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Connecticut Probate Accounting
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Connecticut Probate Accounting

Connecticut probate accounting: the two-month § 45a-341 inventory, the PC-246 financial report that replaces a final account, and the decree that closes it.

By Settled Editorial

Connecticut probate accounting runs on two filings and one closing paper. You file an inventory within two months of qualifying, you file a final financial report or account when settlement is done, and you file an affidavit of closing after the money goes out if the court asks for one. The Probate Court then issues a decree accepting the report, and that decree releases you from liability for every item it covers.

The word to learn is financial report. Connecticut never adopted the Uniform Probate Code, so nobody here files a "closing statement" or a "verified statement" the way a UPC state does. Your court accepts a summary document called a financial report on form PC-246, and the longer double-entry document called an account is the exception rather than the rule. This guide walks the inventory, the report, the hearing that usually does not happen, the decree, and the fee that readers most often get wrong. Read it beside the Connecticut executor duties guide for the surrounding jobs, and confirm anything that touches your own estate with the Probate Court for your district.

The Inventory Is the First Half of Your Account

Every later figure ties back to the inventory, which is why it carries the only hard deadline in this area.

Section 45a-341(b) gives you two months after the acceptance of the bond or other qualification of the fiduciary to file the inventory with the Probate Court that has jurisdiction of the estate. The court may extend that for cause to no more than four months from qualification. Where a bond is required, § 45a-139(b) says your appointment is not effective until the court accepts the bond, so the clock starts at acceptance rather than at the hearing.

Section 45a-341(a) sets what goes on it:

  • All property of the deceased person, except real property situated outside Connecticut, duly appraised
  • Signed under penalty of false statement by the fiduciary
  • Appraised by you at fair market value, because § 45a-346 says there shall be no court-appointed appraisers of a decedent's property
  • For a nonresident decedent, only the Connecticut real property and tangible personal property, plus intangibles unless the Connecticut proceeding is ancillary to another state's

Form Inventory/Decedents' Estates (PC-2407) is the version the Probate Courts publish for a decedent, and the general Inventory (PC-440) carries the same instruction. List solely owned assets, including fractional shares, at market value as of the date of death. Leave off out-of-state real property, jointly owned property, and anything passing by beneficiary designation. Attach a complete copy of the recorded deed for real property, and report the net value after any unpaid mortgage. Send a copy to each party and attorney of record at the time of filing and certify to the court that you sent it, which rule 30.12 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure requires.

Two consequences follow from getting this wrong, and neither is obvious.

Miss the deadline and the court can replace you. Section 45a-342 lets the court cite a late fiduciary to appear and show cause why the fiduciary should not be removed. Unless sufficient cause is shown and the inventory is filed forthwith, the statute says the court shall remove the fiduciary and appoint a successor.

The inventory helps set the probate fee. Section 45a-107(b)(1) computes the fee for settling the estate on the greatest of four measures, and the inventory including all supplements is one of them. A padded inventory can raise the bill; an incomplete one can be corrected later at a worse time.

Anyone with an interest can challenge your numbers. Under § 45a-343, an interested party may file a written objection to the inventory or the appraisal at any time between the filing of the inventory and the hearing on your final account, and the court then holds a hearing within sixty days and not less than fifteen days after the objection lands. That long open window is why a supplemental or substitute inventory is worth filing the day you find the forgotten account rather than burying the correction in the final report.

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Financial Report or Account: Connecticut Lets You Pick

Rule 36.1 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure is the switch. A fiduciary required or permitted to account may satisfy the requirement by submitting a financial report meeting rule 37, and nothing stops a fiduciary from filing the fuller account under rule 38 instead. Rule 36.2 spells out the three differences: a financial report does not report principal and income separately, may value assets at current fair market value rather than fiduciary acquisition value, and does not have to balance the way an account does.

Rule 36.3 forces the account in two situations. The first is mechanical, from rule 38.1(b): the fiduciary of a decedent's estate must report principal and income separately when

  1. the will provides for a distribution to a trustee of a trust with differing income and principal interests,
  2. the will establishes a life interest in intangible personal property, or
  3. the surviving spouse elects against the will and takes the statutory share under § 45a-436.

