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Illinois Probate Accounting
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Illinois Probate Accounting

Illinois probate accounting: the verified 60-day inventory under 755 ILCS 5/14-1, the 24-1 court account, and the 28-11 closing report that ends an estate.

By Settled Editorial

Illinois splits an estate representative's bookkeeping into two jobs. You prepare a verified inventory within 60 days after the court issues your letters under 755 ILCS 5/14-1, then you account for every dollar that moved through the estate before you close it. A supervised representative files that inventory with the court, and an independent representative delivers it to interested persons on the separate schedule in 755 ILCS 5/28-6. Which account you produce depends on whether the estate runs as supervised or independent administration. This guide is general information, not legal advice.

Read this with the Illinois executor duties guide for the full task list and the Illinois probate guide for how a case moves through the Circuit Court.

Independent and Supervised Estates Account Differently

Article XXVIII of the Probate Act lets an executor or administrator run the estate without court orders or filings, except where the Article itself requires one or an interested person asks for one (755 ILCS 5/28-1). Most Illinois estates run this way.

That single choice changes both of your reporting duties:

  • Independent administration. You mail or deliver the inventory to interested persons instead of filing it with the court (755 ILCS 5/28-6). You never present a routine account to a judge. You close by mailing an accounting and filing a verified closing report (755 ILCS 5/28-11).
  • Supervised administration. You file the verified inventory in court under 755 ILCS 5/14-1 and present a verified account to the court that issued your letters under 755 ILCS 5/24-1.

An independent representative is still accountable to every interested person. Under 755 ILCS 5/28-11(a), any interested person can request a court accounting as in supervised administration, and then you produce one.

The 60-Day Inventory Under 755 ILCS 5/14-1

Within 60 days after the issuance of your letters, you prepare a verified inventory of the real and personal estate that has come to your knowledge, plus any cause of action the estate has a right to sue on. If more property surfaces later, you prepare a supplemental inventory within 60 days after you learn of it.

The statute sets what the document has to contain. It must describe the real estate along with the improvements and encumbrances on it, state the amount of money on hand, and list all personal estate.

Gather these before you draft it:

  • Real estate, described by address and legal description, with mortgages, liens, and other encumbrances shown
  • Cash on hand and bank balances as of the date of death
  • Brokerage and investment accounts titled in the decedent's name alone
  • Vehicles, jewelry, firearms, collections, tools, and household goods of real worth
  • Closely held business interests and partnership interests
  • Debts owed to the decedent, including promissory notes and unpaid wages
  • Any claim or lawsuit the estate can bring

Property that passes outside probate stays off the inventory. Joint tenancy real estate, payable-on-death accounts, retirement accounts and life insurance with a living beneficiary, trust property, and land that passed by a recorded transfer on death instrument are not estate assets. The Illinois transfer on death instrument guide and the avoiding probate in Illinois guide explain which assets skip the estate.

Two Extra Deadlines for Independent Representatives

Under 755 ILCS 5/28-6(a), an independent representative mails or delivers a copy of the inventory to each interested person no later than 30 days before filing the closing report, and gives a copy earlier to any interested person who asks in writing. Filing with the court is optional.

Subsection (b) adds a deadline that catches people. An independent administrator has to send the surety on the bond a copy of the inventory by certified mail within 90 days after letters issue, and repeat that for later-discovered property. Missing it can end independent administration status under Section 28-4. If you posted a bond, see the Illinois bond requirements guide.

Valuing What You List

You may appraise goods and chattels yourself, or hire one or more competent, disinterested appraisers and pay each a reasonable fee, whenever you believe a value matters to proper administration (755 ILCS 5/14-2). Hire an appraiser for real estate, a business interest, or anything a beneficiary might argue about later.

Your inventory and appraisal can be used as evidence in a suit by or against you, but 755 ILCS 5/14-3 says neither is conclusive. If other evidence shows the property was worth more, or sold in good faith for less, that evidence controls. Careful numbers protect you; padded or guessed numbers do not.

The Verified Account in a Supervised Estate

Section 24-1 sets the schedule. You prepare and present a verified account of your administration to the court that issued your letters within 60 days after the expiration of 12 months from the issuance of letters, or within whatever longer period the court allows. After that first account, you account again whenever the court requires until administration is complete. If your letters are revoked, you account within the time the court directs.

Every account states the receipts and disbursements since your last accounting and all real and personal estate on hand, and it comes with whatever proof of disbursements the court wants to see. Build it in four blocks:

  1. Opening balance. The inventory total for a first account, or the closing balance from the prior account.
  2. Receipts. Money collected from accounts, post-death interest, dividends, rent, refunds, and sale proceeds.
  3. Disbursements. Funeral costs, allowed claims, court and publication costs, appraisal and attorney fees, representative compensation, and taxes paid, each with a voucher.
  4. Property on hand and distributions. What remains, and what went to each heir or legatee.

There is an exit. Under 755 ILCS 5/24-1(b), if written consents of all interested persons are filed with the court, the court may excuse preparing and presenting an account, on whatever conditions it sets.

