be discarded by the plaintiff or a designated representative of the plaintiff.


    1. All actions of any county, municipality, metropolitan form of government or other local government relative to the disposition of personal property after the execution of a writ of possession shall be temporarily suspended during the forty-eight-hour time period created pursuant to subsection (b).

    2. Notwithstanding subdivision (c)(1), a county, municipality, metropolitan form of government or other local government shall not be liable for any damages to the defendant's personal property.

  2. The plaintiff or a designated representative of the plaintiff, acting in accordance with this section, shall not be liable for any damages to the defendant's personal property during or after the forty-eight-hour time period, unless it can be established by clear and convincing evidence that the damages resulted from a malicious act or malicious omission of the plaintiff or a designated representative of the plaintiff.

Code 1858, § 3359 (deriv. Acts 1841-1842, ch. 186, § 4); impl. am. Acts 1879, ch. 23, § 1; Shan., § 5107; mod. Code 1932, § 9262; impl. am. Acts 1979, ch. 68, § 3; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 23-1629; Acts 2014, ch. 534, § 1.

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