Section 53-7-67. Required annual filing; reporting period

   (a) Within 60 days of the anniversary of the date of qualification, in each year, every personal representative required by the laws of this state to make annual returns shall file with the probate court a true and just verified accounting of the receipts and expenditures in behalf of the estate during the year preceding the anniversary date of qualification, together with a note or memorandum of any other fact necessary to the exhibition of the true condition of the estate. The return shall include an updated inventory of the assets of the estate as of the anniversary date of qualification. With this return, either the original vouchers shall be filed, showing the correctness of each item, or, in lieu thereof, the personal representative shall attach an affidavit stating that the original vouchers have been compared to each item on the return and that the return is correct; but the probate court shall require the original vouchers to be produced for good cause shown. If the original vouchers are filed with the return, they shall remain in the probate court for 30 days.

(b) The probate court, upon petition of the personal representative or upon the court's own motion, may change the reporting period from the year immediately preceding the anniversary date of qualification to the year immediately preceding a date ordered by the court. In lieu of changing the reporting date, the probate court is authorized to accept and approve a return even if the return does not cover the appropriate reporting period; however, such acceptance shall not change the reporting period established by either the anniversary date of qualification or a subsequent order of the court, unless the court also enters an order changing the reporting date.

Code 1981, § 53-7-67, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 504, § 10.