Executor Not Providing Estate Accounts? Advice and Inventory Applications
Has an executor failed to provide estate accounts despite reasonable requests? Justin Patten, Solicitor, offers a defined, fixed-fee route to seek the missing information.
We consider your existing correspondence before recommending the starting point. A further letter is not invariably necessary; each stage is separately assessed and authorised.
Missing Estate Accounts: Formal Request and Registry Application
No adequate accounts: consider a formal request.
Stage 1 — Formal request and response assessment
£780 including VAT (£650 + VAT)
Justin reviews up to 40 selected core pages, prepares and sends one focused formal letter, and assesses one substantive reply with a recommendation on the next step.
The request explains your entitlement, the missing information, a reasonable response period and the proposed Registry application if the response is inadequate. The assessment needed for the letter is included.
Previous requests unanswered: consider an application.
Stage 2 — Inventory-and-account application
£2,340 including VAT (£1,950 + VAT)
Where appropriate, Justin prepares and issues an application seeking an order requiring the executor to provide an inventory and account. This stage includes the summons, initial supporting evidence, proposed order, ordinary domestic service arrangements, routine Registry correspondence and a supported costs request where justified, through determination on the papers within the agreed scope and allowances.
An inventory-and-account application seeks information about the administration. It does not, by itself, determine whether an executor must repay a disputed transaction or compensate the estate.
Entitlement or transactions unclear: assessment first.
When a separate £480 review may help
£480 including VAT (£400 + VAT)
The separate review includes up to 40 selected core pages, a 30-minute consultation and a two-page Action Plan. It is not an automatic extra charge and does not include the letter or application.
Both defined stages: £3,120 including VAT
The combined fixed professional fee covers both standard stages, each separately authorised. Registry fees and agreed external expenses are additional. Further work requires a separate quotation and your approval.
An adequate response may avoid an application. Justin confirms suitability and the starting point before you commit.
If separately instructed before both stages, total professional fees are £3,600 including VAT, plus agreed external costs. The review fee is not deducted from later work. The Action Plan is normally delivered within three working days after the consultation and receipt of all required documents, whichever is later. See the £480 review and instruction details →
Seeking a contribution towards your costs
Where circumstances justify it, we can seek an order requiring the executor to contribute personally towards your application costs, supported by the history of requests, responses and a costs breakdown. Under NCPR rule 63, the Registrar decides whether costs are payable, by whom and how much. Recovery may be partial and is not guaranteed; a costs order does not guarantee payment. You remain responsible for our agreed fees.
Clear boundaries
The fees cover the agreed work, not a guaranteed order or compliance. Substantial opposition, further substantive evidence, hearings, overseas service, enforcement, preparing or investigating accounts and wider contested proceedings are excluded. The application stage ends at its agreed procedural endpoint; assessing accounts subsequently supplied or enforcing an order requires separate agreement.
The letter stage excludes a consultation, Action Plan, further substantive correspondence and wider analysis of new accounts or disputed transactions. Standard fees apply to straightforward matters after suitability and scope are confirmed. Estate value alone does not increase the fee; complexity and responsibility may require a bespoke quotation. Full pricing and scope terms →
No accounts, incomplete accounts or a disputed transaction?
| Illustrative situation | What to identify | Purpose of the next stage |
|---|---|---|
| No accounts supplied | Your interest, the Grant position, the written request and response history. | Obtain an intelligible inventory and administration account; assess whether a focused request or Registry application is appropriate. |
| Accounts supplied but incomplete | For example, a property receipt is missing or the closing balance cannot be reconciled. | Identify the omission and obtain the relevant explanation or supporting record. |
| Accounts supplied; transaction disputed | For example, a payment is recorded but you question its authority or purpose. | Clarify the evidence and assess the substantive issue. Producing accounts does not itself decide liability or require repayment. |
These are illustrations, not automatic procedural outcomes. The scope of information depends on your interest and the circumstances. An inventory-and-account application and wider proceedings to challenge a transaction seek different relief; neither automatically requires removal of the executor.
What Information Are You Seeking?
Separate a progress update, estate accounts and supporting documents. Accounts explain assets, liabilities, receipts, payments and distributions. Statements, invoices or valuations may be needed to clarify a particular figure, omission or transaction.
A residuary beneficiary ordinarily has a legitimate interest in understanding how the net estate and their share have been calculated. Someone receiving a cash legacy or specific asset may need information relevant to that gift. The extent of information depends on the interest, administration stage and issues raised; no beneficiary should assume unrestricted access to the whole administration file.
Approval of accounts is different from an information request. Identify any specific objection rather than treating a refusal to sign as a complete answer to the administration problem.
Payment withheld pending a signature? Read whether an executor can withhold inheritance until you approve the accounts.
Does the Executor’s Year Prevent a Request?
Under section 44 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925, a personal representative is not bound to distribute before one year from death. This concerns distribution; it does not provide a year-long exemption from keeping records or responding appropriately to reasonable information requests.
Tax, property sales, debts, claims and incomplete records can explain delay. Ask what remains outstanding and when the next update can reasonably be provided. Passing the first anniversary does not automatically mean the estate is ready for final distribution.
A Formal Letter Before an Application
A focused request identifies your entitlement, previous replies and the outstanding information, explaining why supporting records matter. Pre-death transaction concerns may require separate assessment.
