How Much Life Insurance Do I Need in Tennessee?

A year at a public four-year university in Tennessee costs about $21,279NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 330.20, public 4-year in-state tuition, fees, room and board, academic year 2022-23Verified Oct 3, 2026View source with tuition, fees, room and board; a four-year degree about $85,116NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 330.20, public 4-year in-state tuition, fees, room and board, academic year 2022-23Verified Oct 3, 2026View source. Education funding is one of the four DIME components.

No. Tennessee levies no estate tax and no inheritance taxNo Tennessee death tax is payable. The inheritance tax (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 67, ch. 8, pt. 3) remains codified but is switched off: § 67-8-318 (Acts 2012, ch. 1057, § 3) — "This part does not apply in the case of any decedent who died in 2016 or in any subsequent year"; TN DOR — "The inheritance tax is no longer imposed after December 31, 2015. Please DO NOT file for decedents with dates of death in 2016 or after." The separate Tennessee estate tax (Title 67, ch. 8, pt. 2, § 67-8-204) is a federal-credit pickup keyed to the credit "allowable ... by § 2011 of the Internal Revenue Code" (§ 67-8-202(1)); 26 U.S.C. § 2011 was repealed (Pub. L. 113-295 § 221(a)(95)(A)(i)), so that tax computes to $0. The gift tax (pt. 1) likewise does not apply to gifts made on or after Jan. 1, 2012 (§ 67-8-118).Verified Sep 15, 2026View source. Only the federal estate tax applies, above $15,000,00026 USC 2001(c), 2010; P.L. 119-21 §70106Verified Sep 15, 2026View source per person, so for most Tennessee households life insurance planning is about income replacement and debt, not tax.

Tennessee's cost of living index is 0.919BEA Regional Price Parities, all items, by state, 2024Verified Oct 3, 2026View source, where 1.00 is the national average: 8% below the U.S. averageBEA Regional Price Parities, all items, by state, 2024Verified Oct 3, 2026View source. A median home costs $334,108Zillow Home Value Index, state, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, August 2026Verified Oct 3, 2026View source and a year of childcare $13,926Child Care Aware of America, Child Care in America: Price and Supply, center-based infant care, 2025 report (CO, DC, NM and SC carry the most recent earlier edition)Verified Oct 3, 2026View source. Income replacement is figured on actual income, which already reflects local costs; the index is the context for the debts and the years the coverage has to carry.

The beneficiary designation on the policy, not the will or the trust, decides who receives the proceeds. Tennessee's rules on divorce revocation, spousal consent and the per-stirpes default can change the outcome, and an outdated designation stays in force whatever the other documents say. The Tennessee beneficiary designation checker applies those rules.