It is well settled law in New York state that every fiduciary of an estate or trust must account to the beneficiaries that he or she serves (see Matter of Rappaport, 96 N.Y.S.2d 741, 743 (Kings Cty. Sur. Ct. 1950); see also Matter of Grove, NYLJ, June 27, 1989, p. 23, col. 1)) and to render a full and accurate account of his proceedings as fiduciary (see Matter of Donner, 82 N.Y.2d 574; Matter of Lasser, NYLJ, March 13, 1996, p. 30, col. 5). However, that does not mean that every fiduciary’s account must be settled judicially in the Surrogate’s Court. In fact, most estate and trust accountings are settled without the need to file a formal or judicial accounting in the Surrogate’s Court. This article, which will be the first in a series, will discuss settling fiduciary accounts informally rather than the fiduciary being compelled pursuant to Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) §2205 or through the voluntary judicial settlement process as prescribed in the SCPA §2210.

Informal accounts sound exactly like their title, informal. However, numbers written on a piece of paper will not suffice as an informal account. When representing a fiduciary, counsel must be mindful that the protection an informal accounting provides the fiduciary are only as good as the disclosure the account provides to the beneficiaries.

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