The question is who is handling the estate. If the estate is small (I think the Tennessee limit is $25,000), it may be informally handled by the small estate process. If it is larger, a full up probate will be conducted. If someone has started either of these processes, you would contact them. If not, you can possibly start one. An attorney will help. The first step of either process is to determine if there was a will or not and find it. If your mother had an attorney to draft it, that's usually a good person to enlist in the process. Otherwise, you may need to dig through her personal papers.