Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Accounting

An accounting is a proceeding where the executor must report every dollar collected, to be collected. spent, and owed. Commissions are accounted for, as well as attorney and accountant fees.

It is not a cheap process but often necessary in certain cases.

Re: Accounting

While I agree with Alex, there is slightly more involved of which you should be aware. Technically, all the Administrator need account for, are what are known as probate assets and their disposition. Probate assets are, essentially, only those assets that comprise the probate estate and disposed of either under the Will of the decedent, or by intestacy (by statute, where the decedent had no Will). The accounting shows what the probate assets are; what bills, debts and expenses have been paid, what remains and how what remains is to be distributed. Probate assets do not include any assets that were registered in joint names of the decedent and someone else (like joint bank accounts or POD accounts), or which had some designated beneficiary (like an insurance policy with a nmed beneficiary or a retirement account that named someone to receive it). You can demand an accounting, by filing a Complaint with the Surrogate's Court (there are fees involved) and the Administrator must reply and provide the accounting. It appears, from your question, that any assets of the decedent were either jointly registered or had designated beneficiaries. Thus, there might not have been any probate assets. While this may avoid the necessity for an accounting, questions may still be unresolved, which may require an accounting. How were final bills, expenses, funeral expenses and the like paid, if there were no probate assets? Who were the joint owners or designated beneficiaries on the accounts? There may also be other questions like why, if you were also a sister, nothing went to you? This may open up a can of worms that might lead to other complaints. I suggest you contact a local attorney familiar with estates, to see what information can be obtained. This is a response to an Internet question and any reply is not intended to be legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship, but is for information purposes only. Facts not included in the original question could produce different answers.