Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Oregon adopted the Uniform Trust Code in ORS Chapter 130 and kept its annual reporting duty, with two Oregon adjustments that change how an account is planned. A settlor may waive or redirect reporting in writing while alive and financially capable. And the one-year bar on claims only runs from a report that arrives with a copy of the statute attached. Estates are a different regime: an Oregon personal representative files accounts with the probate court every year.
Who must provide an accounting in Oregon
Section 130.710 requires the trustee to keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration and the material facts they need to protect their interests. Within a reasonable time after accepting the trust, the trustee must notify the qualified beneficiaries of the acceptance and of the trustee's name, address and telephone number. Within a reasonable time after learning that a trust is irrevocable, or has become so, the trustee must tell them of the trust's existence, the settlor's identity, their right to a copy of the instrument, and their right to a trustee's report.
The report itself goes out at least annually and on termination, to the permissible distributees of income or principal and to other qualified beneficiaries who ask for it. While the settlor of a revocable trust is alive, no other beneficiary has a right to notices, information or reports under the section. A beneficiary may waive reports and may later withdraw the waiver for future reports.
Oregon lets the settlor go further. Under section 130.020(4), the settlor may waive or modify the duties to give notice, information and reports, either in the trust instrument or in another writing delivered to the trustee. The waiver runs only while the settlor, or a spouse who is a qualified beneficiary, is alive and financially capable. Alternatively, the settlor may designate one or more persons to receive the notices and reports in the beneficiaries' place and to act in good faith to protect their interests. Reports containing information about termination of the trust must still go to the qualified beneficiaries.
Two narrower rules complete the picture. Where a surviving spouse is the only permissible distributee and every other qualified beneficiary is the spouse's descendant, reports go to the spouse alone. And where a beneficiary's only interest in a trust that has become irrevocable is a specific item or a specific sum, the trustee may hold off on notice and reports for six months.
What an Oregon trust accounting must contain
The statute sets the content. The report lists the trust property and liabilities, with market values if feasible, and reflects all receipts and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee's compensation. It is a sensible specification in any event, and Oregon's limitation rule, discussed below, gives the trustee a strong reason to make the report complete.
For estates, section 116.083 is more prescriptive. Each account states the period covered, the opening inventory value or prior closing balance, all money and property received, all disbursements with supporting evidence, the money and property on hand, and whatever else is needed to show the estate's condition. It is signed under penalty of perjury. A final account adds confirmation that the required estate tax return was filed and that Oregon income, estate and personal property taxes are paid or secured, along with how the personal representative's compensation was determined.
Income and principal allocation in Oregon
Allocation is governed by ORS Chapter 129, Oregon's Uniform Principal and Income Act, in force since January 1, 2004. Oregon has not adopted the 2018 Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act. Chapter 129 does include a statutory unitrust: under section 129.225 a trustee, or the court on petition, may convert a trust to a unitrust after sixty days' written notice to the beneficiaries, with an annual distribution of four percent of the trust's averaged fair market value.
Filing an accounting with the Oregon circuit court
Trusts and estates part company here. Under section 130.050, a trust is not subject to continuing judicial supervision unless the court orders it, and the court acts when an interested person invokes its jurisdiction. Trust reports go to beneficiaries, not to the court.
An Oregon probate estate files with the court. Unless the court orders otherwise, the personal representative files an annual account within sixty days after each anniversary of appointment, an account within thirty days after resigning or being removed, and a final account when the estate is ready for final settlement and distribution. Where the distributees consent in writing, a shorter statement may replace an annual account, giving the asset values at the start and end of the period, recent account statements, any unpaid claims, and why the estate is not yet ready to close. Each unpaid creditor receives a copy and may demand a full account within thirty days. A statement may also replace the final account where the distributees consent and creditors have been paid.
When an Oregon accounting is contested
Section 130.820 sets three limitation periods. A beneficiary may not bring a proceeding against a trustee more than one year after receiving a report, sent by certified or regular mail, that discloses the potential claim and states the time allowed to bring it. A copy of the statute must be attached to the report.
Otherwise, an action based on a trustee's act or omission must be brought within six years after it was discovered, or should have been. Where neither of those applies, the outer limit is ten years from the act or omission, or two years after termination of any fiduciary account established under the trust, whichever is later.
The one-year rule is the one that rewards a careful report. It runs only from a report that discloses the claim, states the deadline, and encloses the statute. A report that omits any of the three leaves the beneficiary with the longer periods.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Oregon trust reports built to the section 130.710 specification and to the disclosure the section 130.820 one-year bar requires, and annual and final estate accounts in the form section 116.083 prescribes. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about Oregon 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: ORS Chapter 130, Oregon 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
