In New York probate, estate accounting and inventory are the two record-keeping duties that prove an executor or administrator has handled a decedent’s property honestly. The inventory of assets is an early disclosure of what the estate owns and its date-of-death value, filed with the Surrogate’s Court under 22 NYCRR 207.20; the accounting is the later, comprehensive financial report that shows every dollar received, every dollar paid out, and exactly what remains for the beneficiaries. Together they form the spine of the fiduciary’s accountability, and in a contested estate they are the documents on which the whole dispute usually turns.
If you have moved from a guardianship under Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law into the probate of the same person’s estate after death, these requirements will feel familiar and also unforgiving. A guardian filed annual accounts to the court while the person was alive. The executor now picks up that chain of custody and must account for the estate from the date of death forward. Gaps between the last guardianship account and the first estate transaction are precisely where Brooklyn litigation begins. Below is what New York law actually requires, when, and what happens when someone objects.
The estate inventory: an early snapshot of what the decedent owned
Once the Surrogate’s Court issues letters testamentary (to an executor named in the will) or letters of administration (where there is no will), the fiduciary is legally in control of the estate’s property. Under the Uniform Rules for Surrogate’s Court, 22 NYCRR 207.20, the fiduciary must file an inventory of assets within six months of receiving those letters. This is not the full accounting — it is a structured list of the probate assets and their fair market value as of the date of death.
The inventory generally captures:
- Real property located in New York, with the borough, block, and lot for Brooklyn parcels and the date-of-death value;
- Bank and brokerage accounts held in the decedent’s sole name;
- Closely held business interests, partnership shares, and membership interests;
- Tangible personal property of meaningful value — vehicles, jewelry, art, collectibles;
- Debts owed to the decedent and any causes of action the estate may pursue.
What the inventory does not include matters just as much. Non-probate assets pass outside the will and outside the executor’s control: jointly held real estate with right of survivorship, accounts with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation, life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and assets already titled in a revocable living trust. A common error — especially after a guardianship, where the guardian may have consolidated accounts for convenience — is listing a survivorship account as a probate asset, or omitting one that actually does belong to the estate. Get the line between probate and non-probate wrong, and you have handed an objectant their first issue.
Valuation is a date, not a guess
Values are fixed as of the date of death. For publicly traded securities that means the closing or mean trading price on that date; for Brooklyn real estate it usually means a formal appraisal rather than the City’s assessed value, which rarely reflects market reality. The inventory value also seeds the basis for estate tax reporting and, where relevant, the federal alternate valuation date election. Sloppy valuation here ripples through every later document.
The estate accounting: the full financial story
The accounting is the fiduciary’s complete ledger of the administration. New York practice uses a standardized set of schedules — the same architecture whether the account is filed voluntarily, demanded by a beneficiary, or compelled by the court. Each schedule answers a specific question:
- Schedule A — principal received (the assets that came into the estate).
- Schedule A-1 — realized increases on sale of assets.
- Schedule A-2 — income collected during administration (interest, dividends, rent).
- Schedule B — realized decreases or losses on the sale of assets.
- Schedule C — administration expenses and commissions paid.
- Schedule C-1 — unpaid administration expenses.
- Schedule D — creditors’ claims, both paid and rejected.
- Schedule E — distributions already made to beneficiaries.
- Schedules F through J — new property discovered, the proposed distribution, commission computation, other pertinent facts, and the estate tax allocation.
The account must reconcile. Principal and income on hand at the end must equal what came in, less what went out. When the numbers do not foot, the court — and any objectant — notices immediately. For estates that began as guardianships, the opening figures in Schedule A should tie cleanly to the closing balances of the final approved guardianship account. A discontinuity there is the single most fertile ground for a Brooklyn probate dispute, and it is the first thing a careful attorney reconstructs.
