For probate · estates and contested accountings

Every account on the date of death

Give it the date of death and the statements the family kept. CounselPro rebuilds each account from the totals the banks printed, lays out what moved in the months either side of that date, and keeps the statement page behind every figure.

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Forensic report · probateWhitlock estate · 5 accounts
Date of death14 March 2025
The five accounts the Whitlock estate held, each rebuilt from the total the bank printed at the top of the statement cycle covering 14 March 2025 plus the money in and out that statement prints up to that day, with the account whose cycle is outstanding left open.
AccountAs of 14 Mar
Checking ····4102First National · p. 324,180.40 printed · -12,272.75 in and out11,907.65
Savings ····7730First National · p. 9152,400.00 printed · -40,000.00 in and out112,400.00
Money market ····2286Harbor Trust · p. 488,650.00 printed · +118.20 in and out88,768.20
Certificate ····9014Harbor Trust · p. 275,000.00 printed · 0.00 in and out75,000.00
Share account ····6641Cascade Credit UnionLeft open · cycle outstanding
Four accounts, as of 14 March 2025288,075.85

Each account starts from the total the bank printed at the top of the cycle covering 14 March, plus the money in and out the statement prints up to that day. The one account whose cycle is still outstanding is left open and flagged for you, with the page beside it.

The questions

What an estate turns on

Five questions come up in every probate, whichever side of the accounting you are on. Each is answered on the records, and each answer keeps its page.

01

What did the estate hold on the date of death?

Each account from the total the bank printed to open the cycle, plus the money in and out the statement prints up to that day.

Self-healing reconciliation
02

Who received money in the final months?

Every payment out, traced to the person or business on the other end, with the checks read as their own record.

Flow of funds
03

What left the estate before the date of death?

Cash and property that should be in the estate, followed to whoever received it, hop by hop.

Asset tracing in the report
04

Is this every account the decedent held?

The account directory resolves whose account is whose across the whole production, voting across the statements themselves.

Account discovery
05

Which statements are missing from the records?

A grid of account by month naming the cycles you hold and the ones still to ask the bank for.

Statement coverage

The final months · ninety days either side of the date of death

Who received money, and when

Every payment out of the estate’s accounts in the ninety days before the date of death and the ninety days after it, with the person or business who received it and how much they were paid. Payees are resolved across every account, so a recipient paid out of three of them reads as one name with one total.

The figure states what the records show and leaves the conclusion to you.

Tracing money to who received it
Every payment out of the Whitlock estate’s accounts in the ninety days before and the ninety days after the date of death, one lane for each person or business on the other end, with the date of death as a rule down the middle and each payment drawn as a square sized by its amount.
Whitlock estate · the final monthsDate of death · 14 Mar 2025
S. Whitlock$58,500

Son, held the power of attorney from 6 Nov 2024

  • 28 days before$6,500
    14 Feb 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 6
  • 10 days before$40,000
    4 Mar 2025 · Savings ····7730····7730, p. 4
  • 43 days after$12,000
    26 Apr 2025 · Estate account ····8815····8815, p. 2
M. Cardoza$13,800

In-home caregiver, named on the checks

  • 52 days before$2,400
    21 Jan 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 5
  • 22 days before$2,400
    20 Feb 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 6
  • 7 days before$9,000
    7 Mar 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 8
Fairhaven Care Residence$17,550

Care home, billed monthly

  • 70 days before$5,850
    3 Jan 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 4
  • 39 days before$5,850
    3 Feb 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 6
  • 11 days before$5,850
    3 Mar 2025 · Checking ····4102····4102, p. 8
Deane & Roth LLP$14,700

Counsel to the estate

  • 47 days after$8,500
    30 Apr 2025 · Estate account ····8815····8815, p. 2
  • 84 days after$6,200
    6 Jun 2025 · Estate account ····8815····8815, p. 5
The four heirs$60,000

Equal shares out of the estate account

  • 67 days after$60,000
    20 May 2025 · Estate account ····8815····8815, p. 4
Five recipients, ninety days either side$164,550
Called out in the report

Every payment here opens the statement page it was read from.

While the power of attorney was in force

$46,500 to the decedent’s son out of two accounts, in the four weeks before the date of death (····7730, p. 4).

A check several times the ones before it

The caregiver’s checks run at $2,400 in January and February, and at $9,000 seven days before the date of death (····4102, p. 8).

The fiduciary period, out of one account

$86,700 in counsel’s fees, a reimbursement and the distribution to the four heirs, every payment from the account opened on 2 April (····8815, p. 2).

The report for an estate

Five of its twelve sections are written for probate

Pick probate, give it the date of death, and the report writes the sections an estate needs, each finding cited to its page. Cash and property that should be in the estate, money moving to connected people, and the sequence either side of the date of death are written up here.

