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Probate Accounting Preparation Checklist for Attorneys

Most probate accountings stall for one reason: the underlying records arrive incomplete. This checklist is the intake list a drafting team actually works from — organized by accounting year, by account, and by schedule — so a firm can gather everything once instead of chasing statements four times.

Who it's for
Probate attorneys, estate and trust attorneys, guardianship attorneys, and the paralegals supporting them.
Estate accounting schedules, bank statements and a calculator arranged on a desk for probate accounting preparation

Define the accounting period first

  • Date of death and the date letters were issued
  • Opening date and closing date of each accounting year being prepared
  • Whether this is an initial, annual, amended, or final accounting
  • Prior accountings already approved by the court, with their ending balances
  • Any period previously accounted for by a predecessor fiduciary

Assets on hand at the start of the period

  • Inventory as filed, with each item's date-of-death value and valuation source
  • Appraisals for real property, closely held business interests and unique personal property
  • Statements showing the opening balance of every financial account on the first day of the period
  • Titles, deeds, stock certificates and account registrations showing how each asset is held
  • Assets discovered after the inventory was filed, with the date discovered

Every financial account, for every year

  • Complete monthly statements — no gaps, no summary pages substituted for full statements
  • Brokerage statements showing purchases, sales, dividends, reinvestments and realized gain or loss
  • Check images or a check register for any disbursement over the firm's review threshold
  • Deposit detail identifying the source of each receipt (income, refund, sale proceeds, reimbursement)
  • Closing statements for accounts closed mid-period

Receipts and income

  • Interest, dividends and capital gain distributions by account
  • Rents received, with the property and month each payment covers
  • Refunds, insurance proceeds, and government benefit payments
  • Sale proceeds with the closing statement or trade confirmation supporting the amount
  • Business distributions with the entity's supporting record

Disbursements

  • Funeral, burial and final medical expenses
  • Administration expenses: filing fees, bond premiums, appraisal, publication, courier and recording costs
  • Fiduciary and professional compensation, with the authority relied on for each payment
  • Creditor claims paid, matched to the claim as filed
  • Taxes paid, by type and by period, with the return or notice supporting the payment
  • Property carrying costs: insurance, utilities, maintenance, association assessments

Distributions to beneficiaries

  • Each distribution by beneficiary, date, amount and form (cash or in-kind)
  • Receipts and releases signed by the receiving beneficiary
  • In-kind distributions with the valuation used and the date of that valuation
  • Partial or preliminary distributions previously reported

Closing the period

  • Statements showing the closing balance of every account on the last day of the period
  • Reconciliation of opening balance + receipts − disbursements − distributions = closing balance
  • Assets on hand at period end, described the same way they were described at period open
  • Known liabilities and unresolved claims as of the closing date

Records that create the most rework when they are missing

  • One or two missing monthly statements in an otherwise complete year
  • Transfers between estate accounts recorded as receipts on one side only
  • Cash withdrawals with no supporting purpose
  • Commingled fiduciary and personal funds
  • Real property sold mid-period without the closing statement

Practical notes

  • • Assemble records by accounting year, then by account. Preparation cost is driven by transaction volume and the number of accounts per year, not by the size of the estate.
  • • Where statements cannot be obtained, note it in writing before drafting starts — reconstruction from checks, deposits and third-party records is a separate scope.
  • • The attorney of record confirms the court's required format, schedules and any local variation.
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Order attorney-directed support

Confirm the scope in writing, pay the flat fee, sign the service agreement, complete the matter intake, then upload your records to the secure vault. Preparation begins when the file is complete.

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