Florida’s Guardianship Annual Accounting Form: Filing and Penalties

If you are a guardian of the property in Florida, you must file a verified annual accounting with the Clerk of the Circuit Court by April 1 each year, covering the prior calendar year. The Florida guardianship annual accounting uses a standardized form with a summary page and five schedules, is uploaded through the statewide E-Filing Portal, and must include year-end statements for every cash account the ward holds.¹

Who Has to File

Every person serving as guardian of the property files, whether a professional guardian, a family member, or any other court-appointed fiduciary responsible for a ward’s finances.¹ There are two ways out of the full report:

If the court determines the ward’s only income is Social Security benefits and the guardian serves as representative payee, the annual accounting requirement does not apply.¹
If all of the ward’s assets sit in designated depositories and the only account activity is interest accrual, settlement deposits, or bank service charges, the guardian may use the simplified annual accounting under Section 744.3679 instead of the full report.²

One point of confusion worth clearing: the 90-day annual guardianship plan deadline you may have read about applies to guardians of the person, not guardians of the property. The property accounting is on the April 1 schedule described below.

The April 1 Deadline and What Happens If You Miss It

Unless the court has authorized fiscal-year filing, the accounting is due on or before April 1 and must cover the preceding calendar year. If the court directs fiscal-year filing, the deadline moves to the first day of the fourth month after that fiscal year ends.³

Miss the deadline, and the court will order you to file within 15 days or show cause why you cannot. The order is served on you or your registered agent. Ignore it, and the court can hold you in contempt and impose a fine that you pay personally; it cannot come out of the ward’s assets.⁴ Continued noncompliance can lead to your removal as guardian.³

What Goes on the Form

Florida Probate Rule 5.696 sets the model format: a summary page followed by five schedules.⁵ The form itself is available from your local Clerk of the Circuit Court or your judicial circuit’s probate forms page. Different circuits post slightly different versions, but the statutory structure is the same everywhere.

Summary Page

The summary opens with the starting balance of all assets on hand at the beginning of the period, then lists total receipts, total disbursements, capital transactions and adjustments, remuneration paid, and assets on hand at the end. For a first-year filing, the starting balance comes from the initial verified inventory. In every year after that, the starting balance must match the ending balance from the prior year’s approved accounting, and the court checks that continuity.⁵

Schedule A — Receipts

Every dollar that came into the ward’s estate during the year: Social Security, pensions, interest, dividends, rental income, insurance proceeds, and anything else. Each entry needs the date received, a short description, the payer, and the amount. The statute requires a “full and correct account,” so rounding or lumping deposits will draw an audit question.¹

Schedule B — Disbursements

Every payment made from the ward’s funds. Medical and dental bills, prescriptions, insurance premiums, housing costs, utilities, food, clothing, personal care. Each entry needs the date, the payee, a brief description, and the amount. If a court order authorized the disbursement, note the date of that order in the designated column. Expenditures that weren’t pre-approved by the court can expose you to personal liability.⁶

Schedule C — Capital Transactions and Adjustments

Any asset bought, sold, or transferred during the year. Each transaction shows the date, a description of the asset, and the net gain or loss. Gains and losses are shown separately within the same schedule.⁵

Schedule D — Remuneration

All fees paid from the ward’s estate during the year: guardian fees, attorney fees, accountant fees, and other professional costs, with the type, source, court order date, and amount. Florida law entitles the guardian and attorney to reasonable compensation, but the court evaluates fees based on multiple factors including time and labor, skill required, customary rates, and the size and complexity of the estate.⁷ Every fee petition needs an itemized description of services, and the ward must receive notice before the court approves payment.

Schedule E — Assets on Hand

Close with an inventory of everything the ward owns at year-end. Non-cash assets (real estate, investments, personal property) show both the acquisition or carrying value and the estimated current value. Cash accounts list the financial institution, account type, whether the account is restricted or unrestricted, and the balance, identified by at least the last four digits of the account number. The ending total becomes next year’s starting balance, so get it right.⁶

What to Attach, What to Keep

A common misconception trips up first-time filers: you do not attach receipts, canceled checks, or most supporting documents to the accounting. Florida Probate Rule 5.696 says the guardian need not file substantiating documents with the court unless specifically ordered to.⁵

What you do attach is one thing: a copy of the annual or year-end statement for every cash account the ward holds, from each financial institution where funds are deposited.¹ Those statements let the clerk verify the ending cash balances on Schedule E.

