Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Alabama adopted the Uniform Trust Code as Chapter 3B of Title 19 in Act 2006-216, with the notice provisions applying from January 1, 2007. It keeps the annual report, adds an express final report at termination, and replaces the uniform one-year limitation rule with a two-year rule that runs from any account statement or written disclosure.
Who must provide an accounting in Alabama
Section 19-3B-813 requires the trustee to keep the current permissible distributees of income or principal reasonably informed about the administration and the material facts they need to protect their interests, and to respond promptly to a qualified beneficiary's request for information unless that would be unreasonable.
On request, the trustee furnishes a beneficiary a copy of the trust instrument. Within 60 days after accepting a trusteeship, the trustee notifies the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee's name, address and telephone number. Within 60 days after accepting the trusteeship of an irrevocable trust, or learning that a revocable trust has become irrevocable, the trustee tells them of the trust's existence, the settlor's identity, and their right to request a copy of the trust instrument and the trustee's most recent report. Beneficiaries of a split-interest charitable trust whose interest is not yet irrevocable need not be notified until they become current permissible distributees. The trustee also gives the current permissible distributees advance notice of any change in the method or rate of compensation. The 60-day notices apply to trusts accepted, created or made irrevocable on or after January 1, 2007.
The report goes at least annually to the distributees or permissible distributees, and to any other beneficiary, qualified or not, who requests it. A beneficiary may waive reports and later withdraw the waiver.
Section 19-3B-105 lists the rules a trust's terms cannot override. It includes the duty to respond to a qualified beneficiary's request for reports and information about an irrevocable trust.
What an Alabama trust accounting must contain
The annual report covers the trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee's compensation, and a listing of the trust assets with market values if feasible. At termination, Alabama requires a final report running from the date of the most recent annual report through the trust's last transaction. On a vacancy with no cotrustee remaining, the former trustee sends a report. A personal representative, conservator or guardian may send it for a trustee who has died or become incapacitated.
Income and principal allocation in Alabama
Allocation is governed by the Alabama Principal and Income Act, Chapter 3A of Title 19.
Filing an accounting with the Alabama court
Under section 19-3B-201, a trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it. The court acts when an interested person invokes its jurisdiction, including for instructions, to approve a nonjudicial settlement, or to construe the trust terms.
When an Alabama accounting is contested
Section 19-3B-1005, as amended in 2021, bars a proceeding for breach of trust more than two years after the beneficiary was sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim. For this purpose, a report is any account statement or other written disclosure the trustee makes to the beneficiary. A report discloses adequately if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the claim or should have inquired into it. The report need not state the deadline.
Otherwise, the outer limit is also two years, from the first of the trustee's removal, resignation or death, the end of the beneficiary's interest, or the end of the trust.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Alabama annual and final trustee's reports under section 19-3B-813, with the disclosure that starts the section 19-3B-1005 two-year period. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Alabama fiduciary accounting requirements and is not legal or tax advice. Statutes and court rules change. Verify the current text before relying on any of it, and consult counsel on questions of legal interpretation.
More: the uniform framework · all state pages · our services
Primary source: Code of Alabama Title 19, Chapter 3B (Alabama Uniform Trust Code).
Written by Christina Gutman, C.P.A. — Founder and Principal of T.E.A. Fiduciary. Christina is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant by the State of California and has specialized exclusively in fiduciary accounting for over a decade, preparing trust, estate, and conservatorship accountings for law firms, professional fiduciaries, trust companies, family offices, and individual trustees nationwide. She has also served as a forensic consultant in contested accounting matters. More about Christina
