Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
New Jersey adopted the Uniform Trust Code in P.L. 2015, c. 276, effective July 17, 2016, in Chapter 31 of Title 3B. It made a notable change: the annual trustee's report is optional. A trustee chooses whether to send one. The reason to send one is a six-month limitation period that runs only from a report.
Who must provide an accounting in New Jersey
Section 3B:31-67 is titled "Duty to disclose and discretion to periodically report." The trustee must keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration of the trust and the material facts they need to protect their interests, and must respond promptly to a beneficiary's request for information unless that would be unreasonable. On request, the trustee must furnish a copy of the trust instrument.
The statute does not require an annual report. Instead, a trustee seeking the protection of the limitation period in section 3B:31-74 may send the beneficiaries a report.
Section 3B:31-5 lists the rules a trust's terms cannot override. Among them, the trustee must respond to a request from a qualified beneficiary of an irrevocable trust who has reached age 35 for a copy of the trust instrument or other information reasonably related to the administration. Below that age, the instrument can limit disclosure.
What a New Jersey trust accounting must contain
The optional 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.
A formal account settled in the Superior Court follows the court's rules for fiduciary accounts.
Income and principal allocation in New Jersey
Allocation is governed by the Uniform Principal and Income Act of 2001, Chapter 19B of Title 3B.
Filing an accounting with the New Jersey Superior Court
New Jersey fiduciaries account in the Superior Court. Under section 3B:17-3, a guardian or trustee settles accounts at the intervals the court requires, and may settle a first account within one year after appointment or as soon after as practicable. Under section 3B:17-2, a personal representative may settle an account, or be required to settle one, in the Superior Court, but unless special cause is shown cannot be required to account until a year after appointment.
Settling an account in court is the formal route. The optional report under section 3B:31-67 is the informal one.
When a New Jersey accounting is contested
Section 3B:31-74 sets a six-month limit. A beneficiary may not bring a proceeding for breach of trust more than six months after being sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim and told the beneficiary how long they had to bring it. A report discloses adequately if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the claim or should have inquired into it.
Without such a report, the limit is 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. New Jersey adds a safeguard: that five-year period cannot bar a beneficiary until five years after the beneficiary has reached majority, knows the trust exists, and knows they are a beneficiary. The section does not bar an action for fraud or misrepresentation related to the report.
The optional report is the only way to start the six-month period. A trustee who sends none is exposed for at least five years.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare New Jersey trustee's reports built to the disclosure that starts the section 3B:31-74 six-month period, and formal accounts for trustees, guardians and personal representatives settling in the Superior Court. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about New Jersey 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: N.J.S.A. Title 3B, Chapters 17, 19B and 31.
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
