The types of cases heard in chancery court are equity cases: disputes where the person suing needs a court order rather than a check. That covers trust and estate fights, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate and business disputes, real estate claims like specific performance and quiet title, and in some states guardianships, conservatorships, and even divorce. The common thread is that money damages alone won’t fix the problem.
The Equity Threshold
Before a chancery court will take a case, the person bringing the claim generally has to show “no adequate remedy at law.” Ordinary damages have to be insufficient to make them whole. A contract for the sale of a house is the classic illustration: every parcel of land is treated as legally unique, so no dollar amount truly replaces the specific property promised. The same reasoning extends to harm that is hard to quantify, like damage to a business’s reputation, ongoing violations of someone’s rights, or a trustee quietly draining an estate.
Chancery courts also operate without juries. The Seventh Amendment preserves the right to a jury in “suits at common law,” and the Supreme Court has long read that phrase to exclude equitable claims. A chancellor or vice chancellor hears the evidence and decides both the facts and the remedy.
Trust, Estate, and Fiduciary Disputes
Trust and estate litigation is bread-and-butter work for these courts. When someone creates a trust, they hand control of assets to a trustee who is supposed to manage them for named beneficiaries. Fights break out over how the trust should be interpreted, whether the trustee is following its terms, or whether the trust was validly created at all. A chancery court can remove a trustee, appoint a replacement, or rewrite ambiguous provisions to match the original intent.
Estate administration generates similar conflicts. Heirs may challenge whether a will was executed properly, argue that a later will revoked an earlier one, or accuse an executor of favoring certain beneficiaries. The relief needed goes beyond writing a check. The court might order an executor to produce a full accounting of every transaction, redistribute assets that were improperly allocated, or halt a sale of estate property until the dispute is resolved.
When a trustee or executor breaches their fiduciary duty, the remedy often takes the form of a surcharge, which holds the fiduciary personally liable for losses their mismanagement caused. The court calculates what the trust or estate would have been worth had the fiduciary acted properly, then orders the fiduciary to make up the difference out of their own pocket. Self-dealing, unauthorized investments, and failure to diversify assets are the accusations that show up most often.
Business and Corporate Disputes
Corporate litigation in chancery courts tends to involve high stakes and tight timelines. A company announces a merger, and shareholders file suit claiming the board failed to get the best price. A controlling stockholder pushes through a transaction that benefits them at the expense of minority owners. A board member competes directly with the company in violation of their fiduciary obligations. These cases land in chancery because the relief sought is usually an injunction blocking a transaction, a declaration that the board breached its duties, or an order unwinding a deal that already closed.
Delaware’s Court of Chancery draws most of the national attention here. More than half of publicly traded U.S. companies are incorporated in Delaware, so disputes over mergers, board conduct, and shareholder rights regularly land there.
Chancery courts also handle disputes among business partners and LLC members. When co-owners reach an impasse on management decisions, the court can order a dissolution or appoint a receiver to wind down operations. Breach-of-contract claims between businesses sometimes end up here too, particularly when specific performance is the right remedy, such as compelling a party to complete an asset purchase that money alone wouldn’t replace.
Speed matters in corporate cases. A proposed merger might close in weeks, so a shareholder challenging the deal needs relief fast or the claim becomes moot. Chancery courts can grant expedited proceedings when the party seeking speed shows the threatened harm is both imminent and irreparable.
Real Estate and Property Cases
Land is treated as unique, which makes real estate a natural fit for equity. Several recurring case types sit here.
Specific performance. When a seller backs out of a purchase agreement, the buyer can ask the court to compel the sale rather than take damages. Courts apply this presumption most strongly when the buyer intended to live in the home.
Quiet title actions. These lawsuits ask the court to determine who actually owns a piece of property and to eliminate competing claims. The need arises when there’s a gap in the chain of title, a recorded lien that should have been released, a boundary dispute with a neighbor, or an old deed that creates ambiguity about ownership. The judgment clears the title so the owner can sell or refinance.
Partition actions. These come up when co-owners can’t agree what to do with a property. Inherited property is the typical scenario: three siblings inherit a house, one wants to sell, one wants to keep it, and one won’t return phone calls. The court can order the property physically divided (if that’s practical) or sold, with proceeds split among the owners.
Easement disputes. Claims that one landowner has a right to use another’s property for access or utilities also fall within equitable jurisdiction.
Guardianships, Conservatorships, and Family Matters
Some chancery courts handle guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. When an adult can no longer manage their finances or personal care due to illness, injury, or cognitive decline, a family member or other interested party can petition the court to appoint someone to act on their behalf. Depending on the state, that person may be called a guardian (typically overseeing personal decisions like medical care and living arrangements) or a conservator (managing financial affairs). The standard of proof is high because the proceeding strips legal rights from a living person, and ongoing oversight is common.
Mississippi is the outlier on domestic relations. Its chancery courts hear divorce, child custody, child support, and adoption, alongside more traditional equity cases. Most states route family law through dedicated family courts or general jurisdiction trial courts. Tennessee’s chancery courts don’t handle divorce but do hear cases involving minors’ estates and wards’ claims against guardians.
Mental health commitments, where a court orders involuntary treatment or institutional placement for someone with a serious psychiatric condition, fall within chancery jurisdiction in some states as well. These proceedings require clear evidence that the person poses a danger to themselves or others, or is so impaired they cannot meet basic needs.
Which States Still Have Separate Chancery Courts
Most states merged their law and equity courts long ago, giving a single trial court the power to award both money damages and equitable relief. If you live in one of those states, your equity dispute will be heard in regular trial court, not a chancery court. Only a few states kept them separate.
Delaware, Mississippi, and Tennessee each maintain standalone chancery courts with distinct judges and dockets. New Jersey takes a hybrid approach, housing a Chancery Division within its Superior Court that handles equity matters, family law, and probate. The exact scope of what each court hears varies, so the type of case that belongs in chancery in Mississippi may belong in a different courtroom entirely in Tennessee or Delaware.
How Chancery Courts Enforce What They Order
A money judgment from a regular court can be enforced by seizing bank accounts or garnishing wages. Chancery orders work differently because they typically require someone to do something, and you can’t garnish compliance. The primary enforcement tool is contempt of court. If a party ignores an injunction, refuses to transfer property as ordered, or fails to produce an accounting, the court can hold them in civil contempt and impose escalating sanctions, including fines and jail time, until they comply.
Courts can also issue a writ of sequestration, which directs a government official to seize and hold specific property under court supervision until the case is resolved. The U.S. Marshals Service describes this as a prejudgment process that preserves named property pending the outcome of litigation.1U.S. Marshals Service. Writ of Sequestration That prevents a party from selling, hiding, or destroying assets while the court decides who rightfully owns them.
Between personal enforcement through contempt and asset preservation through sequestration, a chancery decree is harder to ignore than a defendant might expect. The strategy of absorbing a fine and moving on, which sometimes works against a money judgment, doesn’t play out the same way in equity.