Current as of November 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.
West Virginia adopted the Uniform Trust Code as Chapter 44D. It replaced the uniform sixty-day deadlines with "a reasonable time," directed most duties to the current beneficiaries rather than all qualified beneficiaries, and added discovery as a trigger for its five-year outer limit.
Who must provide an accounting in West Virginia
Section 44D-8-813 requires the trustee to keep the current beneficiaries reasonably informed about the administration and the material facts they need to protect their interests, and to respond within a reasonable time to a beneficiary's request for information unless that would be unreasonable.
Within a reasonable time, the trustee furnishes a copy of the trust instrument on request; notifies the current beneficiaries of the trustee's acceptance and contact details; tells them, after learning that an irrevocable trust has been created or a revocable trust has become irrevocable, of the trust's existence, the grantor's identity, their right to request the instrument, and their right to a trustee's report; and gives advance notice of any change in compensation.
The report goes at least annually and at termination to the current beneficiaries, and to any other beneficiary who requests it.
What a West Virginia trust accounting must contain
The 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. On a vacancy with no cotrustee remaining, the former trustee sends the report. A personal representative, conservator or guardian of a deceased or incapacitated trustee may send it, and must deliver the trust's books, records and assets in their possession to the successor trustee.
When a West Virginia accounting is contested
Section 44D-10-1005 bars a proceeding for breach of trust more than one year after the beneficiary was sent a report that adequately disclosed the potential claim and told the beneficiary how long they had to bring it. Otherwise, the outer limit is five years from the first of the trustee's removal, resignation or death, the end of the beneficiary's interest, the end of the trust, or the time the beneficiary knew or should have known of the breach.
How T.E.A. Fiduciary helps
We prepare West Virginia annual and termination reports under section 44D-8-813, with the disclosure and deadline notice that start the section 44D-10-1005 one-year period. We work alongside your attorney and your tax preparer; we do not prepare tax returns.
This page provides general information about West Virginia 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: West Virginia Code Chapter 44D (West Virginia Uniform Trust Code), West Virginia 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
