NJ Guardianship EZ Accounting Form: Income, Assets, and Filing

The New Jersey Guardianship EZ Accounting Form (CN 11800) is the simplified annual financial report a guardian of the estate files with the County Surrogate to show how an incapacitated person’s money was managed over the past year. You file it in the county where the guardianship was granted, and your Judgment of Incapacity tells you both which form to use and when it is due — most judgments set the deadline at 14 days after the anniversary of the judgment date.¹

Make Sure the EZ Form Is the Right Form

New Jersey publishes two periodic reporting forms for guardians of the estate: the Periodic EZ Accounting and the Periodic Comprehensive Accounting. Your Judgment of Incapacity should name the one that applies to you. Some judgments take a different path — they may direct you to file a copy of your Social Security Representative Payee Report, or they may order a formal accounting instead. If the judgment simply says “annual report” or “informal account” without naming a form, you can file the EZ version and wait for further direction from the court.¹

You can download the form from njcourts.gov (search “Adult Guardianship”) or pick up a paper copy at your local County Surrogate’s office.²

Records to Gather Before You Start

Pull every financial record covering the reporting period, which is normally the twelve months since your last filing or since the date of appointment for a first report. Organizing this material up front prevents math errors and missing entries that trigger follow-up requests. You will need:

The beginning cash balance of the estate on day one of the reporting period. On a first report, that number comes from the Guardian Inventory you filed after appointment.
Records for every source of income: Social Security, pensions, interest, dividends, rental income, wages. Include every source, even income that was excluded when the court set your bond amount.¹
Receipts, invoices, and canceled checks for every payment made from the ward’s funds — medical, housing, food, clothing, utilities, insurance.
Current bank and investment statements covering the full period for every account holding the ward’s money.
Documentation for property the ward owns: deeds, vehicle titles, brokerage and retirement statements.

Part I: Income and Disbursements

Part I tracks money in and money out. It has three components: a Summary table, Schedule A–EZ for income, and Schedule B–EZ for disbursements.¹

The Summary Table

Four lines give a snapshot of the estate’s cash position:

Line 1, Beginning Cash Balance: the cash balance at the start of the reporting period.
Line 2, Total Income Received: the total from Schedule A–EZ.
Line 3, Total Disbursements: the total from Schedule B–EZ.
Line 4, Ending Cash Balance: add lines 1 and 2, subtract line 3. It should match the current balance on the ward’s bank and account statements.¹

Schedule A–EZ: Income

List every source of income the ward received during the period. For each entry, record the source, a brief description, and the total amount received. Over a twelve-month period, that means the full year’s income from each source. Add a short note if a source covered a shorter window — for example, a pension that started partway through the year.³ If the ward’s income is too low to require filing income taxes, note that on the form. If you run out of lines, attach the Additional Income page available on njcourts.gov and carry the total over to Line 2 of the Summary.

Schedule B–EZ: Disbursements

This schedule lists every payment made from the ward’s funds. Each entry needs a category, the payment date or period, the payee’s name, and the amount.¹

Recurring monthly expenses like food, utilities, and phone service can be grouped by month rather than itemized transaction by transaction. If the ward lives with you as part of your household, you may allocate a set monthly amount of the ward’s funds toward their share of food costs.³ One-time purchases — seasonal clothing, a new mattress, a medical copay — get their own line with a full date and payee. Use the Additional Disbursements attachment page if you need more rows.p>

Part II: Assets

Part II covers all assets the incapacitated person owns, not just cash. That includes property held jointly with someone else and restricted assets you cannot sell without court approval.¹ The section is broken into five schedules:

Schedule A: real property (houses, land, condos).
Schedule B: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, securities, and investment accounts.
Schedule C: cash on hand, checking and savings, CDs, and any debts owed to the ward.
Schedule D: pensions, IRAs, 401(k) plans, annuities, and other retirement accounts.
Schedule E: miscellaneous personal property such as vehicles, RVs, jewelry, and furniture.

For each schedule, indicate whether the ward has property in that category and whether ownership has changed since the last report (or since the original inventory, on a first accounting). A written explanation is only needed when something changed — a car sold, an account closed. If nothing changed, check the box and move on.

Filing the Completed Form

Sign the form and submit it to the County Surrogate’s office in the county where the guardianship was granted. The filing fee is $5.00 per page, payable to the Surrogate.² Page count includes any attachment sheets for additional income or disbursement lines, so a longer report costs more.

Check your Judgment of Incapacity to see whether you have to send copies to anyone else. In most cases you do not need to serve interested parties separately, because they are entitled to review the report at the Surrogate’s Court.⁴ When the judgment does require service on specific individuals, it typically specifies the method, and certified mail is common. Keep a file-stamped copy of everything you submit.

What Happens After You File

Reports are reviewed through the New Jersey Guardianship Monitoring Program, a statewide court program staffed by trained volunteers who track guardianship files in a centralized database and follow up on filings.¹ If entries are unclear or raise questions, you may be asked for further explanation or backup documentation like receipts and bank statements.

Certain patterns draw extra scrutiny: late or incomplete reports, unexplained changes in asset values, missing income sources the court expects to see (Social Security is a common one), and any sign that personal funds and guardianship funds have been mixed.⁵ Ignoring follow-up requests, or declining report quality over time, can turn a routine review into a formal inquiry before a Superior Court judge. When a review closes without objections, the court may issue an order approving the report, giving you a clean slate for the next cycle.

Filing a Final Accounting When the Ward Dies

p>The guardianship does not end automatically when the incapacitated person dies. You must file a final report so that any remaining funds can be transferred to the deceased person’s estate for administration. Mark the report “Final” in the title and submit it to the Surrogate’s office with the standard filing fee.² The final accounting should cover all financial activity from the end of your last reporting period through the date of death. Do not distribute remaining assets directly to family members or heirs; the funds pass to the personal representative of the deceased’s estate once the Surrogate’s office processes the final report.

A Note on Social Security Representative Payee Reports

If you also serve as the ward’s Social Security representative payee, that role carries its own SSA accounting requirement. The NJ Guardianship EZ Accounting form does not substitute for the SSA’s payee report, and the SSA report does not substitute for the court form, unless your Judgment of Incapacity specifically directs you to file a copy of the payee report in place of a judiciary form.¹ Being appointed guardian does not by itself make you a representative payee — the SSA must appoint you separately.⁶

1
New Jersey Judiciary. Guardianship Report EZ Accounting Form Instructions
2
Salem County Surrogate. Guardianship Reporting
3
Morris County, NJ. EZ Accounting Form – Guardianship
4
New Jersey Courts. Guide to Guardianship Reporting Forms
5
National Center for State Courts. Adopting a Guardianship Review Protocol
6
Social Security Administration. Frequently Asked Questions for Representative Payees