An executor should be able to show what the estate received, held, spent, sold, earned, reserved, and distributed. A contemporaneous ledger tied to statements, receipts, valuations, authorizations, and beneficiary records is safer than reconstructing the administration at closing.
Open one administration record
One file, not a dozen. Keep the court file, appointment papers, will, inventory support, bank and investment statements, appraisals, bills, claims, receipts, sale documents, tax records, beneficiary communications, and distribution evidence in a consistent matter file.
Use categories that reconcile
Track principal, income, gains and losses, administrative expenses, debts, taxes, fiduciary or professional fees, reserves, and each distribution, since a beneficiary reviewing the account will eventually ask where a specific dollar went and expect the ledger to answer without guesswork. Reconcile the ledger to estate-account statements and document transfers in or out.
Document judgment calls
Numbers alone may not explain a fiduciary decision.
- Why property was retained, sold, repaired, or abandoned
- How values and sale terms were obtained
- How competing expenses or claims were handled
- Why a reserve was kept
- How personal use or conflicts were avoided
- What authority supported each distribution