How to Fill Out Michigan’s Account of Fiduciary Short Form (PC 583)

Michigan’s PC 583, the Account of Fiduciary Short Form, is the document a conservator files each year to show the probate court every dollar that came into and left a protected person’s estate. It is due within 56 days after the end of each accounting period, which usually falls on the anniversary of the date your letters of authority were issued.¹ Download the current version free from the Michigan Courts website, or pick up a blank copy at any probate court office.

Is the Short Form the Right Choice

Michigan offers two accounting forms: PC 583 (short form) and PC 584 (long form). The short form works for estates with a manageable number of assets and straightforward income and expenses. If the estate holds complex investment portfolios, business interests, or a high volume of transactions that will not fit cleanly into two columns, the long form gives you room to itemize. No statute sets a dollar-amount line between them. The choice comes down to whether the short form’s layout can capture what happened during the year. When you are not sure, ask the clerk in your probate court which form they prefer for your situation.

The Minor-Conservatorship Exception

If you serve as conservator for a minor and the court ordered all assets placed into a restricted account, you generally do not file a full annual accounting at all. Instead, you file an annual verification of funds on deposit with a copy of the corresponding bank statement. The same exception applies when the conservator has received no assets. A judge can override the exception and order a standard accounting if circumstances change.²

Gather Your Records First

Before you touch the form, pull together every financial record for the accounting period: bank and investment statements, benefit award letters, receipts, invoices, and documentation of any property sales or losses. You will also need your last approved account, or the inventory you filed at the start of the conservatorship if this is your first accounting. The form works through a simple equation: beginning balance plus income minus disbursements equals ending balance, and that ending balance has to match the assets you still hold. Every number needs a paper trail.

How to Fill Out PC 583

Line 2a: Beginning Balance

Enter the value from your most recently approved account. If this is your first account, use the total from the inventory you filed when the conservatorship was established. The form labels this line “Balance on hand from last account, or value of inventory, if first account.”³ Confirm the figure matches what the court has on file. A mismatch here calls every number below it into question.

Column 1: Income, Gain, and Other Receipts

List every source of money that came into the estate during the period. Common entries include Social Security payments, SSI disability benefits, pension income, VA benefits, interest on checking or savings accounts, tax refunds, dividends, rental income, and capital gains on investment sales.⁴ Describe each entry clearly enough that a reader can identify the source without guessing. “Social Security monthly benefit” is better than “SS.” The column total carries to line 2b on page two.

Column 2: Expenses, Losses, and Other Disbursements

Itemize everything that left the estate. Typical entries include groceries, personal items, utilities, rent or room and board paid to a care facility, medical expenses, insurance premiums, and taxes.⁴ If property sold for less than its inventoried value, the difference is an investment loss and belongs in this column too. Each entry needs a description and a dollar amount. The column total carries to line 2d.

Line 2e: Ending Balance

Subtract total disbursements (line 2d) from the combined beginning balance and income (line 2c). The result is the ending balance: the assets that should remain in the estate at the close of the period.³

Item 3: Assets Remaining

Below the math, list every asset still in the estate with its current value: cash in each bank account, real property, vehicles, investments, and personal property. The total at the bottom of Item 3 must exactly equal line 2e. If those numbers do not match, work back through your columns and find the discrepancy before you file. This is the most common math error on the form, and courts will send it back.

Items 7 and 8: Fiduciary and Attorney Fees

Disclose any fiduciary fees and attorney fees incurred during the accounting period, including fees already approved or paid, and attach a written description of the services performed.³ If no professional fees were incurred, enter $0 rather than leaving the lines blank.

Required Attachments

The form is only part of what you submit. For conservatorships, you must include copies of bank and investment account statements verifying the value of every liquid asset held at a financial institution. Those statements must be dated within 30 days after the end of the accounting period.³ Some courts want a full 12 months of statements for each account rather than only the closing one.⁴ Call your probate court clerk before you file to confirm what they expect.

