What goes into the first Account

The records

• Your letters of administration, for the date you were appointed.
• The Inventory you filed, because what it lists is where the first Account starts.
• Every statement for every account the estate owns, from the date of death through the end of the Account period, with none missing. Some accounts send monthly statements and some quarterly. Include the estate checking account you opened.
• A receipt or invoice for each payment out of the estate: funeral costs, utilities, repairs, fees and anything else. The auditor may ask for vouchers such as cancelled checks, invoices or bank statements.
• Records of money coming in: interest and dividends, and refunds.
• Anything sold, with its sale price, so the gain or loss against the Inventory value can be shown. For a house, the Closing Disclosure (settlement statement).
• What was paid or is proposed to be paid to heirs or legatees, and any inheritance tax due.
• A list of assets still held, with a short explanation, if this is not the final Account.

Before you file

• The totals balance: what you started with, plus money in, minus money out, equals what is left.
• Commissions and attorney fees are not paid without a court order or the filed consents of the interested persons.
• The claims filed against the estate at the Register of Wills have been checked.
• Every personal representative signs the Verification (and the attorney, if there is one).
• A Certificate of Service shows a copy went to every interested person.
• Tip: list any checks written but not yet cashed at the end of the period. It makes the bank balance easier to match.

If the estate had no assets during the period, an affidavit may be filed instead of an Account. Ask the Register of Wills.