Texas Trust and Estate Accounting Requirements
Current as of September 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Texas is a demand state, and independent administration is the norm. Between them, those two facts remove most routine court accounting from Texas practice — which changes what an accounting engagement here actually looks like. Trusts are governed by the Texas Trust Code at Property Code section 111.001 and following; estates by the Estates Code, recodified from the former Probate Code effective January 1, 2014.
Who must provide an accounting in Texas
There is no periodic trust accounting duty. Under Property Code section 113.151 a beneficiary may make a written demand, and the trustee must then deliver a written statement of accounts covering all transactions since the last accounting to each beneficiary. If the trustee has not complied by the ninetieth day after the demand, any beneficiary may sue to compel — and a successful beneficiary may be awarded costs and reasonable attorney’s fees against the trustee individually as well as in the representative capacity. A trustee is not obliged to account more often than once every twelve months unless a court orders otherwise. In estates, dependent administrations carry real ongoing obligations while independent administrations carry almost none: under Estates Code section 404.001 an interested person may demand an accounting once fifteen months have passed since letters issued, and after two years section 405.001 allows a petition for accounting and distribution.
What a Texas trust accounting must contain
Property Code section 113.152 sets out five required elements: all trust property that has come to the trustee’s knowledge or possession and was not previously listed or inventoried; a complete account of receipts, disbursements and other transactions, including source and nature, with receipts of principal and income shown separately; a listing of all property being administered, with an adequate description of each asset; the cash balance on hand and the name and location of the depository; and all known liabilities owed by the trust. For dependent estate administrations, Estates Code section 359.001 sets a longer list, covering claims presented and their status, newly discovered property, receipts and disbursements with principal and income listed separately, a description of the property and its condition and use, the cash balance and depository, confirmation that tax returns have been filed and taxes paid, and confirmation that bond premiums have been paid.
Income and principal allocation in Texas
Texas’s principal and income act is Property Code Chapter 116, cited in the statute as the Uniform Principal and Income Act, effective January 1, 2004. It is the 1997 version. Texas has not adopted the 2018 Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act. The requirement that principal and income receipts be shown separately appears twice, in section 113.152 for trusts and in section 359.001 for dependent estate administrations, so the allocation work is not optional presentation; it is a statutory content requirement.
Filing an accounting with the Texas probate court
The inventory, appraisement and list of claims is due before the ninety-first day after the representative qualifies, under Estates Code section 309.051, stating fair market value at date of death and the separate or community character of each item. An independent executor may instead file an affidavit in lieu under section 309.056, stating that debts are paid and that beneficiaries have received a full inventory, which means that in many Texas estates no itemized inventory ever enters the public record. Dependent administrations file an annual account under sections 359.001 and 359.002, and section 359.002 requires that the reader be able to establish the estate’s true condition by adding receipts to and subtracting disbursements from the balances carried forward. Section 359.003 requires a voucher for each item of credit, an official depository letter, and proof of the existence of securities. Texas prescribes contents rather than a form; there is no Texas equivalent of a statutory summary format.
When a Texas accounting is contested
The fee-shifting exposure under section 113.151 runs against the trustee personally as well as in the representative capacity, which raises the stakes on a late or incomplete trust accounting well above the norm. In independent administrations the first real examination of the administration often comes years in, when a section 404.001 demand or a section 405.001 petition forces the production of records that were never contemporaneously organized. Note also that section 309.051 was amended twice effective September 1, 2025; confirm the current text before relying on the inventory requirements.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare Texas trust and estate accountings that satisfy the statutory content requirements, including the separate presentation of principal and income receipts and the voucher and depository documentation dependent administrations require, as a licensed, insured CPA firm practicing fiduciary accounting exclusively. We do not prepare tax returns. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer so that the accounting and the Form 1041 agree.
This page provides general information about Texas fiduciary accounting requirements and is not legal or tax advice. Statutes and local rules change; confirm current requirements with counsel.
