This article included material written by Margaret Valentine Turano and reprinted from McKinney’s SCPA 2205, Practice Commentaries, Copyright © Thomson Reuters. It did not attribute the original work and the authors and the New York Law Journal wish to do so now.

A fundamental duty of a fiduciary is to account for his or her actions. A will or trust instrument cannot exonerate him or her from that requirement. See EPTL §11-1.7. However, despite the requirement that a fiduciary must account, there is no statutory provision that requires a fiduciary to provide periodic accountings. An executor ordinarily accounts when he or she winds up the administration of the estate. Trustees typically account every five to 10 years and again when the trust terminates or when a trustee ceases to serve.