Executors, Trustees and Committees all have a duty to inform the beneficiaries of an estate what they did with the money. That means they must show the beneficiaries what money they took in, how the money was spent, and how the balance will distributed.
The formal process for doing that is called a “Passing of Accounts”. Usually an executor or trustee presents an accounting to the beneficiaries and invites the beneficiaries to approve those accounts. The accounting will contain a proposal for payment to the trustee or executor for his or her remuneration and a plan as to how the balance will be distributed between the beneficiaries. The usual practice is to withhold a portion of the beneficiary’s share until all the beneficiaries approve the accounts.
If one or all of the beneficiaries and the trustee cannot agree on the accounts then they can be passed before a judicial officer called a Registrar. The Registrar will settle the issues on which the parties cannot agree.
