Plain-English answers on fiduciary accounting.
Short, practical guides for trustees, executors, conservators, and the attorneys and fiduciaries who help them. General information — not legal or tax advice.
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Four Lines prepares court-ready trust, estate, and conservatorship accountings from messy or missing records: principal and income separated under UFIPA, charges balanced to credits, in California §1061/GC-400 and Florida Rule 5.346 format. Flat fee, quoted up front. Never a blind quote.
New here? If you're behind or worried about personal liability, start with Years behind? and Trustee surcharge.
Start here: behind, worried, or on the hook
The urgent ones first.
Years behind on an accounting?
Falling behind risks personal liability. How to get current — from raw records, fast.
Trustee liabilityWhat is a trustee surcharge?
Unexplained transactions can put your own assets at risk. How a complete accounting protects you.
Compelled to accountPetitioned to compel your accounting?
A beneficiary asked the court to make you account. What the judge will order — and how to hand back one that survives scrutiny.
PricingWhat does a trust accounting cost?
Why hourly firms won't quote up front — and how a flat fee compares.
How it works & what to use
The process, the tools, and the court formats.
How to prepare a trust accounting
The full process, step by step — and where the real work hides.
ToolsCan QuickBooks do a trust accounting?
It keeps the books but can't produce a court format. What to use instead.
Court formatCalifornia vs. Florida court formats
§1061 / GC-400 vs. Fla. Prob. R. 5.346 / §744.3678 — and what UFIPA changed.
Court formatCalifornia Probate Code §1061 formats
The summary of account, charges = credits, the §1062–1063 schedules, and carry vs. market value.
CommunityHow institutions treat estates
Anonymous, moderated experiences of how banks, brokerages & lenders handle estates.
The basics & the rules
Start from the ground up.
What is a trust accounting?
The report a trustee owes — and why it isn't a tax return.
DeadlinesWhen is a trust accounting required?
The triggers and deadlines — annual, termination, change of trustee, on demand.
Principal & incomePrincipal vs. income, explained
The split generalists get wrong — and why beneficiaries care.
By matter type & for beneficiaries
Conservatorships, estates, and the beneficiary's side.
Conservatorship & guardianship accountings
What GC-400/405 (CA) and §744.3678 (FL) require — and how to catch up.
Estates & probateEstate accounting for final distribution
What a probate estate accounting includes, and how it fits the final petition.
For beneficiariesA beneficiary's guide
How to request an accounting, read one, spot red flags, and what to do if it's refused.
UFIPAUFIPA, explained
The one rule that decides who gets paid from a trust — principal vs. income, the power to adjust, and the unitrust.
For attorneysAI for trust & estate attorneys
Where AI actually pays off in fiduciary accounting — and where a chatbot creates exposure.
Worked exampleA sample trust (and estate) accounting
A filled-in accounting that balances to the penny — every schedule, and how to read one for red flags.
Getting startedInherited a shoebox of records?
Newly named executor or trustee? The five first moves, the two deadlines, and why reconstruction is hard.
FirearmsThere are guns in the estate?
Where to look, whether a gun is registered, how to get rid of one, and giving one to a relative legally. CA & FL.
Working with your CPACan my CPA do a trust accounting?
A court accounting is a different animal — keep your CPA on the tax side and hand them clean books.
WaiversA waiver of accounting isn't a release
It doesn't get you off the hook — and presenting one can actually shorten how long you can be sued.
Estate vs. trustEstate vs. trust vs. tax vs. GAAP
Four different "accountings" from the same transactions — who reads each, and why one never replaces another.
ValuationCarry value vs. market value
Why an accounting carries assets at a fixed value — date-of-death valuation, and where it gets hard.
Fiduciary dutyMessy records are not an excuse
Cleaning them up is your fiduciary duty — and every gap is construed against you.
DeadlinesCalifornia & Florida probate deadlines
The default CA and FL statutory deadlines a trustee or executor owes — inventory, accountings, closing — in one chart.
Trustee dutyThe trustee's duty to account
Who you owe, when, and why silence — or a number you can't source — is where personal liability starts.
SoftwareFiduciary accounting software: a buyer's guide
What it must actually do, the one red flag, and the real (expensive) players — ONESOURCE, GEMS, TEdec.
ComparisonSix ways to get messy records accounted for
DIY, bookkeeper, CPA, software, cleanup service, or specialist — the honest trade-offs, and which survives probate.
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