TENNESSEE BAR EXAM DISTINCTIONS — ONE-PAGE CHEAT SHEET
Condensed companion to the Tennessee Bar Exam Distinctions long outline.
1. EXAM FORMAT
UBE jurisdiction · MBE 50% / MEE 30% / MPT 20% · portable UBE score (subject to each state's minimum and transfer window) · write GENERAL/multistate law on the MEE — do NOT insert Tennessee's McIntyre rule or TN statutes unless a question expressly asks for TN law · master the multistate outlines first; use this page to recognize TN's signature doctrines, chiefly its 49% modified comparative fault.
2. CIVIL PROCEDURE & LIMITATIONS
Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure (modeled on the FRCP) govern state-court practice · SOL: ONE YEAR personal injury (the classic Tennessee trap — much shorter than the 2-3 yrs students expect) · 1 yr defamation · 6 yrs general contracts · health-care liability (med-mal) = 1 yr from discovery + 3-yr statute of repose · always name the period and run the math; the one-year personal-injury limitation is the single most-tested procedural trap.
3. EVIDENCE
Tennessee Rules of Evidence = FRE-based with several deliberate Tennessee differences; numbering largely tracks the FRE · TN retained some pre-restyling federal language and made specific choices on character evidence and impeachment · apply your MBE evidence analysis and cite "the Tennessee Rules of Evidence" when a question asks for TN law, flagging only the recognized departures.
4. FAMILY LAW
Many fault grounds (adultery, cruel and inhuman treatment, desertion, habitual drunkenness, felony conviction, others) + no-fault: irreconcilable differences (effectively requires a signed marital dissolution AGREEMENT on terms) and 2-YEAR separation with NO minor children · ALIMONY four named types: alimony in futuro (long-term/periodic), in solido (lump sum), rehabilitative, and transitional — with a STATUTORY PREFERENCE for rehabilitative/transitional over long-term in futuro · NO common-law marriage formed in TN (may recognize one validly created elsewhere) · equitable distribution (not community property) · flags: the four alimony types with the rehabilitation preference, no common-law marriage, and the agreement requirement for irreconcilable differences.
5. WILLS, TRUSTS & ESTATES
Attested will = writing + 2 witnesses signing in the testator's presence · HOLOGRAPHIC WILLS VALID (signature + all material provisions in the testator's hand, handwriting proven, no witnesses) · narrow NUNCUPATIVE (oral) wills recognized — small amounts of personal property, made in imminent peril of death, proven by witnesses · ELECTIVE SHARE sliding scale by length of marriage: 10% (married under 3 yrs) up to 40% (9+ yrs) of the net estate, in ADDITION to homestead/year's support/exempt property · intestacy: spouse takes a child's share but NOT LESS THAN 1/3; entire estate if no descendants · EX: spouse + 3 children would give a 1/4 child's share, but the floor pushes the spouse to 1/3.
6. REAL PROPERTY
NOTICE recording — an unrecorded instrument is void as against a subsequent BFP or creditor WITHOUT notice; recording gives constructive notice and priority · adverse possession = 7 YEARS under recorded COLOR OF TITLE; 20 YEARS without color of title · NON-JUDICIAL power-of-sale foreclosure via deed of trust (trustee's sale, no court action — comparatively fast) · modest statutory HOMESTEAD exemption (relatively low dollar amount of equity).
7. TORTS — McINTYRE 49% RULEHave feedback or a question about this entry?
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