The second is discretionary. On a party's motion or its own motion, made before it approves a financial report, the court may require an account if it decides an account is needed to review how you managed the estate. Rule 39.1(c) gives the court the same lever over fees: it may require a report or account before it approves a proposed fiduciary or attorney fee.

The forms track the choice. Financial Report/Decedent's Estate (PC-246) is the short document. Decedent's Estate Administration Account (Short Form) (PC-242) with its Cover Sheet (PC-241) is the fuller one. Rule 36.4(c) lets you file on a published form or in any format that satisfies rules 36 through 38, and rule 36.4(b) makes you sign either document under penalty of false statement.

What a Connecticut Financial Report Has to Show

Rule 37.1 lists nine items for a decedent's estate, and form PC-246 is laid out in that order.

Line on the reportWhat belongs there
Opening valueThe total reported on the inventory, or on your most recent interim report or account
Additional assets receivedProperty that surfaced after the inventory
Income receivedInterest, dividends, rent, and other income by category
Gain or lossThe net of capital gains and losses on assets you sold
Funeral expensesIts own line, ahead of administration expenses
Administration expensesFiduciary fees, attorney fees, accounting costs, probate fees, taxes, bond premium, publication, and other costs by category
Claims paidThe total paid to creditors, tied to your Return of Claims (PC-237)
Distributions already madeItemized for each heir or beneficiary
Proposed distribution and reserveOn a final report only, itemized, with the sworn statement that funeral expenses, administration expenses, taxes and claims have been paid and that all bequests and devises have been or will be distributed

Two details in that list decide whether the report survives review.

The payment order shows on the page. Funeral expenses sit on their own line above administration expenses because § 45a-365 ranks them first. A report that shows the funeral paid after probate fees in a short estate advertises a problem with the order Connecticut pays debts in.

Your own fee gets reviewed whether or not anyone complains. Rule 39.1(d) says fiduciary and attorney fees not previously approved by the court are subject to review with the report or account covering the period they were paid in, and the court decides whether they are reasonable whether or not an interested party raises an objection. Rule 39.2 lets the court ask for a nine-factor task statement describing what you actually did. Connecticut publishes no percentage schedule, so the task statement is the evidence.

Rule 37.4 governs how distributions appear. Report them at fair market value on the date of distribution, unless every beneficiary in the class gets a proportionate share of each asset, in which case fiduciary acquisition value is allowed. For a decedent's estate, rule 36.14(a)(1) defines fiduciary acquisition value as the fair market value on the date of death. A schedule of distributions has to point back to the will provision that authorizes each one.

Records You Have to Keep While the Estate Is Open

Rule 36.13 is the longest rule in this part of the book, and it is the one that decides whether a challenged report holds up. It requires complete records of your management of the estate, listing twenty-two categories, including every account statement and passbook, canceled checks or check images, deposit receipts, vendor invoices behind each disbursement, credit card statements and charge slips, payroll records with the federal forms, contractor invoices with the 1099 filings, lease agreements and security deposits for rental property, a copy of each state and federal fiduciary income tax return, and supporting paperwork for peer-to-peer transfers, electronic wallets and cryptocurrency.

Rule 36.13(a)(15) asks for something people forget: a detailed journal describing your services and the compensation you were paid. Start it the week you qualify, because reconstructing it two years later is how a reasonable fee turns into a disputed one.

Rule 36.13(b) sets the retention rule. Do not destroy estate financial records until the court approves your report or account, any appeal on it concludes, or another retention requirement runs out, whichever comes last. Rule 36.13(c) softens the standard slightly: the court weighs the totality of the circumstances, the extent of compliance, and whether you made good faith efforts.

Keep estate money in a dedicated estate account and never mix it with your own. Commingling breaks the arithmetic the report depends on, and the report is signed under penalty of false statement.

