Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Maryland adopted the Maryland Trust Act, Title 14.5 of the Estates and Trusts Article, effective January 1, 2015. It follows the Uniform Trust Code in structure but departs from it on reporting: the annual trustee's report is owed only to a qualified beneficiary who asks for it. Maryland also gives trustees a statutory release procedure at the end of a trust, and its personal representatives account on a fixed schedule.
Who must provide an accounting in Maryland
Section 14.5-813 requires the trustee to respond promptly to a qualified beneficiary's request for information about the administration of the trust, including a copy of the trust instrument, unless that would be unreasonable.
Notices come first. Within 60 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 90 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. Where a beneficiary's name or address is unknown, notice is by newspaper publication once a week for three weeks.
The report itself goes out annually and at termination of the trust, but only to a qualified beneficiary who requests it. A beneficiary may waive reports and later withdraw the waiver.
Section 14.5-105 limits how far a trust's terms can reach. The trustee must still notify qualified beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust who have reached age 25 of the trust's existence, the trustee's identity and their right to request reports and a copy of the trust, and must respond to their requests for reports and information.
What a Maryland trust accounting must contain
The 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. On a vacancy with no cotrustee remaining, the former trustee sends a report to the qualified beneficiaries who request one.
Income and principal allocation in Maryland
Allocation is governed by the Maryland Uniform Principal and Income Act, Title 15, Subtitle 5 of the Estates and Trusts Article. It allows a trustee to convert a trust to a unitrust, or to adjust between principal and income, on a beneficiary's written request when the statutory conditions are met.
Filing an accounting with the Maryland court
Under section 14.5-201, a trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it. A court with equity jurisdiction keeps general superintending power over trusts and may intervene when an interested person invokes it, or on its own motion.
Estates follow a schedule. Under section 7-305, the personal representative renders an account within nine months after appointment, then within six months after that account and each one after, until the final account, plus at termination of the appointment and at other times the court orders. The court may extend a deadline for good cause on written application.
When a Maryland accounting is contested
Section 14.5-904 sets a one-year limit. A beneficiary may not bring an action for breach of trust more than one year after being sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim and told the beneficiary how long they had to bring it. The limit does not apply to a breach committed in bad faith or with reckless indifference to the trust's purposes or the beneficiaries' interests.
Section 14.5-907 adds a release procedure. When a trust terminates, or a trustee resigns or is removed, the trustee may send each interested party, by first-class and certified mail, a report with the trust's accounting for the preceding five years, an estimate of property still expected or to be paid out, the fees remaining, and a statement that the trustee knows of no undisclosed information that could give rise to a claim. An interested party who does not object in writing within 120 days is deemed to have released the trustee and ratified its actions.
The five-year accounting at the heart of that release is where a careful accounting pays off.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Maryland trustee's reports under section 14.5-813, the five-year accountings that support a section 14.5-907 release, and personal representative accounts on the section 7-305 schedule. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Maryland 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: Maryland Code, Estates and Trusts, Title 14.5, Maryland 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
