Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-2-204

This is the official text of Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-2-204, part of Tennessee’s Code Ann — part of the compiled statutory law of Tennessee, published by the state as "Code Ann." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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Death of party after appointment of agent

Official statutory text

(a) The owner, chauffeur or operator of any motor vehicle that is not licensed under the laws of this state or any nonresident of this state who hires or procures the use of a motor vehicle licensed under the laws of this state for temporary use in this state, and who makes use of the privilege extended to nonresidents of the state, to operate such vehicle on the highway or highways within the state, shall be deemed to have consented that the appointment of the secretary of state as the owner's, chauffeur's, operator's or nonresident's agent for the purposes set forth in § 20-2-203 shall be irrevocable and binding upon such owner's, chauffeur's, operator's or nonresident's executor or administrator. (b) Where the person has died prior to the commencement of an action brought pursuant to § 20-2-203 , this section and §§ 20-2-205 - 20-2-207, service of process shall be made on the executor, executrix, administrator or administratrix of the decedent in the same manner as is provided for action commenced while the person is living. (c) Where an action has been duly commenced under § 20-2-203 , this section and §§ 20-2-205 - 20-2-207 by service upon a defendant who dies thereafter, the court shall allow the action to be continued against the person's executor or administrator upon motion with such notice as the court deems proper. C. Supp. 1950, § 8675.1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 20-225.
(a) The owner, chauffeur or operator of any motor vehicle that is not licensed under the laws of this state or any nonresident of this state who hires or procures the use of a motor vehicle licensed under the laws of this state for temporary use in this state, and who makes use of the privilege extended to nonresidents of the state, to operate such vehicle on the highway or highways within the state, shall be deemed to have consented that the appointment of the secretary of state as the owner's, chauffeur's, operator's or nonresident's agent for the purposes set forth in § 20-2-203 shall be irrevocable and binding upon such owner's, chauffeur's, operator's or nonresident's executor or administrator.
(b) Where the person has died prior to the commencement of an action brought pursuant to § 20-2-203 , this section and §§ 20-2-205 - 20-2-207, service of process shall be made on the executor, executrix, administrator or administratrix of the decedent in the same manner as is provided for action commenced while the person is living.
(c) Where an action has been duly commenced under § 20-2-203 , this section and §§ 20-2-205 - 20-2-207 by service upon a defendant who dies thereafter, the court shall allow the action to be continued against the person's executor or administrator upon motion with such notice as the court deems proper.
C. Supp. 1950, § 8675.1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 20-225.

Status: in_force

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.