Annual Trust Accounting Requirements in Texas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Texas uses a written-demand system

Texas Property Code § 113.151 does not create an automatic annual accounting. Instead, a beneficiary may make a written demand for a statement covering every transaction since the last accounting or, if there has been none, since the trust was created. The trustee ordinarily has 90 days after receiving the demand to deliver the statement to every beneficiary. A court may allow more time.

The same section limits the ordinary frequency of that duty: a trustee need not account more often than once every 12 months unless a court orders more frequent reporting. Section 115.001(a)(9) separately permits a court to require an accounting and to settle an interim or final account, but the Trust Code does not make termination, resignation, removal, vacancy, or a change of trustee an automatic reporting event.

The statement has five required content groups

Section 113.152 requires the account to identify trust property newly known to or possessed by the trustee that was not previously listed or inventoried. It also requires a complete account of receipts, disbursements, and other trust-property transactions for the covered period, including each transaction's source and nature, with principal receipts and income receipts shown separately.

The remaining required groups are all property being administered with an adequate asset description, the cash balance plus the name and location of its depository, and every known trust liability. The exhaustive list does not itself require fair-market values, trustee or agent compensation schedules, a final distribution plan, a trustee signature, verification, or notarization.

Trust terms have limits, and a release requires information

Under § 111.0035(a)–(b), trust terms ordinarily prevail over the Trust Code's default rules. They cannot, however, limit an irrevocable trustee's duty to respond to a § 113.151 demand from a beneficiary who is currently entitled or permitted to receive distributions or who would receive a distribution if the trust terminated at the time of demand. Section 111.0035(c) also preserves the common-law information duty for a beneficiary of an irrevocable trust who is at least 25 and falls within either distribution class stated there.

A release is a separate matter. Section 114.005 allows a beneficiary with full legal capacity and full information to relieve the trustee of a duty or liability, including liability for a past violation, but the release must be written and delivered to the trustee. Section 114.032(a) makes a written trustee-beneficiary agreement final and binding only when the beneficiary signs with legal capacity and full knowledge of the surrounding circumstances.

Courts can compel, settle, and remedy an account

If the trustee does not deliver the demanded statement by the statutory deadline, § 113.151 allows any beneficiary to sue to compel delivery to all beneficiaries. A successful suing beneficiary may receive court costs and reasonable and necessary attorney fees, but the award and whether it runs against the trustee individually or as trustee are discretionary.

Section 113.082(a)(3) permits removal and denial of compensation when a trustee fails to make an accounting required by law or the trust terms. Section 114.008 adds remedies including compelled performance, an order to account, restoration of money or property, receivership, suspension, removal, reduced compensation, and other appropriate relief. Section 114.064 allows an equitable and just award of costs and reasonable and necessary attorney fees in Trust Code proceedings.

What trips people up

• “Annual accounting” is not the Texas statutory trigger. A written demand or court order creates the ordinary duty; the 12-month rule limits frequency rather than requiring a report every year.
• One beneficiary's demand can produce a report for everyone. Section 113.151(a) says the trustee delivers the written statement to each beneficiary of the trust, not only to the person who made the demand.
• The 90 days runs from receipt of the demand. A court may order a longer period, and court involvement is also necessary to require reports more often than once every 12 months.
• Delivery does not itself settle the account. Sections 113.151–113.152 create no automatic objection deadline or discharge. Settlement of an interim or final account is a judicial power under § 115.001, while a private release must meet §§ 114.005 and 114.032.
• Extra formalities are not statutory contents. The statute requires a written statement and the five content groups in § 113.152; it does not prescribe certified mail, proof of service, trustee verification, signature, or a notary.

Common questions

Can someone other than a beneficiary ask a court for an accounting?

Potentially. Section 113.151(b) lets an interested person sue to compel an account, but the court must find that the person's interest in or claim against the trust, or the administration's effect on that person, is sufficient to require one.

Must the trustee put a market value next to every asset?

Not under the accounting-content statute itself. Section 113.152 requires an adequate description of each administered asset, but its five-item list does not state a carrying-value or fair-market-value method. Other trust terms, court orders, or duties may matter in a particular administration.

Does Texas require a separate final accounting when the trust ends?

Not automatically under §§ 113.151–113.152. A demand or trust term may require a statement, and § 115.001(a)(9) permits a court to require an accounting and settle an interim or final account.

Can the trust instrument eliminate every beneficiary's demand right?

No. Section 111.0035(b)(4)(A) protects the response duty for an irrevocable trust when the demanding beneficiary is a current or permissible distributee or would receive a distribution if the trust terminated at that time.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Prop. Code § 111.0035(a)–(c) — default trust terms, mandatory irrevocable-trust demand response, court powers, and protected information duty. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 111.004(2), (7), (16) — beneficiary, interested-person, and transaction definitions. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 111.006 — application to post-1983 trusts and transactions. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code §§ 113.151–113.152 — demand, 90-day response, recipients, frequency limit, interested-person route, fees, and required contents. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 113.082(a)–(b) — removal and denied compensation for a required-accounting failure. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code §§ 114.005, 114.032(a) — informed written releases and binding trustee-beneficiary agreements. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code §§ 114.008(a), 114.064(a) — breach remedies, accounting order, compensation consequences, costs, and attorney fees. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 115.001(a), (c) — judicial accounting, interim or final settlement, surcharge, and non-continuing supervision. Official Texas Property Code (accessed 2026-08-10).