Notice Turns an Approved Account Into Protection

Notice of the hearing on an account goes as the court directs to unpaid creditors and all other interested persons (755 ILCS 5/24-2). Once the court approves the account after that hearing, the approved account binds everyone who received notice, absent fraud, accident, or mistake. That finality is the reason to give notice broadly rather than narrowly.

Two people need no notice: anyone who exhibits a receipt in full to the court or waives notice, and, where a trustee of a trust is the interested person, the beneficiaries of that trust. A trustee who receives notice answers to those beneficiaries for any breach of duty connected to the account.

Closing an Independent Estate Under 755 ILCS 5/28-11

An independent representative seeking discharge mails or delivers an accounting to all interested persons and files a verified report in court. Section 28-11(b) lists what the report has to state, and each line is a task you must finish first:

  • Notice was given as required by Section 6-10 in a testate estate, or Section 9-5 in an intestate estate
  • The Section 18-3 creditor notice was published, reasonable care was used to identify creditors, and known creditors got notice
  • Copies of an inventory and an accounting went out as Sections 28-6 and 28-11 require
  • Every filed claim was allowed, disallowed, compromised, dismissed, or barred, and allowed claims were paid in full or paid by priority if the estate fell short
  • Death taxes were determined and paid or provided for, or the estate owes none
  • Administration expenses and other liabilities were paid and administration is complete or provided for
  • The remaining assets went to the persons entitled to them
  • Fees paid or payable to you and your attorney were approved by all interested persons, except as the report notes
  • The name and post office address of each person entitled to notice of the filing

Work the claim window before you draft any of this. The Illinois creditor claims guide covers the published six-month notice, and the Illinois debt payment priority guide covers the class order you pay in when money is short.

The 42-Day Objection Window

If every creditor filed a written approval or was paid by priority, and every heir and legatee filed a signed receipt, no one needs notice and the court enters an order discharging you and declaring the estate closed (755 ILCS 5/28-11(d)).

Otherwise, within 14 days after filing the report you mail a copy showing the filing date to each person entitled to notice, and tell them that if no objection is filed within 42 days after the report was filed, you will be discharged and the estate closed. When a name or address is unknown, or the estate was opened on a presumption of death, you publish the notice once a week for three successive weeks, with the first publication no later than 14 days after filing. See the Illinois probate timeline guide for where this sits in the calendar.

A receipt has to say more than "received." Where a person's share depends on the fees, the receipt states that those fees are approved, and where the payment depends on the size of the estate, it states that an inventory was received and an accounting approved.

Settlement and Distribution

The court can enforce settlement of an estate. On a settlement it may order you to pay claims as Section 18-13 provides, and where assets cover every claim it may order you to distribute to the persons entitled (755 ILCS 5/24-3(a)). If a will's gifts exceed what the estate holds, specific legacies are satisfied pro rata before general legacies, and general legacies are satisfied pro rata among themselves, with no priority between real and personal estate unless the will says otherwise. When you sell property that a will left as a specific legacy, the other legatees contribute to the legatee whose gift was sold, and the court fixes the amounts and terms. On final distribution, payments from principal or income are accounted for under Sections 5 and 6 of the Principal and Income Act.

Habits That Keep an Account Clean

Open an estate account the week your letters issue. Run every receipt and payment through it. Commingled money is the fastest way to turn a routine account into a contested one.

Save the voucher, not the memory. Keep the invoice, the canceled check, the closing statement, and the receipt for each distribution.

Date the file, not just the ledger. Note when a claim arrived, when you paid it, and when you distributed. Timing decides most accounting disputes.

Send the inventory early. Interested persons who receive numbers on time rarely demand a court accounting later.

Ask the clerk about procedure and a lawyer about strategy. Clerk offices can tell you how a filing is captioned and where it goes. Use the Illinois Circuit Court directory to find yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the inventory due in an Illinois estate?

Within 60 days after the court issues your letters, under 755 ILCS 5/14-1. Property you learn about later goes on a supplemental inventory within 60 days after it comes to your knowledge.

Does an Illinois independent representative file the inventory with the court?

No. Under 755 ILCS 5/28-6, an independent representative mails or delivers the inventory to each interested person at least 30 days before filing the closing report and need not file it with the court. Any interested person who asks in writing gets a copy sooner.

When is a probate accounting due in Illinois?

In supervised administration, you present a verified account within 60 days after 12 months have run from the issuance of letters, then whenever the court requires until administration ends (755 ILCS 5/24-1). An independent representative accounts at closing under 755 ILCS 5/28-11 unless an interested person requests a court accounting.

Can beneficiaries force an accounting in Illinois?

Yes. Section 28-11(a) makes an independent representative accountable to all interested persons, and any interested person may request a court accounting as in supervised administration.

Can an Illinois estate skip the accounting?

Sometimes. Under 755 ILCS 5/24-1(b), the court may excuse preparing and presenting an account when written consents of all interested persons are filed, subject to conditions the court sets.

How long do beneficiaries have to object to a closing report?

42 days after the report was filed. You mail the report within 14 days of filing and tell each person entitled to notice that silence for 42 days ends in your discharge and the closing of the estate (755 ILCS 5/28-11(e)).

Related Guides

This guide is general information about Illinois estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your case with the clerk of the circuit court where the estate is open or with a licensed Illinois attorney.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Information current as of July 19, 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 Illinois can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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