Account for Decedents Estate

A Statement in Lieu of Accounting gives beneficiaries the opportunity to complete the administration of the estate in a timely and cost efficient manner. In addition, it can save the personal representative of the probate estate (executor/ administrator) considerable duress and money.

Personal Representatives in Virginia are required to file an Account for Decedent's Estate within 16 months of qualification. The probate clerk, at the appointment for qualification, should have provided the personal representative with a Qualification Packet with instructions for preparing and filing the accounting. Instructions can also be found at the following link Account for Decedent’s Estate (Instructions). 

The Accounting period shall not exceed 12 months. Consequently, Virginia gives Personal Representatives 4 months to complete the Account for Decedent's estate after the Accounting period expires. An exception is Curators. Curators must file an Account for the Decedent's Estate within six months of qualification (and covering the first four months). 

The Accounting should be filed with the Commissioner of Accounts for the county/city where the Personal Representative qualified. The Account for Decedent's Estate should not be filed with the Probate Clerk. The Probate Clerk and the Commissioner’s offices are separate and distinct offices.  A list of Virginia Commissioner’s of Accounts can be found at the following link Commissioner of Accounts (Addresses). 

Because the Instructions for completing the Accounting have been provided in the above link, this blog will not go over the instructions for completing the Accounting. Instead, this blog will provide five helpful tips for completing the Accounting.