Colorado Trust accounting

What the report contains

Colorado states what the report contains rather than prescribing a format. At least annually and at the termination of the trust, a trustee sends a report of the trust property, liabilities, receipts and disbursements, including the source and amount of the trustee's compensation, together with a listing of the trust assets and, if feasible, their respective market values (C.R.S. §15-5-813(3)(a)).

No court rule shapes a trustee's annual report, and registering a trust does not put it under continuing court supervision (C.R.S. §15-5-201). What makes a report useful — and what makes it do legal work for the trustee — is that it is complete and that it says plainly what happened: what came in, what went out, what remains, and why.

Who receives it

The report goes to the distributees and permissible distributees of trust income or principal, and to other qualified beneficiaries who request it (C.R.S. §15-5-813(3)(a)). The qualified beneficiaries are those who may receive distributions now, and those who would if the current interests ended or the trust ended that day (§15-5-103(16)).

A qualified beneficiary may waive the right to a trustee's report or other information, and may withdraw a waiver for future reports (C.R.S. §15-5-813(4)). A trust's terms cannot remove the duty to respond to an irrevocable trust's qualified beneficiary's request for reports and other information reasonably related to the administration (§15-5-105(2)(i)). Reports may be sent by first-class mail, personal delivery, delivery to the last-known residence or place of business, or a properly directed electronic message (§15-5-109).

When the trustee changes: the vacancy report

Upon a vacancy in a trusteeship, unless a cotrustee remains in office, the former trustee sends a report to the qualified beneficiaries; a personal representative, conservator or guardian may send it for a trustee who has died or is incapacitated (C.R.S. §15-5-813(3)(b)). Until the property is delivered to the successor, a trustee who has resigned or been removed keeps a trustee's duties and the powers needed to protect it (§15-5-707).

Colorado trustee deadlines: what the statutes provide

Reviewed against the Colorado Statutes on 2026-10-07. General information, not legal advice; the official text controls.

The record behind the report

A trustee keeps adequate records of the administration, keeps trust property separate from the trustee's own, and has it designated as the trust's in records kept by others where feasible (C.R.S. §15-5-810). A report is only as good as that record: statements, receipts, the ledger of every receipt and payment, valuations at the date of death and at each report, and the basis for the trustee's compensation.

Where a trust has beneficiaries with different interests — an income beneficiary and remainder beneficiaries, for example — the trustee allocates between them impartially (C.R.S. §15-5-803), so the record notes which receipts and expenses belong to income and which to principal.

The one-year period an adequate report starts

A report can close questions as well as answer them. A beneficiary may not begin a proceeding against a trustee for breach of trust more than one year after the date the beneficiary, or a person who may represent and bind the beneficiary, was sent a report that adequately disclosed the existence of a potential claim and informed the beneficiary of the time allowed for commencing a proceeding (C.R.S. §15-5-1005(1)). A report discloses adequately if it gives enough information that the beneficiary knows of the potential claim or should have inquired into it (§15-5-1005(2)).

Where no such report was sent, the period is three years after the first of the trustee's removal or resignation, the termination of the beneficiary's interest, or the termination of the trust (C.R.S. §15-5-1005(3)). The section does not bar an action for fraud or misrepresentation related to the report (§15-5-1005(5)).

At termination: the final report and the proposal

At the trust's termination the trustee sends the report again (C.R.S. §15-5-813(3)(a)), and may send the beneficiaries a proposal for distribution: a beneficiary's right to object ends if the beneficiary does not object within 30 days after the proposal was sent, but only if it informed the beneficiary of the right to object and the time allowed (§15-5-817(1)). The trustee then distributes expeditiously, keeping a reasonable reserve for debts, expenses and taxes (§15-5-817(2)).

When a court orders an accounting

A court can be asked to step in. Among the remedies for a breach of trust, a court may order a trustee to account, to provide a status or financial report, or to provide an inventory (C.R.S. §15-5-1001(2)(d)); a judicial proceeding may also review and settle interim or final accountings (§15-5-201(3)). A court-ordered accounting follows the order and the Rules of Probate Procedure rather than the annual report's contents alone.

When a licensed Colorado attorney is the right next call

TrusteeClear keeps the ledger and the asset list a report draws on and builds the report's contents from them; it does not give legal advice or decide whether a report adequately discloses a claim. Many trustees bring a report to a licensed Colorado attorney of their choosing before sending one that addresses a disputed transaction, before relying on the one-year period of C.R.S. §15-5-1005, and before a final distribution.