Illinois Trust and Estate Accounting Requirements
Current as of September 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Illinois runs two trust reporting regimes side by side, split by the date the trust became irrevocable. Which regime applies determines who has to receive the accounting, and it is the item most often missed. Illinois adopted the Uniform Trust Code as the Illinois Trust Code, 760 ILCS 3, effective January 1, 2020; estates are governed by the Probate Act of 1975, 755 ILCS 5.
Who must provide an accounting in Illinois
Section 813.1 of the Illinois Trust Code applies to trusts that became irrevocable after the Code’s effective date, and to trustees who accepted after it. It requires notice to qualified beneficiaries within ninety days of specified triggers, an accounting at least annually to all current beneficiaries, an accounting at least annually to all presumptive remainder beneficiaries, and an accounting on termination to those taking the residue. It expressly supplants the common law duty. Section 813.2 applies to trusts predating the Code, and requires an annual current account to income beneficiaries showing receipts, disbursements and an inventory, together with a final account on termination. The difference is the audience: under 813.1 the accounting reaches presumptive remainder beneficiaries, and under 813.2 it does not.
What an Illinois trust accounting must contain
Under section 813.2 the current account must show receipts, disbursements and an inventory of the trust estate. Section 813.1 requires an accounting without prescribing an itemized content list in the same terms, so the practical standard is drawn from the trust instrument, the Code’s general duty of reasonable reporting, and the expectations of the circuit court where any dispute would be heard. For estates, 755 ILCS 5/24-1 requires a verified account, and 5/24-2 governs notice of hearing; an approved account is binding absent fraud, accident or mistake.
Income and principal allocation in Illinois
Illinois’s allocation rules sit in the Principal and Income Act, 760 ILCS 15, which remains in force. The Illinois Trust Code repealed the old Trusts and Trustees Act at 760 ILCS 5, but it did not repeal the Principal and Income Act. Illinois has not adopted the 2018 Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act. The Trust Code does add total return trust provisions at Article 11, so unitrust conversion is available even though the underlying allocation regime is the earlier one.
Filing an accounting with the Illinois probate court
755 ILCS 5/14-1 requires a verified inventory within sixty days after letters issue, with a supplemental inventory within sixty days of learning of further property. 755 ILCS 5/24-1 requires a verified account within sixty days after the expiration of twelve months from the issuance of letters, and thereafter as the court requires. Under section 24-1(b) the court may excuse an account on the written consents of all interested persons. No statewide account format is prescribed in the Probate Act or the Trust Code; presentation is governed by local circuit court rules, which vary. Check the rules of the circuit where the estate is pending before building the document.
When an Illinois accounting is contested
The 813.1 and 813.2 split is where problems surface. The regime turns on the date the trust became irrevocable, not on when the accounting is prepared, and getting it wrong means the accounting went to the wrong list of people, a defect that is not cured by the quality of the numbers. Because the format is set locally rather than statewide, an accounting that was acceptable in one circuit may need to be reworked for another.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Illinois trust and estate accountings, confirm which reporting regime applies to the trust before we begin, and build to the format the relevant circuit expects, as a licensed, insured CPA firm practicing fiduciary accounting exclusively. We do not prepare tax returns. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer so that the accounting and the Form 1041 agree.
This page provides general information about Illinois fiduciary accounting requirements and is not legal or tax advice. Statutes and local court rules change; confirm current requirements with counsel.
