Probate Accounting, Explained in Plain Language

If you were just named executor, accounting is the part nobody explains well. This guide covers what courts expect, in the order you will need it — and links to the free tools that do the arithmetic for you.

1. The inventory: value everything at the date of death

The estate is valued as it stood on the date of death. Real property typically needs an appraisal; accounts need statements; personal property takes a good-faith estimate. Assets that pass by beneficiary designation (life insurance with a TOD clause, payable-on-death accounts) belong outside the probate inventory — but record them anyway, so nothing is lost.

2. The ledger: every movement, four kinds

• Money in — the estate receives: interest, rent, dividends, refunds
• Money out — the estate pays: funeral, taxes, filing fees, professionals
• Distributions — property or cash delivered to beneficiaries
• Reimbursable — you paid personally; the estate owes it back to you

Write descriptions a stranger can follow: "County filing fee for appointment petition" — not "check". Keep every voucher; cancelled checks are your receipts at tie-out time.

3. Income vs principal

Interest, rent and dividends earned during administration are income. The house, and proceeds of selling it, are principal. Most courts and all trusts want them separate — the Ledger flags each movement as you enter it.

4. Sales: gains and losses

Sell an inventoried asset and the court wants the gain or loss versus its date-of-death value: proceeds of 315,000 on a home valued 300,000 is a 15,000 gain — and the proceeds belong in estate cash. One cash receipt plus one gain line; never record the proceeds as a second "income" entry.

5. Distributions and closing

Record what each beneficiary received and when. When everything is distributed and all accounts settle, the final accounting must balance: everything received equals everything paid out, distributed, or still on hand.

State notes

California uses Judicial Council forms (GC-400/GC-405 series) — the structured data the Ledger produces maps onto them, but the form itself must be used. New York requires a formal accounting in Surrogate's Court format. VA/NC/FL/PA/TX — check your clerk; several accept a charge-and-discharge format close to the sample. Your attorney or clerk confirms the exact requirement — this guide does not substitute for that.

Mini-glossary

• Charge-and-discharge — the two-column statement balancing charges against credits
• Executor / personal representative — the court-appointed administrator of the estate
• Voucher — cancelled check or receipt proving a disbursement
• Tie-out — proving ledger numbers against bank statements
• TOD / POD — transfer/payable on death; passes outside probate

Useful official sources

• IRS Publication 559 — Survivors, Executors and Administrators
• California courts self-help
• Your county clerk or probate court website — filings, fees, local forms

Estate Ledger is an educational organizing tool — not legal advice. Court filing formats vary; confirm your court's requirements. Content checked 2026-10-17.