Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Massachusetts adopted the Uniform Trust Code as Chapter 203E of the General Laws and shaped it around a long probate tradition. Trustees send accounts to beneficiaries rather than filing them in court. The limitation rule rewards a complete final account more than any other state on these pages.
Who must provide an accounting in Massachusetts
Section 813 requires the trustee to keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust, and to respond promptly to their requests for information unless that would be unreasonable.
The notice period is shorter than the uniform sixty days. Within 30 days after accepting the trust, or after the trust becomes irrevocable if that is later, the trustee must tell the qualified beneficiaries in writing the trustee's name and address, delivered or sent by ordinary first class mail.
The trustee then sends an account at least annually and at termination of the trust to the distributees and permissible distributees of income or principal, and to other qualified beneficiaries who request it. A beneficiary may waive accounts and later withdraw the waiver. Massachusetts adds a caution the uniform text lacks: a waiver does not relieve the trustee from accountability or potential liability for matters the account would have disclosed.
Section 105 lists the provisions a trust's terms cannot override, and the duty to inform and report is not on the list.
What a Massachusetts trust accounting must contain
The account of trust income and principal may be formal or informal. Either way it must include information about the trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, including the amount of the trustee's compensation, a listing of the trust assets and, if feasible, their market values. Because the statute calls it an account of income and principal, a Massachusetts account should show the two separately.
Income and principal allocation in Massachusetts
Allocation is governed by Chapter 203D of the General Laws, the Massachusetts principal and income statute. The trustee's account of income and principal under section 813 is where those allocation decisions become visible to beneficiaries, so they should be documented as they are made.
Filing an accounting with the Massachusetts probate court
The Probate and Family Court is involved only when someone asks. Under section 201, a trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it. A proceeding to review and settle a trustee's accounts begins by petition with notice to interested parties, and the resulting decree binds only those who received notice.
The old requirement in General Laws Chapter 206, section 1, under which fiduciaries filed accounts in the probate court, was repealed in 2008 as part of the move to the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code. A Massachusetts trustee who wants a binding approval of its accounts now has to petition for one.
When a Massachusetts accounting is contested
Section 1005 is built around the final account. A claim for breach of trust is barred against a beneficiary who has received a final account or other statement fully disclosing the matter and showing the end of the trust relationship, unless a proceeding begins within six months of receipt. Even without full disclosure, claims are barred three years after the beneficiary received a final account or statement and was told where the records are and that they are available for examination.
Where neither rule applies, a beneficiary has three years from when they knew or reasonably should have known of a potential claim, and in any event five 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.
A final account that discloses everything and tells beneficiaries where the records are is the trustee's best protection in Massachusetts.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Massachusetts annual and final accounts of income and principal under section 813, built to the full-disclosure standard of section 1005, and accounts for petitions to settle in the Probate and Family Court. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Massachusetts 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: Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 203E, General Court of Massachusetts.
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
