How to Fill Out Michigan PC 584: Account of Fiduciary Long Form

To fill out Michigan PC 584, the Account of Fiduciary Long Form, you identify the case in the header, complete four schedules covering income, expenses, asset dispositions, and remaining assets, reconcile those totals in the summary section at the top of the form, then file the signed form with the probate court and serve copies on everyone with a legal interest in the case. The blank form is a free download from the Michigan Courts website.¹ The math has to tie out exactly: starting balance plus income minus disbursements equals the assets you still hold.

Make Sure PC 584 Is the Right Form

Michigan has two fiduciary account forms. PC 583 is the short form. PC 584 is the long form, and it is required whenever you sold or otherwise disposed of assets during the accounting period — real estate, stocks, bonds, or anything else. If the only activity was receiving income and paying bills, the short form is usually enough.

The reason the long form exists as its own document is Schedule C, which tracks gains and losses on asset dispositions. A judge can also direct you to use the long form in a complex case or where an interested person has raised concerns. The long form covers everything the short form does, so using it when it is not strictly required causes no problem; filing the short form after you sold assets does.

Gather Your Records First

Because every number on the form has to reconcile, pulling your paperwork together before you start saves a lot of backtracking. You will want:

The starting balance, which is the ending balance from your last approved account, or the inventory value from your initial filing if this is your first account.
Every bank and brokerage statement covering the full accounting period for every account you manage.
Income records for interest, dividends, Social Security, rent, pensions, tax refunds, and any other deposits.
Expense records — receipts, invoices, and canceled checks — for utilities, medical bills, insurance, property taxes, attorney and fiduciary fees, and payments to beneficiaries or creditors.
Documentation for any asset you sold, including the original acquisition value and the sale proceeds. These feed Schedule C.
An itemized list of everything still held at the end of the period, with current fair market values.

Keep the backup organized by category. If the account is challenged, you have to be able to produce the underlying documents.²

Work the Schedules, Then the Summary

The form opens with a header: court, case number, estate or protected person’s name, and the accounting period’s start and end dates. Below that is a summary that works like a balance sheet, pulling totals from the four schedules. Most people find it easier to do the schedules first and come back to the summary.

Schedule A: Income and Gains

List every dollar that came into the estate during the period. Each line should name the source, the date received, and the amount. Common entries are bank interest, stock dividends, Social Security deposits, rent, and insurance proceeds. The Schedule A total carries forward to Line 2 of the summary.²

Schedule B: Expenses, Losses, and Disbursements

Record every payment made from estate funds. That includes housing, medical, and insurance costs, distributions to beneficiaries, payments to creditors, and court-approved fiduciary and attorney fees. Each entry needs a description, date, and amount. The total feeds Line 4 of the summary.¹

Schedule C: Gains and Losses on Asset Dispositions

For each asset you sold or disposed of, record the description, the date you (or the estate) acquired it, the date of sale, the value at the time the fiduciary acquired it, and the sale proceeds. The form calculates the gain or loss on each transaction. If you did not sell anything, you can leave the schedule blank, though in that case the short form was probably the right choice.¹

Schedule D: Assets Remaining at End of Period

Itemize every asset still held on the last day of the accounting period, with current fair market values: the bank balance as of that date, the appraised or assessed value of real property, the market value of investments, and reasonable estimates for personal property. The Schedule D total must match Line 5 of the summary.²

The Summary

Line 1 is the starting balance. Line 2 is the Schedule A total. Line 3 is the sum of Lines 1 and 2. Line 4 is the Schedule B total. Line 5 is Line 3 minus Line 4. That Line 5 figure must equal the Schedule D total exactly. If it does not, something is missing or double-counted, and you need to go back through the bank statements and schedules until the numbers reconcile.²

File With the Court and Serve Interested Persons

File the completed PC 584 with the probate court in the county where your case is pending. Most counties accept filings in person and by mail, and some, including Wayne County, also accept filings by email, fax, or drop box.³ The filing fee for an account is $20 under MCL 600.880b(1). Without the fee, the court will not process the filing.⁴

Filing is only half the job. You must also serve a copy of the account on all interested persons and file proof of service with the court.⁵ The served copy must include a notice telling recipients that any objection should be filed with the court and noticed for hearing. For a decedent’s estate, interested persons typically include devisees under the will (or heirs if there is no will) and creditors with unpaid claims. If a trust is a devisee, the qualified trustee receives notice; if no trustee has qualified, the current trust beneficiaries and any nominated trustee do.⁶ In a conservatorship, the protected individual receives a copy if they are at least 14 and can be located.⁷

Conservators have a filing deadline of 56 days after the anniversary of the date their letters of authority were issued, unless the court sets a different period.⁵

Objections and the Order Allowing the Account

After interested persons receive the account, any of them may file a written objection with the court before the account is allowed. Filing an objection costs the objecting party $20.¹ If an objection is filed and not resolved informally, the court holds a hearing where you may need to produce receipts, bank records, or testimony to justify the transactions in question.

When the review period passes without objections, or after any objections are resolved, the court enters an order allowing the account. That order has real weight. In a conservatorship, an order allowing an intermediate account settles the fiduciary’s liabilities for everything covered in that account, and an order allowing a final account settles all previously unsettled liabilities relating to the conservatorship.⁷ Getting accounts approved on time is the best protection against later claims that you mishandled estate funds.

What Happens If You Skip the Filing

Missing an accounting deadline is a breach of fiduciary duty under Michigan law, and the court has broad remedies. A judge can compel the filing, suspend you, remove you, reduce or deny your compensation, order you to repay money or restore property, or appoint a special fiduciary to take over.⁸ The court can also void transactions and impose a constructive trust on property that was wrongfully distributed. A missed account is often the first signal that triggers closer scrutiny of everything else you have done.

PC 584 Does Not Cover Taxes

Completing PC 584 accounts for the estate’s assets to the probate court. It does not satisfy your separate obligation to file tax returns for the estate or trust. At the federal level, IRS Form 1041 is required if the estate had gross income of $600 or more during the tax year or if any beneficiary is a nonresident alien.⁹ Michigan requires a separate MI-1041 whenever you had to file the federal 1041, or when the estate had Michigan-taxable income not reported on the federal return — informational filings included.¹⁰ A fiduciary who distributes estate assets before paying the government’s claims can be personally liable for the unpaid amount up to the value of what was distributed.¹¹

1
Michigan Courts. Michigan Court Form PC 584 – Account of Fiduciary Long Form
2
Berrien County, Michigan. Instructions for Completing Account of Fiduciary Long Form
3
Wayne County Probate Court. WCPC – Filing
4
Michigan Courts. Probate Court Fee Tables February 2025
5
Wayne County Probate Court. Michigan Court Rules of 1985 Rule 5.409 Report of Guardian
6
Kent County, MI. Accountings
7
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.5418 – Conservator Accounting
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 700.1308 – Breach of Fiduciary Duty; Remedies
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6012 – Persons Required to Make Returns of Income
10
Michigan Department of Treasury. MI-1041 Fiduciary Income Tax Return Instructions
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 U.S. Code 3713 – Priority of Government Claims