Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Minnesota enacted the Minnesota Trust Code, Chapter 501C of the Statutes, in 2015. It is based on the Uniform Trust Code but leaves out the uniform annual report entirely. What Minnesota keeps is a general duty to keep beneficiaries informed, a district court that can take a trust under continuing supervision, and a limitation rule that rewards a report with a three-year bar.
Who must provide an accounting in Minnesota
Section 501C.0813 requires the trustee of an irrevocable trust 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 unless that would be unreasonable. The section contains no annual report and no sixty-day notices.
A settlor may, by an express provision in the trust instrument, turn that duty off during any period when the trust requires the trustee to keep the settlor or another person informed instead. That person may be a beneficiary or a beneficiary's representative. The trustee must respond promptly to that person's requests, and the person has standing to enforce the trust but acts in a nonfiduciary capacity. Where the instrument prohibits sharing information with beneficiaries, including accountings, the trustee may petition the court for approval.
A beneficiary may waive the right to information and later withdraw the waiver, in each case by notice delivered to the trustee.
What a Minnesota trust accounting must contain
For a trust under court supervision, section 501C.0205 sets the content: a verified account, at least annually, containing a complete inventory of the trust assets and itemized principal and income accounts. For other trusts, Minnesota sets no statutory format, but the limitation rule discussed below makes the content of any report sent to beneficiaries important.
Income and principal allocation in Minnesota
Allocation is governed by Minnesota's Uniform Principal and Income Act, sections 501C.1101 to 501C.1117, which is part of the trust code itself.
Filing an accounting with the Minnesota district court
Under section 501C.0201, an interested person may petition the district court, and the petition specifies whether the court's jurisdiction is invoked in rem or in personam. In rem jurisdiction, which applies by default, continues until it is transferred or ended by court order. In personam jurisdiction does not make the trust subject to continuing jurisdiction unless the court orders it.
A trust is not court-supervised unless section 501C.0205 applies or the court orders it. Under that section, a trustee or interested person may petition to confirm a trustee's appointment. A trustee whose appointment is confirmed, or who is otherwise under continuing court supervision, files an inventory with the court administrator and renders a verified account to the court at least annually.
When a Minnesota accounting is contested
Section 501C.1005 sets a longer period than most Uniform Trust Code states. A beneficiary may not bring a proceeding against a trustee more than three years after being sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim. A report discloses adequately if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the claim or should have inquired into it. Unlike the uniform text, the section does not require the report to state the deadline.
Otherwise, the outer limit is six 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.
Outside court supervision, no statute requires a Minnesota trustee to send a periodic report, so sending one is a choice, and it is the choice that starts the three-year period.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Minnesota trust reports built to the disclosure that starts the section 501C.1005 three-year period, and the annual verified accounts with itemized principal and income that court-supervised trusts file under section 501C.0205. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Minnesota 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: Minnesota Statutes Chapter 501C, Minnesota Revisor of Statutes.
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
