Charitable Solicitations

Plain English Breakdown

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Charitable Organizations Beneficiary Designation Act

This act establishes procedures for notifying charitable organizations when they are named as beneficiaries in documents that transfer property at death without probate and sets rules for how these organizations can claim their rights to the property.

What This Bill Does

• Requires holders of property with beneficiary designations to notify charities if a person who designated them has died, within ten business days.
• Allows charitable organizations to present an affidavit to get information or property from the holder of the property without providing personal identifying information.
• Sets deadlines for distributing proceeds to charitable beneficiaries after receiving complete affidavits: 90 days after the first complete affidavit or 30 days after all required affidavits are received.
• Protects holders who deliver property in good faith based on an affidavit from liability, unless they knew the representations were incorrect.
• Allows charities to sue if a holder refuses to provide requested property or information within 30 days of receiving a complete affidavit.

Who It Names or Affects

• Charitable organizations named as beneficiaries in documents that transfer property at death without probate.
• Holders of property who are required to notify charitable organizations and distribute proceeds according to the act.

Terms To Know

Beneficiary designation

A legal term for naming an organization or person as a recipient of assets after someone's death, without going through probate court.

Affidavit

A written statement sworn under oath and signed by the person making it.

Limits and Unknowns

• The act does not apply to insurance policies or annuities.
• It is unclear how this will affect charities that are unaware of their designation as beneficiaries until after a death occurs.

Official Summary Text

ON MARCH 19, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2642, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill to establish a process to notify a charitable organization that it has been designated as a beneficiary in an instrument that provides for payment or transfer at death without probate.

If the holder of property that has a beneficiary designation has been notified of the death of the owner of the property, then this amendment requires such holder to, within 10 business days, use commercially reasonable efforts to provide to each charitab
le organization listed under the beneficiary designation notice that the charitable organization may have a right to the property and the holder's contact information.

If a charitable organization is a beneficiary of an interest in property created by beneficiary designation, then this amendment authorizes the charitable organization to present an affidavit to the holder of the property or to another person with inform
ation about the property for the purpose of obtaining the property or information regarding the property. The full text of this amendment specifies the information and supporting documentation that must be included with the affidavit. This amendment gen
er
ally prohibits the holder of property that is the subject of a beneficiary designation to a charitable organization from requiring a board member or employee of the charitable organization to provide various types of personal identifying information and f
inancial information.

Where one or more charitable beneficiaries have submitted a complete affidavit, this amendment requires the holder of property to distribute the proceeds no later than the following, whichever occurs first:

(1) Ninety days after the receipt of the first complete affidavit; or

(2) Thirty days after receipt of all required affidavits from identifiable beneficiaries.

The full text of this amendment specifies various accounting actions that must occur when property is transferred pursuant to this amendment.

The holder of the property or a person who in good faith delivers the property or information requested in reliance on information provided by a charitable organization and who does not have knowledge that the representations contained in the affidavit a
re incorrect, is not liable to any person for delivering the property or information, and may assume without inquiry the existence of the facts contained in the affidavit. This amendment also specifies that it does not create a presumption that a holder
of
property who in good faith delivers property or information to a charitable organization named as a beneficiary based on less than the full documentation listed above has been negligent.

This amendment requires an entity or individual who receives a request for property or information from a charitable organization to verify the charitable organization's authority within 30 days from the date of delivery of the affidavit.

A right or title acquired from the charitable organization in consideration of the provision of property or information under this amendment is not invalid in consequence of misapplication by the charitable organization. A transaction or lien created by
a transaction entered into by the charitable organization and a person acting in reliance on the affidavit provided by the charitable organization is enforceable against the property that the charitable organization has requested.

If the holder of a property refuses to provide the requested property or information within 30 days after receiving a complete affidavit and all required accompanying documentation from a charitable organization, then the charitable organization may brin
g an action against the holder of the property to recover the property, receive the information, or compel the delivery of the property. Any such action must be brought within one year after the date of the act or failure to provide the requested propert
y
or information. If the court finds that the holder of the property acted unreasonably in failing to deliver the property or information as requested in the affidavit, then the court may award to the charitable organization actual damages, punitive damage
s of $500 to $10,000, and court costs and reasonable attorney fees.

This amendment specifies that it does not apply to insurance policies and annuities.

ON MARCH 26, 2026, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED
SENATE BILL 2642 FOR HOUSE BILL 2112, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2642, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 makes the following revisions:



C
hanges from "commercially reasonable" to "reasonable" the amount of effort a holder of property must use to provide to each charitable organization listed under the beneficiary designation notice that the charitable organization may have a right to the property and the holder's contact information.



Increases the amount of time by which a
holder of property
must
distribute proceeds
to
charitable beneficiaries
that meet the requirements in senate amendment #1 from 30 to 60 days.



Provides that if there is a good faith dispute or uncertainty regarding who is entitled to receive the decedent's property, then this amendment grants the property holder an additional 60 days to distribute the proceeds if the holder sends notice to all potential beneficiaries within the applicable time period as specified in
senate
amendment #1.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL 2112
By Boyd

SENATE BILL 2642
By Roberts
SB2642
012045
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 35
and Title 48, relative to charitable organizations.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 48-101-513(g)(1), is amended by
deleting the last sentence and substituting:
Within seventy-two (72) hours after a modification or change in the information or
documentation required, the secretary of state must be notified in writing of the changes.
Notice may be sent to the secretary of state by mail or email;
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.