According to tncourts.gov, chancery courts are courts of equity that are based on the English system in which the chancellor acted as the “King’s conscience.” A chancellor, the judge who presides over chancery courts, may modify the application of strict legal rules and adapt relief to the circumstances of individual cases. Chancery Courts handle a variety of issues including lawsuits, contract disputes, application for injunctions and name changes. A number of matters, such as divorces, adoptions, and workers’ compensation, can be heard in either chancery or circuit court.
Judicial districts 12 and 13 each have an incumbent chancellor running for re-election in 2022 on the Republican ballot. The 12st district serves Bledsoe, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Rhea, and Sequatchie counties while the 13th district serves Clay, Cumberland, Dekalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam and White counties. The Republican primary will be on May 3rd, with early voting April 13th through April 28th. Each position will also be on the general election ballot on August 4th, with early voting July 15th through July 30th.
Year Elected/Appointed:
2018
Previous Employment:
Partner: Blevins & Blevins, PLLC
Education:
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga – BSW 1997
Nashville School of Law – 2002
National Judicial College – 2019
Memberships:
- 12th Judicial District Recovery Court Judge
- Presiding Judge- 12th Judicial District: 2020-present
- Tennessee Judicial Conference Member
- Middle Tennessee Governor: Tennessee Judicial Conference
- Tennessee Judicial Conference Domestic Relations Committee; Technology in the Courts Committee, Strategic Planning Committee
- Tennessee Trial Judges Association Member
- 12th Judicial District Bar President: 2017-2018
- Brock-Cooper American Inn of Court: Masters of the Bench Membership: 2021
Chancellor of the 13th Judicial District, Thurman was elected Chancellor in 2006 after the retirement of Chancellor Vernon Neal. The Thirteenth Judicial
District consists of Clay, Cumberland, Dekalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam and White counties.
A native of Overton County, Chancellor Thurman is the son of the late Cecil and Wanda Thurman of Allons, Tennessee. He graduated from Tennessee
Technology University in 1981 and the University of Memphis School of Law, with honors, in 1984. He practiced law in Cookeville for twenty-two years before being elected Chancellor in 2006.
Chancellor Thurman is married to Tina Thurman. Mrs. Thurman has taught in Putnam County Schools for the past thirty-one years. Currently she teaches
part-time at Cane Creek Elementary School. She has also taught at Baxter Elementary and Capshaw Elementary and Prescott South Elementary School.
The Thurman’s have two children, Blake, and wife, Alyssa Westmoreland Thurman, who reside in Putnam County and Parker, who resides in Humbolt
County, California.
Chancellor Thurman has served as president of the Cookeville Jaycees, an adjunct professor at TTU, he is a member of the Putnam County Bar Association, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, The American Trial Lawyers Association. He is a co-founder of the Upper Cumberland Trial Lawyers Association. Chancellor Thurman is a fellow in the Tennessee Bar Foundation and serves as chairman of the Domestic Relations Committee for the Tennessee Judicial Conference. Ron and Tina are long time members of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church where Ron serves as an elder.
In addition to his duties as Chancellor for the past 15 years, Thurman serves as Probate Judge in Pickett, Clay, Overton and Dekalb counties. For the last four years Chancellor Thurman has been elected and has served as presiding judge for the 13th Judicial District of Tennessee.
In making his announcement, Chancellor Thurman stated that he looks forward to again serving as Chancellor for the 13th Judicial District and that he
will continue to fullfill the duties of Chancellor by applying the law fairly as he promised in his 2006 campaign.
Chancellor Thurman will run in the Republican Primary which is scheduled for May 3, 2022 and the general election in August, 2022.