Annual Trust Accounting Requirements in Kansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Kansas uses a default trust report with different recipient routes

K.S.A. § 58a-813(b)(5) requires a report at least annually for the trust's most recent fiscal year. The automatic recipients are qualified beneficiaries who actually received a distribution during that year, except a beneficiary receiving a specific bequest. An additional qualified beneficiary receives the report only if that person would have been eligible for a distribution during the year and requests a copy.

Kansas defines a qualified beneficiary in § 58a-103(12) by two horizons: eligibility for a mandatory or discretionary distribution on the date in question, or such eligibility if the trust ended that day. The general information duty and the right to request relevant portions—or, on a specific request, a full copy—of the trust instrument are separate from the financial-report recipient rule.

Termination and vacancy use different routes. At termination, the trustee reports to each qualified beneficiary entitled to receive a distribution, again excluding a specific-bequest recipient. After a vacancy, the former trustee reports to all qualified beneficiaries only if no cotrustee remains. A personal representative, conservator, or guardian may report for a deceased or incapacitated trustee.

The financial contents are compact

The annual report under § 58a-813 must list trust assets and, if feasible, their market values; liabilities; receipts and disbursements; and the source and amount of trustee compensation. If requested, it also includes the trust's investment rate of return and whether the calculation method complies with AIMR standards.

The termination report uses those same contents, but receipts and disbursements need cover only the period beginning with the event that caused termination. The statute does not add carrying values, principal-and-income allocations, agent-fee schedules, related-party schedules, a signature, an oath, or a final distribution plan.

Delivery is functional rather than form-driven

K.S.A. § 58a-109 requires a method reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt. It lists first-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the last-known residence or business, and a properly directed electronic message as permissible examples. A document need not be sent to a person whose identity or location is unknown and not reasonably ascertainable. The annual report itself has no routine court-filing, certified-mail, notarization, or proof-of-service rule.

While a trust is revocable, § 58a-603(a) makes the trustee's duties exclusive to the settlor. For an incapacitated settlor, subsection (c) permits specified petitioners to seek a court order requiring an account for good cause. K.S.A. § 58a-1106 applies the Trust Code to trusts created before, on, or after January 1, 2003, while protecting pre-effective-date acts and already-running statutory periods. Under § 58a-105(c), a will-created trust admitted to probate is also subject to Chapter 59.

Trust terms, beneficiary waiver, and the spouse exception are separate

Section 58a-813(b) begins, “Except as otherwise provided under the terms of the trust,” and § 58a-105's mandatory list does not preserve the report duty. A qualified beneficiary may also waive reports or other information and later withdraw the waiver for future reports. Neither § 58a-813(c) nor § 58a-109(c) says the waiver must be written.

Section 58a-813(d) can make the entire section inapplicable to qualified beneficiaries other than a surviving spouse. Its conditions are that the spouse remains a qualified beneficiary or holds a power of appointment over the whole trust estate, and every other qualified beneficiary is the spouse's issue.

Effective July 1, 2026, HB 2590 § 11 also permits a governing instrument to restrict or eliminate beneficiary information rights for stated periods. Unless the instrument says otherwise, a designated representative then represents and binds the beneficiary in judicial and nonjudicial matters, including receipt of a report for measuring § 58a-1005's limitation period. HB 2590 § 13 adds that qualification to § 58a-813(a); the act did not change the annual-report contents or triggers.

A report shortens the claim period only with disclosure and notice

K.S.A. § 58a-1005 does not make every annual report an automatic release. The one-year breach-of-trust period begins only when the beneficiary or representative is sent a report that adequately discloses a potential claim and informs the recipient of the time allowed to commence a proceeding. Adequate disclosure means enough information that the recipient knew of the claim or should have inquired. If that route does not apply, the two-year period runs from the first listed ending event.

Interested persons may separately use § 58a-111 to approve a report or accounting or resolve trustee liability through a qualifying nonjudicial settlement. A beneficiary's consent, release, or ratification remains subject to § 58a-1009's improper-conduct and lack-of-knowledge exceptions.

Courts have broad remedies and fee discretion

For a breach of trust, K.S.A. § 58a-1001 permits a court to compel performance or an account, stop or redress a breach, appoint a special fiduciary, suspend or remove the trustee, reduce or deny compensation, trace or recover property, or order other appropriate relief. Section 58a-1004 permits an award of costs and reasonable attorney fees as justice and equity require.

What trips people up

• Annual does not mean every qualified beneficiary. Actual distributees receive the annual report automatically; an eligible nondistributee must request it, and specific-bequest recipients are excluded.
• A vacancy report depends on the cotrustee facts. The former trustee's duty applies only when no cotrustee remains in office.
• The one-year period needs its own notice. Adequate financial disclosure alone does not start it; the report must also state the time allowed to sue.
• The compiled page has not fully folded the 2026 act. The enrolled HB 2590 amendment took effect with statute-book publication on July 1, 2026, although the online § 58a-813 page still omits the new qualification in subsection (a).

Common questions

Must a Kansas annual report be filed in court?

No routine filing is stated. It is sent to the statutory recipients. A court may separately order a trustee to account as a remedy under § 58a-1001, and an incapacitated settlor's case has the specific § 58a-603(c) route.

Can the report be sent electronically?

Yes, when a properly directed electronic message is reasonably suitable under the circumstances and likely to result in receipt under § 58a-109.

Does approving an annual report automatically discharge the trustee?

No. A limitation notice, qualifying nonjudicial settlement, or valid consent, release, or ratification has its own statutory requirements and exceptions.

Statutes and sources

• K.S.A. §§ 58a-103, -105, -109, -111, -603, -813, and -1106 — beneficiary class, trust-term control, delivery, settlement, revocable-trust rule, report duties, waiver, exceptions, and transition rules. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes (accessed 2026-08-10).
• K.S.A. §§ 58a-1001, -1004, -1005, and -1009 — remedies, costs, limitation periods, and consent/release rules. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes (accessed 2026-08-10).
• 2026 HB 2590 §§ 11, 13, and 16 — current information-restriction, designated-representative, § 58a-813(a), and effective-date provisions. Kansas Legislature (accessed 2026-08-10).