Fiduciary commissions are computed, not chosen
The accounting also fixes the executor’s or administrator’s commission. New York does not allow a fiduciary to name a fee. SCPA 2307 sets statutory commission rates on a sliding scale tied to the value of property received and paid out, and the schedules must show the computation transparently. A fiduciary who pays themselves before the account is settled — or who miscalculates the rate brackets — invites a surcharge.
Formal vs. informal accounting in Surrogate’s Court
Not every estate needs a courtroom. New York recognizes two paths to closure.
An informal (or receipt-and-release) accounting works when the beneficiaries are cooperative and competent. The fiduciary shares the schedules privately, each beneficiary reviews them, and each signs a receipt, release, and refunding agreement acknowledging their share and releasing the fiduciary from liability. Nothing is filed with the court for adjudication; it is faster, cheaper, and confidential. It only works if everyone signs — and if everyone is an adult with capacity. Where a beneficiary is a minor, is incapacitated, cannot be located, or simply will not sign, the informal route closes.
A formal judicial accounting is the court-supervised process. The fiduciary files a petition and the full account, and the court issues a citation to all interested parties. Those parties have a defined window to file objections. If the account is approved, the resulting decree judicially settles the account and discharges the fiduciary — a far stronger protection than private releases, because it binds everyone who was cited, including those who said nothing. In contested matters, or where the estate is large, holds real property, or carries a contentious history, formal accounting is the prudent course.
When the court compels an accounting
A beneficiary or other interested person who suspects mismanagement does not have to wait. Under SCPA 2205, the court may direct a fiduciary to account, and under SCPA 2206 an interested party may petition to compel one. A fiduciary who ignores a compulsory accounting order risks removal under SCPA 711 and personal liability. For families emerging from a guardianship into probate, this is often the lever that finally forces a full reckoning of where the money went during the years of incapacity and the months after death. For an overview of how these fights typically unfold, Morgan Legal’s NY team has a useful breakdown of the common challenges faced during the probate process.
How the spousal right of election affects the accounting
One statutory right reshapes nearly every accounting where the decedent was married: the surviving spouse’s right of election under EPTL 5-1.1-A. A surviving spouse who is disinherited or under-provided for may elect against the estate and claim the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate. Critically, the elective share is calculated against an augmented estate that pulls in many non-probate transfers — testamentary substitutes such as survivorship accounts, payable-on-death designations, and certain lifetime gifts — not merely the probate property listed in the inventory.
This means the inventory and the accounting cannot ignore assets that passed outside the will once a spouse elects. The fiduciary must identify and value testamentary substitutes, compute the net estate, and show the elective-share satisfaction in the schedules. The election must be served and filed within roughly six months of the issuance of letters and no later than two years after death. Miss the assets, miss the math, or miss the deadline, and the account is exposed to objection. This is also a frequent flashpoint when a second marriage and adult children from a first marriage collide in Brooklyn estates — the same dynamic that fuels many will contests in New York.
Small and voluntary estates: when full accounting is not required
Modest estates have a streamlined path. Under SCPA Article 13, a voluntary administrator may settle the estate of a decedent who left personal property worth $50,000 or less (real property is excluded from this calculation). The voluntary administrator files a small-estate affidavit, collects the limited assets, pays debts in the statutory order of priority, and distributes the balance. There is no formal inventory filing and no judicial accounting in the conventional sense, though the voluntary administrator must still keep records and report to the court if asked.
Article 13 is a genuine convenience, but it is narrow. The moment the estate holds Brooklyn real property in the decedent’s sole name, or personal property crosses the $50,000 threshold, full probate or administration — with its inventory and accounting obligations — applies. Trying to force a real-property estate through the small-estate door simply delays the inevitable.
Common accounting and inventory mistakes that draw objections
- Commingling funds. Estate money must live in a dedicated estate account with its own EIN — never in the fiduciary’s personal account. Commingling is a near-automatic credibility problem.
- Missing the six-month inventory deadline. A late or absent 207.20 inventory signals disorganization and invites a compulsory accounting petition.