Be ready to produce receipts for disbursements as well. Not every court demands them at filing, but a judge may ask during review, and some courts require them upfront.⁴ Keep organized files all year. Hunting for a twelve-month-old grocery receipt the week before filing is miserable.

How to File

Submit your signed PC 583 with all attachments to the probate court that has jurisdiction over the conservatorship. You have three options:

In person: bring the original signed form and at least two copies to the probate clerk’s office. The clerk will stamp one copy for your records.
By mail: send the original and copies with a check or money order for the filing fee, made out to the probate court.
E-filing: many Michigan courts accept electronic filings through MiFILE. If your court participates, upload the form and pay by credit card. A declined card payment automatically rejects the filing.

The filing fee is $20.⁵ Pay when you submit. A missing or short payment will delay processing.

Common Reasons Filings Get Rejected

A rejected filing is treated as though you never submitted it, and the 56-day clock keeps running. The problems that come up most often:

Outdated form version. Courts require the current SCAO-approved version of PC 583. Check the revision date printed near the form number in the bottom-left corner.
Math that does not balance. If line 2e does not equal the Item 3 total, the account will be sent back.
Missing bank statements. Forgetting the required financial-institution statements dated within 30 days of the period’s end is one of the easiest mistakes to make and one of the most common reasons for rejection.
Format problems. Documents must be on standard 8.5-by-11-inch paper in 12-point font. Filings that miss format standards get kicked back.

If your filing is rejected, correct the problem and refile before the deadline passes.⁶

Serving Interested Persons

Filing with the court is half the job. You also have to serve a copy of the account on all interested persons, together with a notice of hearing. The copy you send must include a statement that any objections should be filed with the court and set for hearing.² Who counts as an interested person depends on the proceeding. In a conservatorship it generally includes the protected individual and may include heirs, family members, and any government agency providing benefits. The clerk or your order of appointment will identify the specific people and agencies entitled to notice.

After you serve everyone, file a completed Proof of Service (PC 564) with the court.⁷ It lists each person served, their address, the date of service, and the titles of the documents you sent. Without it, the court has no way to confirm that interested persons had a chance to review the account.

What Happens After You File

If no one objects, many courts approve the account without a formal hearing. The judge reviews the math, checks the attachments, and signs an order allowing the account. That signed order is your legal protection. It confirms that your financial management for the period met the court’s standards.²

When an interested person objects to a disbursement, questions an asset value, or challenges a fee, the judge will schedule a hearing. Bring receipts and other documentation for the contested transactions. Bring originals, not just copies. Judges want to see that every dollar leaving the estate served the protected person’s interests.

What Late or Sloppy Filing Costs You

Missing the 56-day deadline or filing an account full of errors is not a minor administrative hiccup. Michigan probate courts have broad authority to address breaches of fiduciary duty. Available remedies include ordering the conservator to account, compelling the conservator to restore mismanaged property or pay money damages, reducing or denying the conservator’s compensation, and removing the conservator.⁸

A conservator who ignores a court order to file can face show-cause proceedings and, on continued noncompliance, contempt findings. Personal liability for mismanaged assets does not end with resignation or removal; the duty to account survives until the court accepts a final accounting.⁸ Filing on time with imperfect numbers is always better than filing late. Courts are far more forgiving of honest mistakes corrected promptly than of silence.

1
Michigan Courts. Duties and Liabilities of Conservator (PC 645)
2
Michigan Courts. Michigan Court Rules – MCR 5.409 Report of Guardian; Inventories and Accounts of Conservators
3
Michigan Courts. Account of Fiduciary, Short Form (PC 583)
4
Ottawa County Probate Court. Probate Court Account Instructions
5
Michigan Courts. Probate Court Fee Tables February 2025
6
Michigan Legal Help. E-Filing Rejection Reasons and How to Fix Them
7
Michigan Courts. Proof of Service (PC 564)
8
Michigan Courts. In Re Conservatorship of Nina Jean Murray