Annual Trust Accounting Requirements in Washington

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Washington requires a short annual statement

RCW 11.106.020 requires a trustee appointed by a will, deed, or agreement to “mail or deliver at least annually to each permissible distributee” a written, itemized statement of the trust's current receipts and disbursements. The report must separate principal and income. If a recipient requests it, the trustee must also provide an itemized statement of all property then held.

Under RCW 11.98.002(1), a permissible distributee is a beneficiary currently eligible for mandatory or discretionary distributions of income or principal. That is narrower than the full qualified-beneficiary class. Qualified beneficiaries separately retain the reasonable administration-information rights in RCW 11.98.072(1); while a revocable trustor is living, subsection (4) directs those information rights only to the trustor.

The accounting chapter has express exclusions

RCW 11.106.010 excludes resulting and constructive trusts, specified business, investment, voting, pre-death insurance, mortgage-or-pledge, liquidation, and payment-only trusts, as well as personal representatives. The annual rule otherwise speaks broadly to a trustee appointed by any executed will, deed, or agreement.

The chapter states no separate vacancy or change-of-trustee report. Its recurring trigger is “at least annually,” while its final-account route is a separate optional court filing after termination.

Optional court accounts require substantially more detail

RCW 11.106.030 permits—but does not require—the trustee to file an intermediate superior-court account under oath. It covers the period, chargeable principal, itemized principal and income activity, closing balances and investments, all living beneficiaries including contingent beneficiaries, known legal disabilities, and possible unborn or unascertained beneficiaries and their interests. After the trust's termination time arrives, the trustee may file a final account in the same manner.

The ordinary annual statement may also be filed in the superior court of the county where a trustee resides, but filing alone does not turn it into the sworn intermediate or final account described in § 11.106.030.

The expanded report is a claim-limit safe harbor, not the annual minimum

RCW 11.96A.070(1)(b) presumes adequate disclosure when the report includes all relevant listed items: principal-and-income receipts and disbursements; beginning and ending assets, liabilities, and values; trustee and agent compensation; five-year-or- longer encumbrances or agreements; conflict-affected transactions; the court-review statement; and the three-year claim warning.

Those details serve the adequate-disclosure presumption. They are not all part of the shorter minimum annual statement in RCW 11.106.020. A trustee choosing the expanded route should keep the two statutory functions clear.

Delivery affects whether the three-year rule applies

The annual minimum must be written and mailed or delivered. For the three-year claim-limit route, RCW 11.96A.070(1)(a) additionally requires delivery in the manner provided by RCW 11.96A.110, adequate disclosure of the potential claim, and notice of the time allowed to commence a proceeding. Section 11.96A.110 provides personal or mail delivery and permits electronic transmission after the recipient has consented in a record.

If the safe-harbor conditions are not satisfied, § 11.96A.070(1)(c) instead measures a three-year period from the first of the trustee's removal, resignation, or death; the termination of the beneficiary's interest; or trust termination.

Waiver can come from the beneficiary or the trust terms

Under RCW 11.106.100, an adult beneficiary entitled to an annual or court accounting may waive it by a separate instrument delivered to the trustee. RCW 11.106.110 also recognizes trust-instrument modification or waiver of the accounting chapter.

RCW 11.97.010 specifically permits trust terms to relieve the trustee of the § 11.106.020 duty or alter it. The trust cannot relieve the trustee of good faith and honest judgment, and a discretionary power must still be exercised in good faith, consistently with the trust's terms and purposes and beneficiary interests.

Court approval requires notice and an opportunity to object

After the later of one year from trust inception or one year from the last filed report, RCW 11.106.040 allows a settlor or beneficiary to petition for a court-ordered account. The court may order one for good cause.

For an account filed under § 11.106.030 or § 11.106.040, the clerk fixes a return day and the notice states that objections or exceptions must be filed by that date. RCW 11.106.060 allows a beneficiary to file written objections to the account or the trustee actions it discloses. The court then determines correctness and propriety, may surcharge losses caused by negligent or willful breach, and enters a decree that RCW 11.106.080 makes final, conclusive, and binding subject to appeal.

An ordinary annual statement has no comparable automatic approval effect. A separate consent, release, or ratification is governed by RCW 11.98.108 and fails when induced by trustee misconduct or given without knowledge of the beneficiary's rights or the material breach facts.

Fee awards are discretionary

RCW 11.96A.150 permits a court to award costs and reasonable attorney fees against a party, from the trust, or from a nonprobate asset in an equitable amount and manner. The statute makes that award discretionary, not an automatic consequence of every late or disputed annual statement.

What trips people up

The annual minimum and adequate-report safe harbor are different. Current receipts and disbursements split between principal and income are mandatory each year. The longer list in RCW 11.96A.070 supports a presumption of adequate disclosure for the three-year rule.

“Permissible distributee” is the automatic annual recipient. A person may be a qualified beneficiary without currently being eligible for a distribution. That person has separate information rights but is not automatically placed in the annual statement class by RCW 11.106.020.

Court filing is optional until a court orders it. The trustee may file an annual, intermediate, or final account, and a settlor or beneficiary may petition after the one-year interval. The ordinary annual statement still must be mailed or delivered to each permissible distributee unless validly waived or modified.

A mailed annual statement is not automatically a release. Claim limitation, judicial approval, and beneficiary consent or release each have separate statutory conditions.

Common questions

Must the annual statement list every trust asset?

Only upon a permissible distributee's request does RCW 11.106.020 require an itemized statement of all property then held. The annual minimum itself itemizes current receipts and disbursements of principal and income.

Must the trustee put the annual statement under oath or notarize it?

RCW 11.106.020 requires a written annual statement but does not prescribe an oath or notarization. The “under oath” requirement belongs to the separate optional intermediate or final court account in RCW 11.106.030.

Can a beneficiary waive future accountings?

An adult beneficiary entitled to an accounting may waive it through a separate instrument delivered to the trustee. Trust terms can also modify or waive the annual duty, subject to the mandatory good-faith floor.

When does a court-approved account become binding?

After notice, the return-date objection process, and the court's determination, the decree under RCW 11.106.070-.080 is final, conclusive, and binding on interested parties, including represented incompetent, unborn, and unascertained beneficiaries, subject to appeal.

Statutes and sources

• RCW 11.106.010-.110. Current official Trustees' Accounting Act: scope, annual statement, optional intermediate and final accounts, compelled accounts, objections, decree, waiver, and trust modification. Official RCW chapter (accessed 2026-08-10).
• RCW 11.96A.070, 11.96A.110, and 11.96A.150. Current official adequate-report limitation, delivery, and discretionary fee provisions. Official trust-dispute chapter (accessed 2026-08-10).
• RCW 11.97.010; RCW 11.98.002, 11.98.072, and 11.98.108. Current official trust-term control, recipient definitions, information rights, and consent/release rules. Official trust chapter (accessed 2026-08-10).