Trust / Estate Accounting Software

Hi all,

Over the past year or two, my firm has been picking-up more and more final estate and trust accountings. We have been preparing them in excel, but we are getting so many now that we feel it is time to invest in software specifically designed for these projects.

This is the majority of what we do:
1) We track income, transfers, account balances, distributions, etc
2) For final estates, it is mostly for families to make sure everything is split and allocated correctly, and there is no improper use of the inherited funds.
3) We have also picked up several general trust accounting, usually multiple brokerage accounts with income and distributions to beneficiaries
4) Generally our work isn't used in legal proceeding.

Does anyone have any recommendations on software to look at? Ideally, it would include features that would allow up to import brokerage & income data, because that is one of the most time consuming parts of the work, but I am happy for any recommendations.

Thank you

I can't help much here, but very early in my career I was "outsourced" out to a local attorney who should have retired a decade earlier. They were trying to finish off final accounting for a few estates. They had a software that was created for attorneys to do accounting for Probate. I don't remember the name of the software, but if I recall correctly it was marketed directly to attorneys.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

My experience with firms that do trust accountings is that they all use Excel.

A few years back I looked at this issue and found that the commercially available software is more geared to attorney offices or to large Trust departments of banks. The price was out of this world.

For the few I have, I am using Excel. I think the most K1s I generated in one 1041 was 7.

I can't help much here, but very early in my career I was "outsourced" out to a local attorney who should have retired a decade earlier. They were trying to finish off final accounting for a few estates. They had a software that was created for attorneys to do accounting for Probate. I don't remember the name of the software, but if I recall correctly it was marketed directly to attorneys.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

No problem, I still appreciate the response.

This probably Probate Plus, which is a software I've seen others use. You are correct though, it appears more geared toward attorneys.

My experience with firms that do trust accountings is that they all use Excel.

It seems to be the standard, but we have some complex ones, and I'd like something to create some automation.

Also, depending on how many types of income is being generated, the excel template we use can get busy... I'm hoping to find something with a streamlined reporting process.

A few years back I looked at this issue and found that the commercially available software is more geared to attorney offices or to large Trust departments of banks. The price was out of this world.

For the few I have, I am using Excel. I think the most K1s I generated in one 1041 was 7.

What price range were you seeing? We've picked up enough business where an investment in software would be ok depending on the price, if it helps save time on the preparation.

I believe it is called CCH Trust Accounting from Wolters Kluwer. I forget exactly what the quote was but it was too rich for my blood