Mississippi Estate Accounting: A Representative's Guide

Mississippi administers decedents' estates under Title 91, Chapter 7 of the Mississippi Code, before the Chancery Court of the county where the estate is opened. There is no statewide probate form category for either document, the way there is none in Missouri, Washington or Alabama. What the statutes say a document must contain is the whole of the requirement.

The first document is the Inventory, required by Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-93. It is one list, verified by oath, of the money and property the decedent owned at death, described in reasonable detail, each item at its market value as of the date of death and with the type and amount of any encumbrance that may exist with reference to it. Mississippi's statute sets no classification scheme and no numbered classes, so ExecutorLedger prints one list in the order you entered it, with a column naming the kind of each thing, and says on the print that the kind column is the app's own choice rather than a statutory category.

The second document is the Account, sworn like the inventory: an annual account under § 91-7-277 while the estate stays open, and a final account under § 91-7-291 when it closes. Both are accounts of money. The annual account states the receipts of money with their sources and the disbursements with each item and amount distinctly stated. The final account adds a distinct statement of all the balances of the annual accounts and a statement of the kind and condition of all assets in the executor's or administrator's hands.

The inventory is due within ninety days of the grant of letters, unless the court or the clerk allows further time (§ 91-7-93).

House Bill 1375, approved April 16, 2019, added the same waiver to three statutes at once: the inventory (§ 91-7-93), the annual account (§ 91-7-277), and the final account (§ 91-7-291). Each of the three says the filing is not required at all if the requirement is waived in the testator's will, and each may also be waived by the court or the chancellor in an intestate estate, on the administrator's petition.

None of the three waivers is the last word. The chancellor may still order the executor or administrator to file an inventory, or to account, later, on the petition of a beneficiary or another interested party, if the chancellor decides the filing is necessary or advisable. So no Mississippi document in this guide is simply required. Every one of the three can have been waived, and the chancellor can order it filed anyway.

There is no percentage schedule. § 91-7-299 lets the court allow the executor or administrator such sum as the court deems proper, considering the value and worth of the estate and the extent or degree of difficulty of the duties discharged, in a partial or a final settlement. The court may also allow necessary expenses, including a reasonable attorney's fee, assessed out of the estate, in an amount the court determines.

Nothing in § 91-7-299 sets a rate, a range, or a cap. ExecutorLedger never computes a Mississippi commission from a percentage, and prints no ceiling either, since the statute names none.

The final account under § 91-7-291 carries a distinct statement of all the balances of the annual accounts on file, and a statement of the kind and condition of all assets still in the executor's or administrator's hands, real property included. It stays on file for inspection, together with a statement of the parties in interest, and summons issues or publication is made for interested parties as in other chancery suits (§ 91-7-295).

Vouchers supporting the account need not be filed separately if the decree approving the account recites that they were exhibited to and approved by the court, but the executor or administrator must preserve them until the final accounting is approved (§ 91-7-295). § 91-7-297 sets the hearing and the decree on the final account, which the chancellor enters after considering it.

An appraiser is optional, not required. § 91-7-109 lets the executor or administrator employ a qualified and disinterested appraiser for an asset whose value may be subject to reasonable doubt. Nothing in Mississippi law requires one for every estate.

• Wait out the 90-day claims bar, pay the properly probated claims, and collect the assets. Mississippi estates open and close in the Chancery Court, and your Mississippi attorney (required for most fiduciaries by Chancery Rule 6.02) files the closing papers.
• Prepare and file a sworn final account under Miss. Code §91-7-291, covering the balances of all annual accounts, every disbursement backed by a voucher, and the kind and condition of remaining assets, along with the sworn statement of heirs, devisees and legatees (names, addresses, and any minors or incapacitated parties) that §91-7-293 requires (skip the account itself only if the will waives accountings or the court excuses them).
• Get each beneficiary to sign a waiver and joinder consenting to the final account; for anyone who won't sign, have summons issued or notice published under §91-7-295 at least 30 days before the hearing.
• At the hearing, ask the chancellor for a final decree approving and allowing the account and ordering distribution of the property in your hands (§91-7-297).
• Distribute per the decree, collect a signed receipt from each beneficiary, and file the receipts so the court can enter the decree closing the estate and discharging you and your bond.

Mississippi is not a UPC state. There is no §3-1003-style sworn closing statement; closing is by chancery decree on a final account, or on beneficiary waivers/joinders where accountings are waived. Probate personal property of $75,000 or less can skip administration entirely via the §91-7-322 successor affidavit (30 days after death).

The inventory is one list, at the market value of each item as of the date of death, with no statutory grouping. ExecutorLedger's print groups the list by asset type for readability and says so, rather than presenting the grouping as something the statute requires. Real property is on the list too, since § 91-7-93 covers the property owned by the decedent at the time of death, but it carries its own total, kept apart so the account of money below does not include it.

The supplementary inventory under § 91-7-95 gets its own section, separate from the original list, since the statute sets no deadline and treats it as a filing of its own. It covers new property that turns up later, and a corrected value or description for something already listed, in the same section.

The account is an account of money, built the way § 91-7-277 describes it: receipts of money with their sources, and disbursements with each item and amount distinctly stated. It is not a charge-and-discharge account of property, the way some other states' accounts run. Money the estate already held at the start of the period opens the account; money found later, still held, adds to the closing figure on its own line, since it was never collected as a receipt; and each dollar is counted once, whether it opened the account, was found later, or was collected as a receipt.

A sale of real property brings its full proceeds into the account as a receipt, with no gain or loss figure anywhere, since nothing in Mississippi's statutes computes one. An in-kind distribution is not a disbursement of money; it gets its own list, naming the beneficiary and the item, and the item leaves the assets still in the executor's or administrator's hands. Sections the app has no data for still print, with ruled blanks rather than disappearing: the balances of the annual accounts, the condition of each asset still held, and the statement of the parties in interest.

Recording is free for as long as the estate takes: every receipt and disbursement with its date and description, distributions per beneficiary, and a balance that checks itself as you go. ExecutorLedger builds Mississippi-style documents from those records, an Inventory under § 91-7-93 and an Account under § 91-7-277 or § 91-7-291, ready to transcribe onto whatever your own chancery clerk expects when you file. Neither is a court form, and your attorney should review them before anything is signed or filed. Every document previews free with your real numbers, and $149 (one-time payment) per estate lifts the watermark.