Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Connecticut adopted the Uniform Trust Code in Public Act 19-137, effective January 1, 2020, in Chapter 802c of the General Statutes. It kept a distinction that runs through Connecticut practice: testamentary trusts stay under continuing Probate Court supervision, and inter vivos trusts do not. That one fact decides where a Connecticut trust accounts and which limitation rules apply.
Who must provide an accounting in Connecticut
Section 45a-499kkk requires the trustee to keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and the material facts they need to protect their interests, and to respond promptly to a beneficiary's request for information reasonably related to the administration.
On request, the trustee must furnish a copy of the relevant portions of the trust instrument. Within sixty days after accepting a trusteeship, the trustee must notify the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee's name, address and telephone number. Within sixty days after learning that an irrevocable trust has been created, or that a revocable trust has become irrevocable, the trustee must tell them of the trust's existence, the settlor's identity, their right to request a copy of the trust instrument, and their right to a trustee's report. The notice and report requirements do not apply to trusts that became irrevocable before January 1, 2020.
The report goes to the current beneficiaries, and to other qualified beneficiaries who request it, at least annually and at termination of the trust. A beneficiary may waive reports and later withdraw the waiver.
Section 45a-499e lists the rules a trust's terms cannot override, and the duty to inform and report is not on the list. A Connecticut settlor can shape it in the instrument.
What a Connecticut trust accounting must contain
The report may be formal or informal. It must include information about the trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, including the amount of the trustee's compensation, and a listing of the trust assets with market values if feasible. On a vacancy with no cotrustee remaining, the former trustee sends the report. An executor, administrator or conservator may send it for a trustee who has died or become incapacitated.
Judicial approval of a trustee's report forecloses claims, as to everyone given notice of the proceeding, on the matters the report disclosed.
Income and principal allocation in Connecticut
Allocation is governed by the Connecticut Principal and Income Act (1999), sections 45a-542 to 45a-542ff of the General Statutes.
Filing an accounting with the Connecticut Probate Court
Under section 45a-499m, a testamentary trust is subject to continuing judicial supervision and an inter vivos trust is not.
Section 45a-177 puts that supervision into practice. Trustees of testamentary trusts, along with conservators and guardians, render periodic accounts to the Probate Court for allowance at least once in every three-year period, signed under penalty of false statement, and more often if the court or the will requires. A will may excuse periodic accounts, but that does not excuse the final account on termination of the trust. Small fiduciary estates are exempt unless the court orders an account: under $2,000, or under $10,000 for a bank-supervised corporate fiduciary or a surety-bonded fiduciary.
A beneficiary may also petition the court for an accounting. For a qualified beneficiary of a testamentary trust, the court may order one if it is necessary to protect a beneficiary's interests. For other beneficiaries of a testamentary trust, and for beneficiaries of an inter vivos trust, the court applies the standard in section 45a-175(c). Where the rules allow, section 45a-176 lets the Probate Court approve a financial report in place of a full account and release the fiduciary from liability for the items it shows.
When a Connecticut accounting is contested
Section 45a-499rrr bars a proceeding for breach of trust more than one year after the beneficiary was sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim and told the beneficiary how long they had to bring it. A report discloses adequately if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the claim or should have inquired into it. Otherwise, the outer limit is three 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.
Those periods do not apply to testamentary trusts. For a testamentary trust, the Probate Court's allowance of the trustee's periodic and final accounts is where a Connecticut trustee gets its protection.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Connecticut periodic and final accounts for testamentary trustees, conservators and guardians in the Probate Court, and annual section 45a-499kkk reports for inter vivos trusts built to start the one-year period in section 45a-499rrr. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Connecticut 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: Connecticut General Statutes, Chapters 801b and 802c, Connecticut General Assembly.
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
