Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Louisiana, a civil law state, has its own Louisiana Trust Code in Title 9 of the Revised Statutes. Its accounting rules are unusually specific: a fixed annual account due within ninety days of year-end, a detailed content requirement, a final account, and peremptive periods that cannot be interrupted or suspended.
Who must provide an accounting in Louisiana
Under R.S. 9:2088, a trustee owes each beneficiary a duty to keep and render clear and accurate accounts of the administration. If the trust is revocable, the trustee accounts only to the settlor.
At least once a year, the trustee renders to each beneficiary, or the beneficiary's legal representative, a clear and accurate account of the preceding year. The first annual account covers the calendar year in which the trustee became responsible for the trust property, or at the trustee's option a first accounting period of no more than twelve months, and is due within ninety days after that year or period ends.
On termination, revocation or rescission of the trust, or on the trustee's resignation or removal, the trustee renders a final account covering the period since the most recent annual account.
Under R.S. 9:2089, a beneficiary may also request, at reasonable times, complete and accurate information about the nature and amount of the trust property, and may inspect the trust property, accounts, vouchers and other documents.
What a Louisiana trust accounting must contain
Each annual account shows in detail all receipts and disbursements of cash and all receipts and deliveries of other trust property during the year, and lists all items of trust property at year-end. The final account sets out the same information for its period.
A beneficiary's written approval of an account is conclusive against that beneficiary on all matters it disclosed. If a beneficiary will not approve, the trustee may apply to the court for approval contradictorily with the beneficiary, and a court approval is equally conclusive.
Income and principal allocation in Louisiana
Allocation is governed by the Louisiana Trust Code itself, in the subpart on allocation to income and principal beginning at R.S. 9:2141.
Filing an accounting with the Louisiana court
A trustee does not file accounts with the court unless the trust instrument or the court requires it. The court can also become involved when a trustee seeks approval of an account a beneficiary has declined to approve.
When a Louisiana accounting is contested
R.S. 9:2234 ties the time limits to the accounts. An action for damages against a trustee must be brought within two years after the trustee renders, by actual delivery or mail, the accounting for the period in which the alleged act, omission or breach occurred, as to matters disclosed in it. In all events, the action must be filed within three years after that accounting is rendered. For a beneficiary who was a minor when the accounting was rendered, the two-year period begins at age eighteen.
Other actions against a trustee are barred two years after the trustee renders the final account. These are peremptive periods under Civil Code articles 3458 and 3461, so they cannot be renounced, interrupted or suspended.
Because the clock starts with the account for the period in question, a Louisiana trustee's annual accounts are its main protection.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Louisiana annual and final accounts in the detail R.S. 9:2088 requires, delivered on the ninety-day schedule and built to support written approvals and court approval. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Louisiana 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.
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Primary source: Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 9 (Louisiana Trust Code), Louisiana State Legislature.
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
