Texas Estate Accounting: An Executor's Guide

What a Texas estate accounting is, and what it isn't

Every estate accounting is the same charge-and-discharge machine — what you were answerable for against what you did with it, balancing to the penny (the mechanics are in How to prepare an estate accounting). What Texas adds is the shape. The document a Texas executor works toward is that account, carrying the figures a Tex. Est. Code §404.001 exhibit draws on. The sworn exhibit language is your attorney's to draft. The figures underneath it are months of bank statements and receipts, the same numbers whether anything is ever filed or not.

Because most Texas estates are independent administrations, no accounting lands on a court's desk on a routine schedule — the inventory or affidavit in lieu still does, within 90 days. That does not make the accounting optional: the beneficiaries you ask to sign receipts deserve a clear picture of where the money went.

The Texas deadlines, and where each one comes from

Most of the Texas clock runs from the day letters issue, not from the date of death. Within 1 month after letters issue, publish notice to creditors in a newspaper in the county where letters were issued, or post or file it if there is no newspaper (Tex. Est. Code §308.051). Within 2 months after letters issue, send certified-mail notice to each creditor holding a secured claim, such as a mortgage or a car lien (§308.053). Confirm the method, timing, and who must be noticed with your attorney.

Notice to the people named in the will runs separately. Certified-mail notice to will beneficiaries is typically due within 60 days after the will is admitted to probate, usually when letters issue, with an affidavit or certificate of compliance filed by day 90 under §308.004 (§308.002). Confirm the exact dates with your attorney.

The inventory, appraisement, and list of claims is typically due within 90 days after you qualify (§309.051). Many independent executors may instead file an affidavit in lieu under §309.056, and extensions are possible, so confirm which route your estate takes. Do the inventory work early either way: date-of-death values are the accounting's opening balance, and they are miserable to reconstruct later.

Two more depend on the estate. IRS Form 706 is due 9 months after death under IRC §6075, but only for estates over the federal exemption or electing portability. Texas has no state estate tax, so ask your attorney or CPA whether a return applies at all, and about the 6-month extension. In a court-supervised (dependent) administration, an annual account is due within 60 days after each anniversary of qualification (§359.001). Most Texas estates run independently and skip it — confirm which type yours is with your attorney.

What a Texas executor gets paid

Texas pays on the cash that moves, not on the size of the estate. Under Estates Code chapter 352, the commission is 5% of qualifying cash received plus 5% of qualifying cash paid out, capped at 5% of the gross estate under administration.

Then come the exclusions, and they are what usually shrinks the figure. Money already in the decedent's bank or brokerage accounts at death does not count. Neither does life insurance, and neither does anything paid to beneficiaries. An estate whose value sat in accounts at death and passed straight to the family can produce a commission near nothing. Whether anything beyond chapter 352's math is available in your situation is a question for the estate's attorney.

How a Texas independent administration closes

Confirm every debt and tax is paid first, because the independent executor distributes without court approval. Then distribute and collect a signed receipt from each beneficiary. In an independent administration nobody reviews the numbers before the money leaves, which is why the receipt each beneficiary signs matters.

After that you may file a closing report or notice of closing. It is often skipped, and whether your county expects one is worth asking your attorney.

What only you can supply

Software handles the bookkeeping half: every transaction with its date, payee, and category, the inventory valued as of the date of death, each sale carried against the value the item was held at, and totals that refuse to print out of balance.

The rest is yours. The sworn §404.001 exhibit language comes from your attorney. The appraisement and the list of claims in the §309.051 filing are not bookkeeping. Mortgages and liens are not tracked in the ledger, so property prints at gross value and you reduce it when you transcribe. Sign with your full legal name, not an email address. And whether your administration is independent or dependent is a call for the estate's attorney.

Where ExecutorLedger fits

ExecutorLedger is free to use while you record the estate: assets at date-of-death value, every receipt and disbursement, distributions per beneficiary. The Texas document is a charge-and-discharge account carrying the figures a §404.001 exhibit draws on, and it previews free with your real numbers, watermarked, so you see the whole thing first. An accounting-through date produces an interim account for any period. One payment of $149 per estate lifts the watermark from every document, and it is typically a reimbursable estate expense. None of these are court forms. They are court-style documents, ready to transcribe onto whatever your filing requires; your attorney should read one before anybody signs.

Questions Texas executors ask