- Misclassifying probate vs. non-probate assets. Listing survivorship accounts as estate property, or omitting testamentary substitutes when a spouse elects.
- Self-dealing. Selling estate assets to oneself or a relative below market value is a fiduciary breach that survives even a signed release if it was concealed.
- Paying commissions early. Taking the SCPA 2307 fee before the court settles the account.
- Ignoring the guardianship handoff. Failing to tie opening estate balances to the final guardianship account, leaving an unexplained gap.
How the tools fit together: powers of attorney, proxies, and trusts
Good estate accounting in probate is partly inherited from decisions made while the decedent was alive. A New York statutory durable power of attorney under General Obligations Law 5-1501 governs financial authority during life and ends at death — the agent’s records before death often become Schedule A’s starting point and, in contested cases, a subject of scrutiny in their own right. A health care proxy governs medical decisions and has no role in the financial account. A funded revocable living trust takes assets out of probate entirely, so trust property does not appear on the estate inventory at all; instead the successor trustee accounts to the trust beneficiaries under separate trust-accounting rules. Understanding which instrument controlled which asset is the first step in building an inventory that survives challenge. You can review how these documents are prepared on our wills and estate documents page, or read more about the broader Brooklyn probate process.
Families with affiliated matters in Florida can also reach Morgan Legal’s Florida probate practice, though the rules there differ from New York’s and should not be assumed to overlap.
The bottom line for Brooklyn executors and administrators
Estate accounting and inventory are not bureaucratic afterthoughts — they are the legal proof that a fiduciary did the job correctly. File the inventory within six months. Keep estate funds segregated. Reconcile every schedule. Honor the spousal right of election where it applies. And if your estate grew out of a guardianship, close the gap between the last guardianship account and the first estate entry before anyone else opens it. Done well, the account ends in a decree that discharges you cleanly. Done carelessly, it becomes the evidence against you. If you are stepping into either role in Kings County, speak with an experienced probate attorney before you sign your first check — contact our Brooklyn office to talk it through.
Frequently Asked Questions
When must an estate inventory be filed in New York probate?
Under 22 NYCRR 207.20, the executor or administrator must file an inventory of assets with the Surrogate’s Court within six months of receiving letters testamentary or letters of administration. The inventory lists the decedent’s probate assets and their fair market value as of the date of death.
What is the difference between a formal and an informal estate accounting?
An informal (receipt-and-release) accounting is handled privately: the fiduciary shares the schedules and each competent adult beneficiary signs a receipt, release, and refunding agreement. A formal judicial accounting is filed with the court, all interested parties are cited, objections can be raised, and a decree judicially settles the account and discharges the fiduciary. Formal accounting is used in contested estates or when a beneficiary is a minor, incapacitated, missing, or unwilling to sign.
Can a beneficiary force an executor to account in New York?
Yes. Under SCPA 2205 the court may direct a fiduciary to account, and under SCPA 2206 an interested person may petition to compel an accounting. A fiduciary who ignores a compulsory accounting order risks removal under SCPA 711 and personal liability for any losses.
How does the spousal right of election affect the estate accounting?
Under EPTL 5-1.1-A, a surviving spouse may elect to take the greater of $50,000 or one-third of the net estate. The elective share is computed against an augmented estate that includes testamentary substitutes such as survivorship accounts and payable-on-death assets, so the accounting must identify and value those non-probate transfers, not just the probate assets in the inventory. The election generally must be served and filed within about six months of letters and no later than two years after death.
Does every New York estate require a full inventory and accounting?
No. Under SCPA Article 13, a voluntary administrator can settle a small estate of personal property worth $50,000 or less (excluding real property) without a formal inventory filing or judicial accounting. Once the estate holds New York real property in the decedent’s sole name or personal property exceeds $50,000, full probate or administration with inventory and accounting obligations applies.
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