California Estate Accounting: An Executor's Guide

The document California expects: the Probate Code §1061 summary

What California practice expects is a summary of account in the §1061 shape: cited to Probate Code §1061, balancing to the penny, with the supporting schedules behind it. What ExecutorLedger produces is a court-style document in that shape, not a court form, and what your court will accept is a question for the estate's attorney. One California detail runs through it: the property still held is shown with a market-value column, so the reader sees what is left and what it is worth now.

What produces that summary is not a template but a complete, categorized record of every dollar, ready to transcribe into the accounting filed with the petition.

The California probate deadlines to calendar first

Most California dates run from the day letters issue, not from the date of death — nearly everything below counts forward from it.

The inventory and appraisal is typically due within 4 months after letters issue, using a court-appointed probate referee for most assets (Cal. Prob. Code §8800) — confirm the exact date and any extension with your attorney.

Creditors get two dates. Notice of administration typically must reach known or reasonably ascertainable creditors within 4 months after letters issue, or within 30 days after you first learn of a creditor (Cal. Prob. Code §§9050–9052). The claim cutoff is generally the later of 4 months after letters issue or 60 days after notice was mailed to that creditor (§9100). Calendar that bar date before you pay or distribute, and confirm the operative date with your attorney.

Two more typically come due within 90 days after letters first issue: notice of the administration to the Franchise Tax Board (§9202(c)) — confirm that one with your attorney — and, if the decedent received or may have received Medi-Cal, or was the surviving spouse of someone who did, notice to the Department of Health Care Services (§9202(a); Prob. Code §215 separately requires notice within 90 days of death). Ask your attorney whether the Medi-Cal notice applies.

Federal Form 706 is due 9 months after death (IRC §6075), but only if the gross estate exceeds the federal exemption or the estate elects portability, and a 6-month extension may be available — confirm applicability and timing with your attorney. And the big one: you typically must petition for final distribution, or report on the estate's status, within 1 year after letters issue, 18 months if a federal estate tax return is required (Cal. Prob. Code §12200) — confirm your deadline with your attorney.

What a California executor is paid: Probate Code §10800

California puts the number in statute. Probate Code §10800 sets marginal rates on the estate accounted for: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of $100,000 to $200,000, 2% of $200,000 to $1,000,000, 1% of $1,000,000 to $10,000,000, and 0.5% of $10,000,000 to $25,000,000. Above $25,000,000 there is no statutory rate — the court sets a reasonable amount.

The base is not the net estate. It is the inventory, or appraisal, value of the probate assets, plus money received during administration, plus gains on sales, minus losses, at gross values — you do not subtract the mortgage from the house first.

The court does not reset the ordinary fee — §10800's schedule is the number. What the court decides is when it is paid, whether extraordinary work (a house sale, litigation, tax trouble) earns more, and what is reasonable for any portion above $25,000,000, which has no statutory rate. If the will sets the executor's pay, the will usually wins — have the attorney read it. Co-executors share by rules that differ per state; nobody simply gets double. Executor pay is taxable income to you. Whatever the schedule computes is an estimate to confirm with the estate attorney before you take anything.

How California estates actually close

Even the easy path goes through the courthouse. You file the petition for final distribution, with the accounting — or with waivers of account signed by every beneficiary. You attend the hearing and obtain the order for final distribution, distribute exactly as it directs, and collect receipts. Then you file those receipts with the ex parte petition for final discharge.

The waiver of account is the other fork. When every beneficiary signs, no formal accounting has to go with the petition. But they are giving up their right to one, and they still deserve a clear, complete accounting first — that is often what gets the waivers signed. If someone won't sign, or the court wants one, you are back to a full accounting in the shape the court expects. Whether the waiver route is open here is a question for the estate's attorney.

What only you can supply

Software can do the bookkeeping half: every receipt and disbursement with its date, payee, and category, both sides balanced as you go, and every deadline counted from the date it runs from.

The rest is yours. The county and case number in the caption. The probate referee's appraised values, which are the referee's, not the ledger's. Mortgage and lien balances — a ledger tracks what the estate owns, not what is secured against it, so values print gross and you net them where the filing calls for it. The fee you are requesting under §10800. And every judgment call, which belongs to the estate's attorney.

Where ExecutorLedger fits

ExecutorLedger is California estate accounting software for the executor, not for a law firm. Recording is free for as long as the estate takes, and every document — the inventory, the informal accounting beneficiaries sign, and the California court-style accounting shaped to Probate Code §1061 — previews free with your real numbers. A one-time $149 per estate lifts the watermark, forever. None is a court form — each is a complete, correctly structured document to transcribe onto what your court expects, and your attorney reads it before anyone signs or files.

Questions California executors ask