Published probate-practice guidance suggests allowing not less than 14 days before applying. This is not a statutory deadline for complete accounts: preparation time, earlier requests and urgency matter. Keep correspondence and explanations for delay. A request is not a court order; clarification may resolve the issue.
When Is an Inventory-and-Account Application Appropriate?
Executors must keep proper records and be ready to provide accounts explaining their administration. If reasonable requests remain unanswered, a beneficiary can apply for an inventory-and-account order under section 25(b) of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 and NCPR rule 61(2). You need not allege fraud or seek removal simply to ask for an account.
Suitability depends on your interest, previous requests, available information, evidence and proportionality. Counsel is not a standard requirement.
What can the application achieve? It provides a defined route to seek an order for an intelligible account of the estate’s assets, receipts, payments and distributions. This can clarify how your share has been calculated, expose gaps requiring explanation and help you decide whether a concern warrants further investigation or can be resolved. It allows you to pursue the information needed without first proving wrongdoing or seeking the executor’s removal. Obtaining accounts does not itself order payment of your inheritance or decide a disputed transaction.
Unreasonable resistance may result in a costs order against the executor personally, although costs remain discretionary.
In our experience, most inventory-and-account applications are dealt with on the papers, without the parties attending a hearing. These remain formal legal proceedings with costs risks, proper service requirements and an opportunity to respond. The court can require a hearing where necessary. Additional evidence, directions or hearings require discussion of scope and fees.
What If an Accounting Order Is Ignored?
Check the order’s requirements, deadline and service arrangements. Keep evidence of service and everything supplied in response. Distinguish:
- Non-compliance: something required by the order remains missing.
- Disputed accounts: the required material has been supplied, but you challenge its accuracy or a transaction.
These can overlap but may require different responses. An allegedly improper payment does not itself establish breach; a summary may not satisfy a fuller accounting requirement.
Further directions or enforcement advice may be needed. A penal notice warns of possible contempt consequences; it is not a finding of contempt or an automatic result of disputed accounts. The order, service, procedural requirements, reasons for non-compliance and proportionality need assessment.
Persistent failure may also raise removal concerns, but obtaining accounts and replacing an executor are separate remedies. Human Law can assess the order and response within an agreed review scope; contempt enforcement and contested removal require a litigation solicitor.
Watch: Your Options When Estate Accounts Are Missing or Unclear
Justin Patten, Solicitor, explains how a beneficiary can clarify their position, request information and consider an inventory-and-account application. About 75 seconds.
Read the video transcript
One of the key decisions that you have to make as a beneficiary is whether you're going to accept the information given to you or whether you're going to do something about that. Before you do anything, one has to set out your position clearly in writing. A solicitor can help because they can help you identify where your points of strength are and where you have to let go. When I look at a matter, what I will do is I will assess the information given to me by you as the beneficiary and then decide what is the next step forward. Typically, that will involve us writing to the executor, setting out your position. If we are not satisfied with the information, we can consider our next step. Now, that will include making a possible application for inventory and account. Also, there is the potential to seek to recover legal costs on your behalf. And again, that is linked with what information is there, what information you put forward to the executor.
Check what remains unanswered
Use the free beneficiary inventory and accounts check to record the Grant position, your request, the response and the financial information still missing. It gives you a short assessment to keep; no email address is required.
Case law: accounting duties, procedure and enforcement
Ali v Taj [2020] EWHC 213 (Fam) confirms the importance of the duty to account and the power to proceed without an oral hearing. Proper procedure and an opportunity to respond still matter.
In Hughes v Morgan and Chidlow [2024] EWHC 2132 (Ch), persistent breaches of inventory-and-account orders led to contempt findings, fines and indemnity costs for the substantive contempt application. Enforcement is a separate step, with its own risks and expense; these consequences are not automatic.
Alizade v Kudlick [2023] EWHC 1082 (Ch) illustrates an exceptional refusal to order further accounts after decades of delay, taking account of existing accounts, missing records, health and disproportionate burden. An application is not risk-free; its purpose and circumstances matter.
Documents and Facts to Locate
You do not need every document before enquiring. Identify any gaps or records held by someone else.
- The will, any codicils, Grant or known intestacy position.
- Your entitlement and relevant administration dates.
- Requests, replies and any accounts or financial summaries received.
- A short list of missing information or disputed entries.
- Any formal papers, deadline or immediate asset concern.
Initially send a brief outline only. After suitability and conflict checks, we explain which documents to provide and how to send them.
Contact Justin about missing estate accounts
Send a brief outline of what is missing, the requests already made and any deadline. Tell us whether you want to instruct the £780 formal letter or need help choosing the starting point. We check suitability, availability and conflicts before agreeing paid work. Wait for instructions before sending substantive documents. An enquiry creates no solicitor-client relationship or payment commitment; do not delay urgent advice.
Enquire about instructing Justin →
Our services and scope · Information for professional referrers
About Justin Patten
Justin Patten is the principal of Human Law and author of The Out-of-Court Executor, with more than 20 years’ experience in dispute resolution and private-client law. Read Justin’s background →
General information for England and Wales, not advice on an individual estate. The appropriate response depends on the documents, evidence and circumstances.