Filing, Notice and the Hearing That Usually Does Not Happen

Rule 30.19 sets the trigger rather than a date. An executor or administrator submits a final financial report or account when settlement of the estate is complete, or when the fiduciary seeks to resign or is removed. The court may order an interim report on a party's motion or its own motion if the estate needs protecting. Where a fiduciary dies mid-administration, § 45a-180 and rule 30.19(b) put the final report on that fiduciary's own executor, or on a successor if nobody has been appointed for the deceased fiduciary's estate.

Send a copy of the report to each party and attorney of record at the time of filing and certify to the court that you sent it, under rule 36.5(a). If a charity or charitable interest is a beneficiary, rule 36.5(b) adds the Attorney General to that list.

Now the part that surprises people. Section 45a-179(b) says the court shall hold a hearing before approving the final account of an executor or administrator, with notice as the court directs, unless all interested parties sign and file a written waiver of that notice. Rule 8.6 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure then directs the court to use its alternative notice procedure in decedents' estates, and rule 8.6(a) says using it satisfies a statutory notice and hearing requirement. The court sends each party a notice of the right to request a hearing at least ten days before the request deadline. If no timely written request arrives, the court may approve the report without a hearing. It may not deny the report that way.

Two escape hatches sit on either side of that. Interested parties who want the estate closed sooner can sign Waiver of Right to Hearing Re: Financial Report (PC-244A) or Waiver of Right to Hearing Re: Account (PC-245), confirming they received and reviewed the report. Rule 8.6(i) pulls the estate back into a real hearing when the matter is contested, needs testimony or legal argument, requires public notice to protect a party, or turns on the construction of a document affecting a charitable interest.

The Decree, the Release and the 30-Day Window

The decree accepting the account is what you are working toward, and it does three things.

Under § 45a-175(g), on the allowance of the account the court determines the rights of the fiduciary rendering the account and of the parties interested in it, subject to appeal as in other cases. Connecticut case law treats a decree accepting an account as carrying the elements of a final judgment.

Under § 45a-176, when a fiduciary is permitted to submit a financial report in lieu of an account and the court approves it, the court may enter a decree releasing the fiduciary and the sureties on the fiduciary's bond from further liability for all items shown on the financial report. That release is scoped to what you disclosed, which is the real reason to itemize rather than lump.

Under § 45a-186(b), any person aggrieved by the decree may appeal to the Superior Court on or before the thirtieth day after the date the Probate Court sent the order, denial or decree. The longer forty-five day window in that subsection belongs to conservatorship and intellectual-disability guardianship matters, not to a decedent's estate account. The period runs from the mailing date or the date of electronic service, whichever is later. Line those dates up against the Connecticut probate timeline before you distribute anything.

The Annual Status Update Nobody Expects

Connecticut sets no statutory calendar deadline for the final report, and it fills the gap with a reporting duty most guides miss.

Rule 30.21(a) requires an executor or administrator who has not submitted an interim or final report to file a status update not later than three months after the first anniversary of the appointment, and on each anniversary date after that. Form Status Update/Decedent's Estate (PC-286) asks for three things: the approximate amount already distributed to heirs or beneficiaries, the approximate amount of the estate still on hand, and the reasons administration is not finished. Rule 30.21(b) lets the court order specific steps to move the estate along.

Ignore that long enough and rule 30.24 lets the court close the estate administratively, after notice and hearing, once the clerk has made reasonable efforts to remind you in writing, you have neglected or refused to finish, a successor would serve no useful purpose, and no party objects. Rule 30.24(b) is the sting: administrative closure does not relieve you of any liability or obligation, and the court does not release your bond or a restricted account.

What the Accounting Costs

Here is the correction worth carrying away.

Section 45a-108a sets a per-account filing fee of 0.05 percent of assets or receipts, with a floor of $50 and a ceiling of $500 per year covered, plus interest at one-half of one percent per month on a balance unpaid thirty days after the court's invoice. Read subsection (a): the fee applies to a fiduciary filing an account in any matter other than a decedent's estate. The Probate Courts publish that schedule under the heading Accounting Fees for Conservatorships, Guardianships and Trusts. It does not reach an executor or administrator settling a decedent's estate.