The intake

Date of deathAccounts heldRelated partiesLookback

The sections probate leans on

  1. 03Transaction analysisChanges in the pattern of spending around the date of death.
  2. 05Related party transactionsMoney moving to family, a caregiver or anyone else connected.
  3. 07Asset tracingCash and property that should be in the estate, followed to who received it.
  4. 08Transfer pattern analysisMoney moved out of one account and into another, hop by hop.
  5. 11Forensic timelineThe sequence either side of the date of death, in order.
See the forensic report
Forensic accounting report · prepared for counselp. 26 of 51

Whitlock estate · probate

7. Asset tracing

In the ninety days before the date of death the checking and savings accounts paid $55,500.00 to two recipients outside the decedent’s regular monthly payments: $46,500.00 to S. Whitlock, who held the power of attorney from 6 November 2024, and a check for $9,000.00 to the in-home caregiver named on the three checks before it.

The payments section 7 rests on
DateOut ofAmount
14 Feb 2025Checking ····4102$6,500.00
3 Mar 2025Checking ····4102$5,850.00
4 Mar 2025Savings ····7730$40,000.00
7 Mar 2025Checking ····4102$9,000.00

Payments to the holder of the power of attorney. Two payments to S. Whitlock inside the ninety days before the date of death, out of two different accounts (····7730, p. 4).

The savings account paid $40,000.00 on 4 March 2025, ten days before the date of death. It is the largest single payment out of that account in the four years of records produced.

11. Forensic timeline analysis

The care home is paid $5,850.00 on the third of January, February and March. The caregiver is paid $2,400.00 on 21 January and $2,400.00 on 20 February, and $9,000.00 on 7 March.

The estate account ····8815 is opened on 2 April 2025. Every payment after the date of death clears from that account: $8,500.00 and $6,200.00 to counsel, $12,000.00 recorded as a reimbursement of funeral costs, and $60,000.00 distributed to the four heirs on 20 May 2025.

12. Conclusion and recommendations

The payments set out in sections 7 and 11 are listed with the statement page each was read from, so counsel can assess them against the records as produced. The cycle covering 14 March 2025 for the share account ····6641 is outstanding and is flagged in the coverage summary.

Recommended next steps. Request the March 2025 cycle for the share account ····6641, which would complete the date of death figure for that account.

Ask S. Whitlock to account for the $46,500.00 received under the power of attorney on 14 February and 4 March 2025, set against the decedent’s bills paid in the same weeks.

Request the caregiver’s agreement or timesheets behind the check of $9,000.00 on 7 March 2025, which is more than three times the $2,400.00 paid in each of the two months before.

Set the $60,000.00 distributed to the four heirs on 20 May 2025 against the inventory once the share account cycle is in, so the distribution rests on every account in the estate.

Both sides

Either side of an accounting

One reading serves both chairs. The personal representative files an inventory and an accounting they can stand behind, and counsel for a beneficiary checks the same records for what moved, when, and to whom.

The personal representative

The inventory, built from the recordsEach account from the total the bank printed, plus the money in and out up to the date of death.
An accounting you can stand behindEvery figure opens the statement page it came from, so a challenge is answered from the record.
What is still outstandingA grid of account by month naming the cycles you hold and the ones still to ask the bank for.
The fiduciary period, in orderEvery payment out of the estate account since the date of death, dated and by recipient.

Counsel for a beneficiary

The months before the date of deathEvery payment out, by recipient, with the days from the date of death on each row.
Who could move moneyPayees resolved across every account, so a recipient paid out of three of them reads as one name with one total.
Accounts nobody listedThe account directory resolves whose account is whose across the whole production.
The person named on the checkChecks are read as their own record, so the name written on each one is on the page.

One estate, read end to end

An illustrative probate, from the family’s records to the accounting

A checking account, a savings account, a money market, a certificate and a credit union share, four years of statements the family kept, and one date to measure everything from. Every cycle balanced to what the bank printed.

$288,075.85

The four accounts the records support, as of 14 March 2025

$164,550

Paid to five recipients in the ninety days either side of that date

9

Account-months still outstanding, including the cycle covering 14 March

The upshot

An inventory the court can check line by line, and a list of what moved either side of the date of death with the statement page behind every figure.

Probate analysis questions, answered

What probate attorneys ask first

Can CounselPro rebuild bank account balances as of the date of death?
It builds the figure from what the bank printed: the total at the top of the statement cycle that covers the date of death, plus the money in and out the statement prints up to that day, with the page behind every figure. Where the production is missing the cycle that covers the date, the account is left open and flagged for you, with the coverage summary naming the cycle to ask the bank for.
How do you find money moved before a death in probate?
Every payment out of every account in the months before the date of death comes back with the recipient named and the number of days from that date on each row. Payees are resolved across the whole estate, so a recipient paid out of three accounts reads as one name with one total, and the related party and asset tracing sections of the forensic report write the pattern up, cited to the page. The product flags, and leaves the legal conclusion to you.
Can it read old scanned bank statements from a family’s records?
Yes, including the ones that arrived as a phone photograph of a paper statement. CounselPro builds a reading plan for each institution’s layout, and every cycle is balanced to its printed beginning and ending totals. A cycle that comes up short is read again against the page image until every figure matches what the bank printed.
Does it show which statements are missing from an estate?
Coverage comes back as a grid of account by month: the cycles you hold, the ones still outstanding, and the same cycle uploaded twice. So the inventory is filed knowing exactly which months are behind it and which are still to ask the bank for.

Start from the date of death

Send the records the family kept, the way they arrived, and give it the one date everything is measured from.

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