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The rules behind it
- Conservatorships and guardianships: the first account is due one year after appointment, and later accounts at least every two years, unless the court orders them more often (Prob. Code §2620(a)).
- Probate estates: within 12 months after letters issue, or 18 months if a federal estate tax return is required, the personal representative petitions for final distribution or files a report of the status of administration (§12200). An interested person may petition for an account at any time, and the court must order one if the petition comes more than a year after letters or the last account (§10950). A personal representative who resigns or is removed accounts within 60 days (§10952), as does the legal representative of one who dies or becomes incapacitated, within 60 days of appointment (§10953). Waivers can excuse the account (§10954).
- Trusts: the trustee accounts at least annually, at termination and on a change of trustee (§16062). If a beneficiary asks in writing and no account arrives within 60 days, and none was made in the six months before, the beneficiary may petition to compel one (§17200(b)(7)(C)).
When a deadline is close
Balanced is a new kind of software for California fiduciary accountings. From the PDF bank and brokerage statements, Balanced generates the accounting in minutes to hours, rather than the days, weeks or months of manual work it otherwise takes: transactions classified to their schedules, carry values tracked lot by lot, each account reconciled to its own statements, the summary balanced to the penny, and each entry cited to the statement and page from which it was drawn, delivered as one fully editable Excel workbook. $699 per accounting.