Compelled account
A court order that makes a fiduciary produce the books, obtained by somebody with an interest in the estate.
What it means
Where an executor or trustee will not say what has happened to the money, the remedy is usually not removal. It is an order that they account, and every state has one.
The clock differs and it is the first thing to establish. California must order one on a petition made more than a year after letters issued. Pennsylvania runs its six months from the first complete advertisement of the grant. Texas gives an interested person a direct written demand at fifteen months, with no court filing at all.
New York goes furthest: if the account still does not come, the court may suspend the letters, appoint a successor, and take and state the account itself.
Why it matters
It is cheaper, faster and far easier to obtain than removal, and it produces the document that shows whether anything is actually wrong.
In several states the surety on the fiduciary's bond can ask for it too, so a family that cannot afford a fight can sometimes get the same result by writing to the bonding company.
When you are likely to meet it
- When months pass with no inventory, no account and no answers.
- When you are asked to sign a waiver of accounting and do not know what you would be waiving.
How this varies by state
When it becomes available, who may ask and what the court can do about a refusal are all set by state law.