Keep everything else. You must preserve every receipt, canceled check, and proof of payment for three years after you are discharged as guardian, not three years after the accounting is filed. The clerk can request any of it during an audit, and the court can compel you to produce it within a set period.¹

Verification and the Audit Fee

You verify the accounting under oath before filing. Florida Probate Rule 5.696 requires it.⁵ The form includes a certification block where you affirm that you have obtained a receipt or canceled check for all expenditures, that you will preserve supporting papers for three years after discharge, and that the documents will be available for inspection as the court orders.⁶ You are signing under penalty of perjury.

Filing triggers an audit fee paid from the ward’s estate to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, scaled to the estate’s value:¹

$25,000 or less: up to $20
$25,001 to $100,000: up to $85
$100,001 to $500,000: up to $170
Over $500,000: up to $250

If the estate cannot cover the fee, you can petition the court for a waiver, supported by documentation.¹

Filing Through the E-Filing Portal

Florida requires court documents to be filed electronically through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, operated by the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority.⁸ The portal is free; the audit fee and any payment processing charges are paid at submission.

Documents must be uploaded in PDF/A format and must be electronically searchable and printable.⁹ If you are scanning paper, use 300 DPI and run OCR so the text is searchable. Upload each schedule and each bank statement as its own file rather than one combined PDF. The portal generates a confirmation after upload that serves as proof of timely filing.

After You File

Unless the ward is a minor or has been determined totally incapacitated, you must give the ward a copy of the accounting and review it with them to the extent possible. Any interested person, including the ward, then has 30 days from the filing date to submit written objections identifying what they dispute.¹⁰ Interested persons typically include family members, co-guardians, and anyone the court has recognized as having standing. If objections are filed, the court holds a hearing to resolve them.

Meanwhile, the clerk audits the report. The clerk checks the math, confirms the starting balance matches the prior year’s ending balance, and reviews whether reported transactions line up with existing court authorizations. If something is missing or unexplained, the clerk can request records and ask the court to compel production if you don’t cooperate.⁴

After reviewing the accounting and any objections, the court enters an order approving or disapproving the report. If the court disapproves, you must file a revised version or provide proof of the questioned items within a timeframe the court sets. An approved accounting is more than a formality: it constitutes your authority to act during the coming year, and your powers are limited to what the approved report covers. You may continue operating under the last approved report until the new one is approved.¹¹

Penalties for Late or Inaccurate Filings

The sequence escalates. First comes the 15-day show-cause order. Ignore it, and the court can hold you in contempt and impose a personal fine.⁴ Continued noncompliance can mean removal from the case.³

Because the accounting is signed under oath, false figures can expose you to perjury consequences. Interested persons can also petition to surcharge you, holding you personally liable for financial losses the ward’s estate suffered from mismanagement or unauthorized expenditures. If the court finds a breach of fiduciary duty, it will take whatever action is necessary to protect the ward and the ward’s remaining assets. The guardian owes the ward independence and impartiality and may not use the relationship for personal gain beyond court-approved fees.¹²

A Note on Tax Filings

The annual accounting handles court oversight of the ward’s finances, not the ward’s taxes, but the certification you sign asks you to confirm that returns have been filed and taxes owed during the accounting period have been paid. For a living ward, you generally file a standard Form 1040 on the ward’s behalf; Form 1041 applies to decedent estates and trusts, not to living wards.¹³ Keep the tax records with the accounting documentation so both are ready when the clerk or court asks.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 744.3678 – Annual Accounting
2
Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. Simplified Annual Guardianship Accounting
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 744.367 – Duty to File Annual Guardianship Report
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 744.3685 – Order Requiring Guardianship Report; Contempt
5
Supreme Court of Florida. In Re: Amendments to the Florida Probate Rules
6
Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. Annual Guardianship Accounting
7
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 744.108 – Guardian and Attorney Fees and Expenses
8
Florida Courts E-Filing Authority. Florida Courts E-Filing Portal
9
Florida Courts E-Filing Authority. Portal Filer User Manual
10
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 744.367 – Duty to File Annual Guardianship Report
11
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 744.369 – Judicial Review of Guardianship Reports
12
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 744.446 – Conflicts of Interest; Prohibited Activities; Court Approval; Breach of Fiduciary Duty
13
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts