Short answer. Within three months of appointment, and annually after that. Rule 96, Section 7 requires a sworn inventory within three months of appointment plus annual inventories and accounts thereafter, with newly discovered property inventoried within three months of its discovery, and the filing of any of these can be compelled by an interested person if the guardian falls behind.
What the law says
A guardian must render to the court an inventory of the estate of his ward within three months after his appointment, and annually after such appointment an inventory and account, the rendition of any of which may be compelled upon the application of an interested person.
Rule 96, Section 7 — Inventories and accounts of guardians, and appraisement of estates. Read the full provision →
The initial deadline
The guardian must render an inventory of the estate of his ward within three months after his appointment, giving the court and interested parties an early, concrete picture of what the ward actually owns. This early snapshot matters because it becomes the baseline against which every later inventory and account is measured, so a guardian who delays filing it leaves the court without a clear starting point for oversight.
A recurring obligation
The duty does not end there: annually after such appointment, the guardian must render an inventory and account again, and the filing of any of these may be compelled on the application of an interested person if the guardian falls behind. This recurring cycle is what allows the court to track the estate's condition over the entire course of the guardianship, not just at its outset.
Sworn, and appraised
The inventories and accounts must be sworn to by the guardian, and the estate described in the first inventory is appraised, with the court able to request the assistance of one or more inheritance tax appraisers. Requiring the filings to be sworn adds accountability, since a guardian who misstates the estate's contents or value is doing so under oath, not merely submitting an informal report.
Newly discovered property
Property not included in an earlier inventory but later discovered, succeeded to, or acquired by the ward triggers the same inventory-and-appraisal process again, within three months of that discovery, succession, or acquisition. This closes the obvious gap that would otherwise let property surfacing after the initial or annual filings go permanently unreported to the court, and it applies whether the new property came from an inheritance, a gift, or simply an asset the guardian overlooked the first time around. The recurring nature of these duties binds the guardian for as long as the guardianship itself lasts; a guardian who consistently falls behind on inventories or accounts does not simply accumulate paperwork debt, but exposes himself to a motion by any interested person to compel compliance.
Related provisions
- Rule 96, Section 7 — Inventories and accounts of guardians, and appraisement of estates
- Rule 96, Section 6 — Proceedings when person suspected of embezzling or concealing property of ward
- Rule 96, Section 8 — When guardian's accounts presented for settlement