A probate accounting template for California estates is not a fill-in form. It is a statutory format: Probate Code section 1061 lays out a summary of account with two sides — charges and credits — and requires supporting schedules for each line. The Judicial Council publishes forms for the inventory and appraisal, but the accounting itself is drafted to match section 1061, verified under penalty of perjury, and filed with a petition asking the court to approve it.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 1064
Everything below tracks that format. If you build your accounting from these components, in this order, with a schedule behind each line, you will have a document a California probate court recognizes.
The Summary of Account: Charges and Credits
Section 1061 treats the accounting as a balance sheet for the period covered. The charges side is everything the personal representative is responsible for. The credits side is everything paid out, distributed, or lost. The two sides must equal.
Charges
- Property on hand at the beginning of the period, taken from the inventory and appraisal (or from the ending balance of the prior accounting).
- Receipts — income the estate earned during the period, such as rent, dividends, and interest.
- Gains on sales — amounts received above appraised value when estate assets were sold.
- Any other property or value coming into the personal representative’s hands during the period.
Credits
- Disbursements — expenses paid from estate funds, including court fees, attorney and personal representative fees, taxes, insurance, and allowed creditor claims.
- Losses on sales — the shortfall when assets sold below appraised value.
- Distributions already made to beneficiaries during the period.
- Property on hand at the end of the period.
The starting inventory figure is not something you invent for the accounting. It comes from the Inventory and Appraisal filed on Judicial Council Form DE-160 within four months after letters issue, with hard-to-value assets appraised by the probate referee on Form DE-161.2California Legislative Information. California Code PROB 88003California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 8920 Every subsequent accounting for the same estate opens with the prior period’s ending balance.
Supporting Schedules
Each summary line is backed by a schedule that itemizes the underlying transactions. This is where the court and beneficiaries actually look to see what happened. Expect to prepare, at minimum:
- Schedule of receipts. Every dollar of income received, by date, source, and amount. Rental income, interest, dividends, refunds, and any other revenue belong here. Keep principal separate from income — a stock dividend is income, while the shares themselves are principal, and misclassifying the two can shortchange one class of beneficiaries in favor of another.
- Schedule of disbursements. Every payment out of the estate, itemized by payee, date, purpose, and amount. Follow the priority order in Probate Code 11420 when paying creditor claims: administration expenses, secured debts, funeral expenses, last-illness expenses, family allowance, wage claims, and finally general unsecured debts. The court reviews the disbursement schedule against that priority.4Justia. California Probate Code 11420-11429 – General Provisions
- Schedule of gains on sales. For each asset sold above its appraised value, the sale price, the appraised value, and the resulting gain.
- Schedule of losses on sales. Same structure for sales below appraised value. Probate Code 1063 requires both gains and losses to be reported.5California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 1063
- Schedule of distributions. Any partial distributions already made to beneficiaries during the period, by recipient, date, asset, and value. Partial distributions before the final accounting are allowed, but each one must appear here.
- Schedule of property on hand. The remaining assets at the end of the period, described so the court can identify each item. This becomes the opening balance of the next accounting or the pool available for final distribution.
- Schedule of liabilities. Outstanding debts and claims not yet paid, including any Medi-Cal recovery claim from the Department of Health Care Services, which must be addressed before distribution under Probate Code 9202.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 9202
If the estate has generated significant income, an income schedule separating rental income, dividends, and other revenue sources helps the court trace the receipts line. If real property was sold, a dedicated real estate schedule showing the sale price, court confirmation, and closing costs makes review easier and heads off objections.
Narrative Descriptions That Must Accompany the Numbers
Section 1064 requires the accounting to include descriptions of transactions that would not be obvious from the schedules alone. In practical terms, that means writing out:
- Sales of estate assets, especially real property. A private-sale of real property will not be confirmed unless the price is at least 90% of an appraisal completed within one year before the confirmation hearing, and the accounting should tie the sale back to that confirmation.7California Legislative Information. California Code PROB 10309
- Conversions of assets from one form to another (a stock split, a redemption, a change of account custodian).
- Any unusual item a reader would question — an insurance payout, a lawsuit recovery, a business distribution.
The point is that a beneficiary reading the accounting should be able to understand not just what the numbers are, but how they came to be.
Compensation Lines Come Out of the Accounting
Personal representative and attorney fees are calculated directly from the accounting totals, which is why they appear as a disbursement (or a pending disbursement) in the final numbers. Probate Code 10800 sets statutory compensation on the “estate accounted for”:8Justia. California Probate Code 10800-10805 – Compensation of Personal Representative
- 4% on the first $100,000
- 3% on the next $100,000
- 2% on the next $800,000
- 1% on the next $9,000,000
- 0.5% on the next $15,000,000
- A reasonable amount set by the court for anything over $25,000,000
The estate accounted for is the appraised value of inventoried property, plus gains on sales, plus receipts, minus losses on sales. Debts and encumbrances are not subtracted. On a $1,000,000 estate, statutory compensation is $23,000 for the personal representative and the same amount again for the attorney. If you are requesting compensation, include a compensation schedule showing the math.
Extraordinary compensation for services beyond ordinary administration — contested litigation, running a business, complex tax work — requires a separate petition under Probate Code 10811 that breaks down the additional services and time.9California Legislative Information. California Probate Code – Extraordinary Compensation Beneficiaries frequently object to these, so document the work as it happens.
Filing, Verification, and Notice
The accounting is filed with a petition asking the court to settle it — either as an interim account or, more commonly, with a petition for final distribution. It must be verified under penalty of perjury by the personal representative.
Notice of the hearing must reach all interested parties — heirs, beneficiaries, and known creditors — at least 15 days before the hearing date under Probate Code 1220.10Justia. California Probate Code Chapter 4 – Accounts The petition for final distribution or a status report is due within one year of receiving letters if no federal estate tax return is required, or 18 months if one is.11California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 12200 Beyond that, the court can require interim accountings at its discretion, and missing filings can lead to sanctions or removal.
If a beneficiary objects, the court can order additional documentation or set a contested hearing before approving anything. Distributions to beneficiaries do not happen until the court signs an order approving the accounting.
When You Can Skip the Formal Accounting
A full statutory accounting is not always required. Under Probate Code 10954, the personal representative can omit the accounting if every person entitled to distribution signs a written waiver or acknowledges in writing that their share has been satisfied.12California Legislative Information. California Code PROB 10954 One holdout puts you back on the full section 1061 format. Even when a waiver is signed, the petition for final distribution still has to describe what came in, what went out, and what is being distributed; the waiver only removes the requirement for the formal schedule-by-schedule account.
Common Mistakes That Get Accountings Rejected
Most rejected accountings do not involve wrongdoing. They involve bookkeeping that will not reconcile. The recurring problems:
- Mixing personal and estate funds. Open a dedicated estate account with its own tax ID and run everything through it.
- Failing to distinguish principal from income on the receipts schedule.
- Paying creditors out of the section 11420 priority order.
- Selling real property without court confirmation, or at less than 90% of an appraisal older than a year.
- Omitting partial distributions, small reimbursements, or short-lived accounts that were opened and closed during administration.
- Ending balances on the schedule of property on hand that do not match the summary line.
A personal representative who mismanages funds or fails to account properly can be surcharged for losses out of their own pocket, removed, or in extreme cases prosecuted. Beneficiaries who suspect problems can petition the court to compel an accounting. The defense is documentation: reconcile every transaction against the section 1061 format before you file, and keep the backing statements, invoices, and closing documents in the file so any question the court asks has a paper answer.