Commissioner of Accounts Virginia — Fiduciary Oversight, Fees, and Filing Deadlines

You've been appointed conservator for your aging parent by a Virginia circuit court. The judge signed the order, you took the oath, you posted the bond. Now what?

The answer is the Commissioner of Accounts — the local probate attorney appointed by circuit court judges to audit every conservator's financial management. If you're managing your parent's money under a court order, the Commissioner is your ongoing compliance authority. Miss a deadline or file an incomplete accounting, and you're looking at delinquency notices, court hearings, and potential removal.

Who the Commissioner of Accounts Is

The Commissioner is not a state employee. They're a private attorney appointed by the judges of the local circuit court to oversee fiduciary administrations — including conservatorships for incapacitated adults, estate administrations, and trust accountings. Think of them as a specialized auditor whose job is to verify that you're handling your parent's money properly.

Every circuit court jurisdiction in Virginia has at least one Commissioner of Accounts. The Commissioner reviews every inventory, every annual accounting, and every financial document you submit.

Filing Deadlines — The Countdown Starts at Qualification

Your filing obligations begin the moment you qualify as conservator (take the oath and post the bond), not the date of the court hearing or the petition filing:

These deadlines are strict. The Commissioner tracks them and issues delinquency notices. Repeated failures to file can result in the circuit court removing you as conservator and appointing a replacement — plus potential personal liability for any losses to the estate during the period of non-compliance.

The Asset Inventory (Form CC-1671)

Within 4 months of qualification, you must file a complete inventory of every asset under your control. The valuation date is the exact date of qualification — not the petition date, not the court order date.

What the inventory must include:

• Bank account balances as of qualification date (attach statements)
• Investment and retirement account values (attach statements)
• Real estate with tax assessments or certified appraisals
• Vehicles with estimated values
• Personal property — furniture, jewelry, collectibles
• Any income sources — Social Security, pensions, annuities

The Commissioner will compare your inventory against the financial information disclosed in the sealed petition addendum (Form CC-1641). Discrepancies trigger questions.

The Annual Accounting (Form CC-1682)

The first accounting is due within 16 months of qualification and covers the 12-month period following qualification. Every subsequent accounting covers the next 12-month period, due 4 months after that period closes.

This is an exacting audit. You must present a double-entry cash ledger showing:

• Every receipt: Social Security deposits, pension payments, investment income, property rental income
• Every disbursement: Care facility payments, medical bills, insurance premiums, household expenses, your own conservator fees (if court-approved)
• Capital gains and losses: Sale of investments or property
• Beginning balance: Must match the ending balance of the inventory (first accounting) or the prior year's ending balance (subsequent accountings)

Attach physical or digital copies of all monthly bank statements, cancelled checks, paid invoices, and tax returns. The Commissioner reconciles your ledger against these documents. If the numbers don't tie out, you'll need to explain every discrepancy.

Fee Schedule

The Commissioner charges standardized fees set by the circuit court, aligned with the Uniform Fee Schedule adopted by the Virginia Supreme Court's Standing Committee on Commissioners of Accounts:

In addition to the audit fee, you'll pay recording fees to the circuit court clerk: $18 for documents of 1–10 pages, $32 for 11–30 pages, and $52 for 31 or more pages. Both fees are typically paid to the Commissioner with a single check — the Commissioner forwards the clerk's portion.

The Medicaid Fee Cap — A Critical Exception

If your parent receives Medicaid-funded long-term care (nursing home or CCC Plus waiver), the Commissioner's fee for auditing each annual accounting is capped at $25 under Virginia Code § 64.2-1305.

This matters because most of a Medicaid recipient's income goes to their "Patient Pay" liability — the amount they must contribute to the cost of care each month. For a nursing home resident, the personal needs allowance is just $40 per month. A $1,100 Commissioner's fee would devastate a Medicaid recipient's estate. The $25 cap prevents this.

If your parent transitioned from private-pay to Medicaid during the accounting period, notify the Commissioner so they apply the reduced fee.

Common Mistakes That Trigger Problems

Commingling funds. Never mix your parent's money with your own. Open a separate conservatorship account at the bank and run every transaction through it. Commingling is a fiduciary violation that can result in personal liability and removal.

Missing the valuation date. The inventory must reflect values as of the qualification date, not the date you actually compile it. If you qualified on March 15 but don't pull bank statements until June, you need the March 15 balances — not the June balances.

Forgetting periodic benefits. Social Security, VA pensions, and similar recurring income must be listed in Part 7 of the inventory form. These don't appear in bank account balances if they were deposited after the qualification date, but they're still part of the income the Commissioner needs to track.

Paying yourself without court approval. A conservator can petition the court for reasonable compensation, but you can't simply write yourself a check. Unauthorized self-payment shows up in the accounting audit and creates serious legal exposure.

Guardian Reporting — A Separate Track

If you're appointed as both guardian and conservator (common for families managing all aspects of a parent's care), you have a separate reporting obligation to the local Department of Social Services. The guardian report (Form CC-1644) is due within 6 months of qualification, then annually, covering your parent's health, living situation, and care decisions. This report goes to DSS, not the Commissioner — they're parallel compliance tracks.

The Virginia Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit includes detailed filing instructions for both the Commissioner's financial forms and the DSS guardian report, with a calendar-based deadline tracker that starts from your qualification date.

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