When it is due
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 (Prob. Code §12200). Use the deadline calculator. The court may also order an account at any time, and on an interested person’s petition must order one more than a year after letters or the last account (§10950).
What the account contains
Many estates file only one executorship accounting: the first and final account. An account includes both a financial statement, in the format of Probate Code §§1060–1064, and a report of administration (§10900(a)). The report covers, among other things, whether notice to creditors was given and each claim filed, the action taken on it, and any claim not yet paid (§10900(b)). The petition commonly includes the statutory compensation of the personal representative and attorney (§§10800, 10810). See a complete sample probate accounting, including creditor claims and the fee computation.
When the account can be waived
A personal representative need not file an account if each distributee waives it in writing or acknowledges that their interest has been satisfied, or adequate provision has been made for satisfying it (§10954(a)). A final report of administration is still filed, disclosing the compensation paid to the personal representative and the attorney and how it was determined, and an unpaid creditor may still petition for an account (§10954(c)).
The order
When the estate is in a condition to be closed, the court makes an order for final distribution (§11640(a)). Your court’s local rules may require more; check them before filing.
For probate attorneys: the fee is fixed, the time is not
In a California probate estate, the attorney’s compensation for ordinary services is set by statute from the value of the estate accounted for, not from the hours spent (Prob. Code §10810). The hours a paralegal spends building the account by hand are hours the fee does not grow to cover. Balanced generates the account from the estate’s statements in hours, for $699, so the same staff can handle more estates, and the final account and petition can be filed sooner.
Generate the final account
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.