Your estate pays § 45a-107 instead, and subsection (a) says those fees cover all proceedings in the settlement of a decedent's estate, including the tax proceedings. The scale runs from a $25 minimum through $150 plus 0.35 percent above $10,000, $1,865 plus 0.25 percent above $500,000, $5,615 plus 0.5 percent above $2,000,000, and flattens at $40,000 once the basis reaches $8,877,000. Any part of the basis passing to a surviving spouse is cut in half, and a full estate with a basis under $10,000 pays a $150 minimum. The court invoices after the estate tax return sets the values, so no accounting filing generates a new bill. Two fees exist here, and only one of them applies to you.

Distribution and the Affidavit of Closing

When the court approves the final report, it orders you to distribute the remaining assets according to the approved distribution. Send the money, get receipts, and hold the reserve you disclosed.

Rule 36.12 handles the last paper. If the court directs an affidavit of closing, file Affidavit of Closing (PC-213) not later than thirty days after completing distribution of all assets on hand. It itemizes each transaction since the end of the accounting period covered by your final report: the reserve you showed, income or assets received afterward, and amounts disbursed from the reserve and from that later income. It carries a statement that assets in your control were distributed in accordance with the final report and that the estate is fully settled, and it is signed under penalty of false statement. Rule 36.12(d) sets the limit: apart from the reserve and later receipts, the affidavit may not modify any item that would change a beneficial interest already adjudicated when the court allowed the report. Rule 36.12(f) lets the court accept it without notice and hearing. For most fiduciaries this filing is the last official act.

When the Inventory and Final Report Get Excused

Three routes skip the paperwork, and each has a narrow gate.

No assets. Rule 30.22(c) lets an executor or administrator petition to excuse the inventory and final report by filing a statement under penalty of false statement that the estate has no assets, together with a return of claims if one is not already filed. Copies go to each party, creditor and attorney of record. The court gives notice to every creditor on the return of claims and may excuse both filings if it finds the estate has no assets.

Temporary administrator who touched nothing. Rule 30.22(a) offers the same relief to a temporary administrator who states that no assets or income of the estate came under the administrator's control. Where a temporary administrator did handle property, § 45a-317(f) makes that administrator exhibit an account to the court forthwith on the qualification of the permanent fiduciary.

Small estate discovered late. Rule 30.23 covers an estate opened as a full estate that later proves eligible for settlement as a small estate under § 45a-273, the $40,000 personal-property track. The fiduciary may submit the published affidavit as a substitute for the inventory, the return of claims and the final account, and the court may approve it as a final account after notice and hearing if it is enough to review how the estate was managed.

Deadlines at a Glance

StepDeadlineAuthority
File the inventory (PC-2407)Within 2 months after acceptance of the bond or other qualification§ 45a-341(b)
Extended inventory deadlineNo more than 4 months from qualification, for cause§ 45a-341(b)
Objection to the inventory or appraisalAny time from filing of the inventory to the hearing on the final account§ 45a-343(a)
Hearing on that objectionWithin 60 days and not less than 15 days after the objection is filed§ 45a-343(b)
Estate tax return6 months from the date of death, for every estate§ 12-392(a)(1)
Status update (PC-286)Within 3 months after the first anniversary of appointment, then each anniversaryRule 30.21(a)
Final financial report or accountWhen settlement is complete, or on resignation or removal. No statutory date.Rule 30.19(a)
Notice of the right to request a hearingSent at least 10 days before the request deadlineRule 8.6(d)
Appeal from the decreeOn or before the 30th day after the court sent it§ 45a-186(b)
Affidavit of closing (PC-213)Within 30 days after distribution of assets on hand, if the court directs oneRule 36.12(a)

Filing habits differ across the 54 probate districts. Ask the chief clerk in your Connecticut Probate Court which forms that district prefers before you send anything.

Accounting Mistakes That Cost Connecticut Fiduciaries

  • Treating the two-month inventory as soft. Section 45a-342 says the court shall remove a fiduciary who cannot show cause for a late inventory. Ask for the extension before the deadline instead.
  • Waiting for a court-appointed appraiser. Section 45a-346 abolished them. The valuation is yours to make and yours to sign for.
  • Filing a financial report when the will creates a life interest. Rule 38.1(b) requires an account with principal and income split. So does a surviving spouse's election of the statutory share.
  • Leaving your own fee out of the report. Rule 39.1(d) puts the fee in front of the judge either way, and an unexplained payment reads worse than a disclosed one.
  • Skipping the annual status update. Rule 30.21 makes it mandatory once the estate passes a year without a report, and rule 30.24 shows where neglect ends.
  • Budgeting for a § 45a-108a account fee. That section excludes decedents' estates. Budget the § 45a-107 settlement fee instead.
  • Distributing before the decree. The court orders distribution when it approves the report, and the appeal window under § 45a-186(b) stays open for thirty days after the decree goes out.

Getting Help

Bring in a licensed Connecticut attorney when the estate runs a business, holds property that is hard to value, looks insolvent, draws an objection to the inventory, or involves a spouse electing the statutory share. Section 45a-175(f) also lets the court appoint a certified public accountant as auditor on its own motion to examine an account, and charge the cost to the fiduciary, a party in interest or the estate as it finds equitable. A clean report keeps that motion off the table. If the estate has not opened yet, the Connecticut probate guide covers which track it belongs on, and the Connecticut creditor claims guide covers the 150-day window whose results your report has to show.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Connecticut estate inventory due?

Within two months after the Probate Court accepts your bond or you otherwise qualify as fiduciary. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-341(b) sets that deadline, and the court may extend it for cause to no more than four months from qualification. You appraise the property yourself at fair market value and sign the inventory under penalty of false statement, because § 45a-346 says there are no court-appointed appraisers of a decedent's property. File it on form PC-2407 and send a copy to each party and attorney of record.

Does a Connecticut executor file a financial report or a final account?

Either one, and most estates file the financial report. Rule 36.1 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure lets a fiduciary satisfy the accounting requirement with a financial report meeting rule 37, which is form PC-246 for a decedent's estate. Rule 36.3 requires the longer account instead when principal and income have to be reported separately under rule 38.1, or when the court orders an account to review your management of the estate.

Is there a filing fee for a Connecticut estate account?

No separate account fee for a decedent's estate. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-108a charges a per-account fee of at least $50 and up to $500 per year, and subsection (a) applies it only to a matter other than a decedent's estate, which is why the Probate Courts publish that schedule under the heading Accounting Fees for Conservatorships, Guardianships and Trusts. A decedent's estate pays the single sliding-scale fee in § 45a-107 that covers every proceeding in the settlement.

When does a Connecticut estate have to file a final account?

Connecticut sets no calendar deadline. Section 30.19 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure ties the filing to an event: an executor or administrator submits a final financial report or account when settlement of the estate is complete, or when the fiduciary resigns or is removed. If the estate stays open past a year, rule 30.21 requires a status update on form PC-286 within three months after the first anniversary of your appointment and on each anniversary after that.

Will the Probate Court hold a hearing on my final account?

Often not. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-179(b) says the court shall hold a hearing before approving a final account of an executor or administrator unless every interested party signs and files a written waiver of notice. Rule 8.6 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure then directs the court to use its alternative notice procedure in decedents' estates, sending each party a notice of the right to request a hearing at least ten days before the request deadline. If nobody asks, the court may approve the report without anyone appearing.

What does the decree accepting the account actually do?

It fixes the numbers and starts the appeal clock. Under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-175(g) the court determines the rights of the fiduciary and of the parties interested in the account when it allows the account, subject to appeal. Section 45a-176 lets the court enter a decree releasing you and the sureties on your bond from further liability for every item shown on an approved financial report. Any aggrieved person has until the thirtieth day after the court sent the decree to appeal to the Superior Court under § 45a-186(b).

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of August 1, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Connecticut can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.